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[ Bolt → App Store ]

How to publish a Bolt.new app to the App Store

Short answer

Bolt can write a mobile app, using Expo and React Native, but it can’t build or submit it for iOS from the browser. You export the project (or push it to GitHub), build it with Expo’s EAS, via the EAS CLI or Expo Launch, and upload it to App Store Connect. If your Bolt project is a web app rather than an Expo app, the path is the same as Lovable: wrap it or rebuild it, and watch out for Guideline 4.2.

What Bolt does and doesn’t do

Bolt runs entirely in the browser, which makes it fast to iterate but means it can’t run Xcode or the iOS build pipeline. For mobile it generates an Expo project you can preview on your phone through Expo Go. To get a signed binary into App Store Connect you need to take the code somewhere that can build it.

Steps (Expo project)

  1. Export or push to GitHub from Bolt.
  2. Check app.json: set ios.bundleIdentifier, the app name, version and build number, and add icon and splash assets. The 1024×1024 icon must have no transparency.
  3. Install the EAS CLI, sign in to Expo, run eas build:configure.
  4. Set production env vars in EAS (API URLs, public keys). Anything secret belongs on your server, not in the app.
  5. Build: eas build --platform ios --profile production. EAS can create and manage your certificates.
  6. Submit: eas submit --platform ios, or use Expo Launch for a guided version of both steps.
  7. Test the TestFlight build on a real device.
  8. Complete the listing and privacy answers in App Store Connect, add a demo account, and submit for review.

The rejections Bolt apps hit most

Works in Expo Go but not in TestFlight?

Expo Go includes a fixed set of native modules. Your standalone build only includes what your project declares. Libraries that need native configuration, such as maps, purchases, notifications or some camera and file libraries, need their config plugins in app.json, and a rebuild. This is the most common “it worked on my phone” failure.

Or have us do it

Send us the repo. Our App Store Launch handles the build, signing, listing and review for one flat fee, and our Rescue covers projects that need more than config fixes.

Questions

Is my Bolt project a mobile app or a web app?
If it has an app.json or app.config file and uses Expo packages, it’s an Expo mobile app. If it’s a Vite or Next.js site, it’s a web app and needs wrapping or rebuilding for the App Store.
Can Expo Launch submit my Bolt app with no code?
Expo offers a guided path from a GitHub repo to a store submission. It handles the build and upload. It doesn’t write your listing, answer the privacy questions or get you through review.
The EAS build fails. What now?
The most common causes are a mismatched bundle identifier, a native module that needs a config plugin, missing icons or splash assets, or dependency versions that don’t match your Expo SDK. Read the build log from the first error, not the last.

Last reviewed 2026-09-23. Guideline quotes are from Apple’s App Review Guidelines; Apple can change them at any time.

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