Skip to content

Discuss your project

Shopify apps

A Shopify app for the way you work

This is about an app that works within your own Shopify store: in the admin, at checkout or in the rules behind discounts and payments. Not a mobile app for your store and not a new online shop. For a new store, see the Shopify online shops page.

Discuss your app idea

Customized or public: a choice that is then fixed

Shopify has two types of apps. You choose which one it will be when creating it in the Dev Dashboard, and that choice cannot be changed later. That is why it is included in the proposal, before anything is built.

A custom app

For one store, or for multiple stores within a single Shopify Plus organization. You install it via a link created for your store. There is no Shopify review, no App Store listing, and fees are not charged through Shopify.

  • One store or one Plus organization

  • Installation via your own link

  • Not rated by Shopify

A public app

For any store, via the Shopify App Store. Such an app goes through an assessment by Shopify and must meet requirements: most apps must be embedded in the management, and costs are run via Shopify. Shopify decides whether an app is approved; So we don’t promise that, nor do we promise a deadline.

  • For all stores

  • Shopify Ratings and Requirements

  • A different product than customization

New custom apps have been created in the Dev Dashboard since 2026

Since January 1, 2026, you can no longer create new custom apps in Shopify management. Existing apps created there will continue to work. New apps run through the Dev Dashboard, Shopify’s environment for app development.

A custom app can be created by the store owner, by an employee with app development privileges, or by a hired developer. Collaborator accounts do not have access to the Dev Dashboard. So you give us access via the rights in your own Shopify organization, not via your password.

Three places where an app can work

Where the app appears determines what it can do and what it requires from your subscription.

In the management of your store

An embedded app runs in the Shopify management, in its own space called the App Home. He talks to the rest of the management via App Bridge and uses the components of Polaris, Shopify’s design system. To your team, it feels like part of Shopify.

  • Own screens next to products and orders

  • Works with the data from your store

At the checkout

With checkout UI extensions you can add components to the checkout. In the information, shipping and payment steps, this is only possible on Shopify Plus. This can be done on the Thank You page and the Order Status page for any subscription.

  • Information, shipping, payment: Plus only

  • Thank You and Order Status Page: Any subscription

In the lines behind the store

Shopify Functions adjust the logic: a custom discount type, hide a payment method, rename a delivery option, stop the checkout with an incorrect line. A custom app with Functions only works on Shopify Plus. Without Plus, you have to rely on a public app that can already do it for such rules.

  • Discounts, payment, delivery, validation

  • Customization with Functions: Plus only

We build on the GraphQL Admin API

An app reads and changes your store’s data via Shopify’s Admin API. Shopify has called the older REST variant legacy since October 1, 2024 and asks new apps to use the GraphQL Admin API; new public apps have had to do this since April 1, 2025. With GraphQL, an app requests exactly the data it needs.

For you, it means that a new app fits the interface to which Shopify adds new functions. If you have an older app on REST, we will see if and when a switch is necessary.

Four features your store may be missing

Possible applications, not completed projects. Each explains what it depends on, including your plan.

Packing slips and labels from the Shopify admin

Problem

For every order, you open a separate program to create a packing slip and request a shipping label, then manually add the tracking code back into Shopify.

Solution

An embedded app in the Shopify admin where you select one or more orders, print packing slips in your own format, request labels from your carrier and add the tracking code back to the order.

Data involved

Orders, products and quantities, delivery addresses, shipping method and carrier details.

Benefit

Packing and shipping happen from one screen, and the customer receives the correct code.

Depends on

Whether your carrier has an API, whether an existing app already does this well, and which customer data the app needs. If a custom app uses Level 2 protected customer data, it requires a Grow plan or higher.

A payment or discount rule tailored to your store

Problem

Business customers may pay by invoice, while private customers may not. Or a discount should apply only to a product combination that no existing discount can express.

Solution

A Shopify Function that determines which payment methods are shown for each order, or applies your own discount rule.

Data involved

Customer tags or customer groups, products in the basket, payment methods and discount conditions.

Benefit

The rule is applied consistently every time, without manual checks afterwards.

Depends on

Your plan: a custom app with Functions works only on Shopify Plus. Without Plus, we look for a public app in the App Store that already supports this rule.

Starting a return from the order status page

Problem

Customers email to return an item. You ask for the order number, the reason and the products involved, then enter it all into a list yourself.

Solution

A section on the order status page where the customer selects the products and reason. The request arrives in your admin with the relevant details, linked to the order.

