Introducing MemberPress AppKit – Build Your Own Branded Mobile App Without Writing Code

Ever dreamed of seeing the mobile app of your membership site or course in the App Store and Google Play? 

Imagine your members pulling out their phone and tapping your app on their home screen. That means they can instantly dive into your courses, community discussions, and exclusive content without worrying about multiple browser tabs or forgotten passwords. 

Sadly, building a native mobile app has always meant hiring expensive developers. We’re talking thousands of dollars and months of waiting. And then there’s the never-ending headache of keeping your website and app in sync.

It simply shouldn’t cost a small fortune to put your membership business in your members’ pockets.

That’s why today, I’m excited to introduce the MemberPress AppKit addon. 

MemberPress is the #1 WordPress membership plugin used by smart creators who’ve collectively earned over $2.5 billion in revenue. 

With the AppKit addon, you can build and launch a fully branded iOS and Android app for your membership site, without touching a single line of code.

We built AppKit so that any membership site owners can claim the most valuable real estate in their business: their members’ home screen. 

Think of it as having your own app development tool built right into your WordPress dashboard. It gives you total creative control without the heavy budget.

Background Story – Why AppKit?

As you may know, MemberPress joined the WPBeginner Growth Fund in 2018. 

Since then, I’ve watched the MemberPress community grow into one of the most passionate groups of creators, educators, and entrepreneurs in the WordPress ecosystem. And one request kept coming up, over and over again.

“How do I get my membership site into an app?”

The reasoning was always the same. Members were already consuming content on their phones. They wanted push notifications instead of emails that get buried. They wanted the convenience of tapping an icon instead of typing a URL. And they wanted their brand to feel as polished and professional as the big players in their space.

But every time someone explored the option of building an app, they ran into the same wall: custom app development starts at $10,000 to $50,000+ and takes months. Even the “affordable” app-builder platforms required learning entirely new tools, maintaining separate content systems, and paying ongoing monthly fees that added up fast.

That didn’t sit right with me. If MemberPress could already power their entire membership business from WordPress, why should creating an app require starting over from scratch on a completely different platform?

So we set out to build something that felt native to the MemberPress experience. Built right inside WordPress, using the Gutenberg editor you already know, with your courses, communities, and content flowing in automatically.

That’s exactly what MemberPress AppKit delivers.

What is MemberPress AppKit?

MemberPress AppKit is a dedicated WordPress plugin that turns your existing MemberPress site into a professional, fully branded mobile app for both iOS and Android.

Everything is managed from your WordPress dashboard. If you can navigate WordPress, you can build an app… it’s that straightforward.

AppKit isn’t a separate platform you need to learn. It’s an extension of the MemberPress ecosystem you’re already using. Your courses, your community features, your membership content… it all flows into your app automatically, staying perfectly in sync with your website.

Full Brand Control with Drag-and-Drop Design

First impressions matter, and your app should look and feel like your brand… not like a generic template with your logo slapped on top.

AppKit gives you an easy drag-and-drop interface that lets you customize every visual detail of your app in minutes. You control the typography, colors, logos, and even custom iconography to make your app feel premium and uniquely yours.

The best part? You build app-specific pages right inside WordPress using the Gutenberg block editor you already know. There’s no new design tool to learn, no separate content management system to maintain. If you can build a WordPress page, you can build an app screen.

AppKit supports a full range of Gutenberg blocks natively: paragraphs, headings, images, galleries, videos, buttons, columns, and more. They’re all rendered as true native app elements, not clunky web views. Your app loads fast and feels smooth, just like the apps your members already love.

Smart Navigation That Feels Native

The way people navigate a mobile app is completely different from how they browse a website. Scrolling through a long menu is not ideal for a mobile app.

AppKit handles this with professional navigation features that make your app feel like it was built by a dedicated development team:

• Native Tab Bar: Keep your most important sections, like courses, community, profile in a single thumb-tap away at the bottom of the screen.
• “More” Tab: Organize secondary content neatly under a “More” tab so your main navigation stays clean and focused.
• Smart Menus: Show different navigation to logged-in members versus guests. Members see their courses and community, while visitors see a “Join Now” page that drives signups.

Push Notifications That Drive Real Engagement

Email inboxes are crowded. Open rates are declining. But push notifications? They land directly on your members’ home screens with near-instant visibility.

With your app on their phone, you can send targeted push notifications that drive up to 7x more engagement compared to email alone. Use them to:

• Alert members when new content drops
• Remind students about courses in progress
• Announce flash sales or limited-time offers
• Share community updates and discussion highlights

This is the kind of direct access to your audience that email marketers dream about — and it comes built into every app you create with AppKit.

Courses Your Members Can Crush Anywhere

Modern learning does NOT necessarily happen at a desk. It happens in real life during everyday moments when you have a few minutes to learn something new.

MemberPress AppKit brings your entire course curriculum into a mobile-native experience that meets your students exactly where they are.

• Seamless Course Display: Add your MemberPress courses to the app using Gutenberg blocks. Set up carousels, filter by category or tag, or feature specific courses on your app’s home screen.
• Cross-Device Progress Syncing: Your members can start a lesson on their laptop at home and finish it on their phone during lunch. Progress stays perfectly in sync across every device automatically.

The numbers speak for themselves: students log into learning apps an average of 2.5x more often per week than they do on mobile web. When your courses live in a native app, completion rates go up because learning becomes a daily habit, not an occasional login.

Your Community, Always in Their Pocket

We use our phones primarily for connection such as messaging, social media and staying in the loop. With AppKit, your MemberPress community gets that same instant-access treatment.

Integrate your MemberPress ClubSuite features and give your members a reason to open the app every day.

For example, members can pull up your member directory right on their phone to browse profiles, find peers, and connect: whether they’re at a conference, a coffee shop, or on the couch.

Your discussion boards also come alive in the app. Members can post updates, reply to threads, and react with hearts. That’s exactly like the social networks they already use, but inside your branded community.

This turns your membership from a content library into a living, breathing community that members check throughout the day. And all that engagement stays on your platform, not scattered across Facebook groups or Discord servers you don’t control.

One-Tap Payments That Boost Revenue

Every extra step in a checkout process costs you sales. AppKit eliminates friction by connecting Apple Pay and Google Pay directly to your MemberPress setup.

Members can upgrade their membership or purchase a new course with a single touch — no digging for credit cards, no typing billing details on a tiny screen.

Native in-app purchases deliver 3x to 5x higher conversion rates compared to mobile web checkout. When buying is as easy as unlocking their phone, more members take action.

Built by the Team Behind the #1 WordPress Membership Plugin

MemberPress AppKit is built by the same team behind MemberPress, the leading WordPress membership plugin trusted by creators, educators, and businesses worldwide.

MemberPress has always been about giving you complete ownership over your membership business — your content, your community, your revenue. AppKit is the natural next step: extending that ownership to the most personal device your members carry.

I’m incredibly excited about what this unlocks for membership site owners who have always wanted a professional app but thought it was out of reach.

With MemberPress AppKit, you install the addon, design your app right inside WordPress, and connect it to the content you already have. Your courses, community, memberships, and pages flow in automatically… no rebuilding, no syncing nightmares, no separate platform to manage.

As always, thank you for being part of the WPBeginner community. I can’t wait to see the apps you launch and how they help you build deeper engagement, stronger retention, and a more valuable membership business.

Yours Truly,

Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner

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