Home-screen web app or App Store app: what your clients actually get.
A home-screen web app is your booking page saved to the phone's home screen (on an iPhone, with Share, then Add to Home Screen), so it opens with one tap; an App Store app is one clients find and download from the App Store or Google Play under your business's name. Both can feel like an app once installed, but only the store app shows up when clients search the stores. We make MeetScarlet, which sets up both for you, so we have a side.
What a home-screen web app is
It is your booking page with an icon. On an iPhone, clients open the page in Safari, tap the Share button and then Add to Home Screen; Apple's WebKit team describes this as how people have saved websites to the Home Screen for years. If the site is built as a web app, it then opens like any other app instead of in a browser tab, and since iOS and iPadOS 16.4 it can ask for permission to send push notifications, as long as the client taps something like a subscribe button first (WebKit).
Several booking tools sell this as their app. On the pages we read on November 1, 2026, Setmore's “branded mobile app” lets customers add your booking page to their home screen, like an app; SuperSaaS says it works in the browser, so neither you nor your clients need to download an app; and SimplyBook.me's help centre describes its client app as a web app added from your booking site.
What an App Store app adds
A store app is listed in the App Store and Google Play under your business's name, with your icon and screenshots. Clients can find it by searching your name in the store, and install it the way they install every other app. The business publishes it under its own Apple and Google developer accounts, which cost $99 a year from Apple and $25 once from Google, and every update goes through the stores' review.
The trade is cost and time. A web app can be ready as soon as your booking page is; a store app usually costs more and takes longer the first time. About 4 to 6 weeks for the store apps, most of it Apple's enrollment. Your web app's link is ready during setup, and members can book there as soon as you choose your MeetScarlet plan. They keep the same account when the store apps launch.
Side by side
| Home-screen web app | App Store app | |
|---|---|---|
| How clients get it | Open your booking page, then on an iPhone tap Share and Add to Home Screen (Android steps differ) | Search your business's name in the App Store or Google Play and download it |
| Found by searching the stores | No | Yes, under your name |
| Push notifications on iPhone | Yes since iOS 16.4, after the client adds it and allows them | Yes, after the client allows them |
| Name the client sees in the store | None: it is not in the store | Yours |
| Developer accounts | Not needed | Apple ($99 a year) and Google ($25 once), in the business's name |
| Updates | Can change as soon as the vendor updates the booking page | Through App Store and Google Play review |
| Examples of price | Setmore Pro $5 a user a month billed yearly; SuperSaaS from $9 a month | PushPress $97 a month on top of its plan; MeetScarlet from $349 a month, app included |
Platform facts from Apple's WebKit post on web push for Home Screen web apps; vendor descriptions from each vendor's own pages, read November 1, 2026.
How to tell which one a vendor sells
- Ask whether the app is listed in the App Store under your business's name. “Branded app” can mean either one.
- Ask whose developer account it is published under. A web app needs none; a store app should be under yours, so the listing stays with you if you leave.
- Ask how clients install it. If the answer on an iPhone is Share and Add to Home Screen, it is a web app.
- Ask what notifications it sends, and on which phones.
Which one you need
A home-screen web app is enough if your clients book now and then and are happy with a link: it costs less and works at once. A store app is worth paying for if your regulars book every week, buy memberships or packs, and you want your name in their app list and in store search. For that, MeetScarlet sets up both: a store app under your own name, published from your own Apple and Google accounts, and a web app for anyone who would rather not download one, in every plan. See MeetScarlet vs Setmore, MeetScarlet vs SuperSaaS and MeetScarlet vs SimplyBook.me.
See what a store app with your name would look like: type your business name on the homepage.
Questions
Straight answers. Anything else, ask us on a demo.
Is a home-screen web app a real app? #
It can be: if the site is built as a web app, it opens like any other app and, on iPhone since iOS 16.4, can send notifications once added and allowed. It is not in the App Store or Google Play, though, so clients can't find it by searching the stores.
Can a home-screen web app send push notifications on iPhone? #
Yes, since iOS and iPadOS 16.4, if the client has added it to the Home Screen and allows notifications after tapping something like a subscribe button, according to Apple's WebKit team.
Do Setmore, SuperSaaS or SimplyBook.me publish an app in the App Store under my name? #
Not on the pages we read (November 1, 2026). Setmore's branded mobile app is your booking page saved to the home screen, and SuperSaaS runs in the browser. SimplyBook.me's help centre says its client app is a Progressive Web App that can't be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
Is MeetScarlet an App Store app or a web app? #
Both. We set up an iPhone and Android app under your own name in the App Store and Google Play, published from your own Apple and Google developer accounts, and a web app for clients who would rather not download one.
Is this guide independent? #
No. We make MeetScarlet, which sells store apps, so we have a side. The platform facts come from Apple's WebKit team, the vendor facts from each vendor's own pages, and the page says what a web app does well: it costs less and works at once.
Keep reading
- White-label booking appA white-label booking app puts your own name on the App Store and Google Play. MeetScarlet builds and brands yours, with booking and memberships, from $349 a month.
- Best branded booking apps (2026)Seven booking platforms that give clients an app with your name, compared on price, plan and store account, with MeetScarlet as our pick at a published price.
- MeetScarlet vs SetmoreMeetScarlet puts your app in the App Store and Google Play under your name; Setmore's "branded mobile app" is your booking page saved to the home screen.