Data involved

Orders, products, return reasons, return period and, where needed, a return label.

Benefit

Returns arrive complete, and the customer does not need to email.

Depends on

Your return policy, whether an existing returns app is sufficient, and whether you want to include a label. Extensions on the order status page are available on every plan.

A clear workflow for new products

Problem

A new product passes through several people: photography, copy, pricing and checks. A spreadsheet shows who is where, and sometimes a product goes live without a description.

Solution

An app in the Shopify admin with a checklist for each product: which fields are still empty, whose turn it is, and a button that only publishes once everything is complete.

Data involved

Products, their fields and images, the status of each step and the team members involved.

Benefit

No product goes live with an empty field, and everyone can see what is waiting for them.

Depends on

How many steps and roles there are, and which product fields you use.

A custom app is not always the first step

This fits like

  • In Shopify you always do the same action by hand

  • No app in the App Store does what you need, or only with workarounds

  • The function belongs to your store and not to every store

  • Your subscription fits where the app needs to work

This fits less well than

  • A public app in the App Store already does it, for a subscription that you find acceptable

  • You want a checkout adjustment in the information, shipping or payment steps, but you are not on Plus

  • You are looking for an app for customers on iPhone or Android

  • You want to sell the app to other stores: that is a public app and a different process

If customization is not suitable, we will find the public app that comes closest and help you set it up. We list the costs, rights and the data that the app requests for you.

From function to installed app

  1. Feature and subscription.What should the app do, for whom, and where in Shopify. We will immediately test this against your subscription.

  2. Check existing apps.We’re looking to see if a public app can already do it. If so, we will place it next to customization, with the costs per year.

  3. Record distribution and rights.Custom or public, and what data the app is allowed to read and change. No more than necessary.

  4. Build in a development shop.We build and test in a separate development store with sample data first, so your real store remains untouched.

  5. Test in your store.We then install the app in your store and you test it with real cases before your team works with it on a daily basis.

  6. Transfer and maintenance.You get a description of what the app does, what permissions it has and where it runs. We record maintenance and further development in an agreement.

What we need for a proposal

With a Shopify app, a lot depends on your subscription and your store. We want to know this in advance:

  • Your Shopify plan, and whether you’re on Plus or considering it

  • What the app should do, described based on a real order or action

  • Which apps you use now, and what they don’t do well

  • Whether the app should talk to software outside of Shopify, such as a carrier or accounting package

  • Only during construction: an employee account with the right to develop apps, which you grant and can revoke

What a Shopify app costs to build and maintain

No amounts here. The construction and annual costs are included in the proposal.

  • Where the app works.Management, checkout or Functions each require different work, and checkout sometimes requires a different subscription.

  • Screens and steps.The number of screens in the management and the exceptions that the app must handle.

  • Data and rights.What data the app uses, and whether it contains protected customer data.

  • Links outside of Shopify.A carrier, accounting package or inventory system, each with its own API.

  • Testing.The number of situations that need to be tested in the development shop and in your own shop.

Recurring costs

  • Hosting of the app, if it runs on your own hosting

  • Your Shopify subscription, if the app requires a higher subscription

  • Costs of associated software

  • Maintenance: Track changes to Shopify’s APIs, auditing, and remediation

Questions about Shopify apps

Do I need Shopify Plus?

That depends on where the app works. Plus is needed for your own parts in the information, shipping and payment steps, for a custom app with Shopify Functions and for one custom app on multiple stores. If a custom app uses protected customer data of level 2, then at least Grow is required. If that applies to your idea, we will say so in the first conversation.

Will my app appear in the App Store?

Not a custom app: it is only for your store or your Plus organization. A public app yes, after assessment by Shopify. That is a different process with its own requirements, and the choice is fixed once the app has been created.

What happens if Shopify changes the API?

Shopify changes the platform regularly: the REST Admin API became legacy, checkout.liquid and script tags have been disabled. Maintenance means monitoring those changes, adjusting the app in time and then testing it again. What this covers is stated in the maintenance agreement.

I already have an app that was created in management. Does it have to go?

No. Apps created in management before January 1, 2026 will continue to work and remain manageable there. Only new custom apps run via the Dev Dashboard.

Other questions, other pages

Describe what your store cannot do yet

Tell us your plan and the task or rule you are missing. We will say whether a standard app is enough, whether custom development is possible, and what the plan requires.

Discuss your app idea