Adalo

Adalo is the no-code platform for building real native mobile apps — actual iOS and Android apps that get published to the App Store and Google Play, not just web apps with phone-shaped screens. For founders with a mobile-first product idea and no engineering capacity, Adalo is one of the few realistic no-code paths to a shipped native app. Founded in 2018 by David Adkin, Ben Haefele, and Jeremy Blalock (NYC), Adalo has carved out the 'no-code native mobile' niche while Bubble owns web and FlutterFlow targets the technical-no-code crowd. Apps built on Adalo include real shipped products on both stores — fitness trackers, community apps, marketplaces, internal tools. The core experience: you design screens by drag-and-drop, define your database structure visually, build actions and navigation flows, then click 'Publish' to generate native iOS and Android binaries. Adalo handles the App Store submission process (they sign and submit on your behalf). The output is genuine native code — not a web app in a WebView — so performance, gestures, and platform behaviours feel right. For founders the practical use cases: • Mobile-first product MVPs (community apps, marketplaces, social, fitness) • Internal mobile apps for ops teams (inspections, field service, sales tools) • Course / membership mobile apps with native push notifications • Booking / scheduling apps for service businesses • Native versions of existing web products to test mobile demand The pricing is reasonable but does meter your usage. Free tier supports apps in development (not for publishing). Starter at $36/month publishes 1 app + 5000 actions/month. Professional at $52/month covers 2 apps + 25,000 actions + custom domain. Team at $160/month for 3+ apps with team collaboration. Business at $200/month for production volume. Compared to commissioning a mobile dev team ($30-50K minimum), Adalo at $50-200/month is dramatically cheaper. Where Adalo wins clearly: shipping a native mobile app without iOS/Android development capacity. The 'click to publish to the App Store' flow is genuinely magical. Push notifications, camera access, location services, and other native features work via Adalo's integrations. Where Adalo loses: performance under heavy load (no-code generated apps are slower than hand-coded), App Store rejection risk (Apple has rejected some Adalo apps for being too template-like or violating the 4.2 'minimum functionality' rule — improving but still a real risk), and complex animations or custom UI work (you're constrained to Adalo's component library). The newer competitor FlutterFlow is technically more powerful and outputs Flutter code (which engineers can take and continue developing). For pure no-coders Adalo is still simpler; for founders with some technical capacity FlutterFlow may be the better long-term bet. My take: if you have a mobile-first product idea and zero engineering capacity, Adalo is the realistic path to a shipped App Store / Play Store app. Plan to rewrite in real Flutter / React Native if you cross 50K users — performance and customisation will start to matter. For most indie mobile founders, that day may never come, and Adalo can run your business forever.