Your Discourse community as its own app

Your own app on the App Store and Google Play — with real push, under your name. For forums hosted with miTT Hosting.

Discourse as an app

  • ✔️ app under your name and icon in both stores
  • ✔️ real push on iPhone — instead of delayed polling
  • ✔️ subscribers and content on your forum server in Germany
  • ✔️ notification content transmitted encrypted
  • ✔️ no push SaaS provider as an additional data processor
  • ✔️ built on your existing forum — users and logins are preserved
  • ✔️ TestFlight testing phase before release
  • ✔️ submission and review guidance
  • ✔️ DPA available on request

Android app
Google Play

  • one-time, plus VAT
  • from EUR 900.00
  • Play Store listing under your account
  • push via Discourse's built-in web push
  • app signing and keystore management
  • operations from EUR 39.00/month
  • prerequisite: Google Play account (one-time 25 USD)
Request Android package

iPhone + Android
App Store and Google Play

  • one-time, plus VAT
  • from EUR 2,400.00
  • both store listings under your accounts
  • real push on iPhone via a dedicated push connection
  • guidance through Apple organization verification
  • includes 2 Apple review rounds
  • operations from EUR 129.00/month
  • prerequisite: Apple Developer Program (99 USD/year)
Request complete package

Talk first, build second

A short conversation clarifies whether your own app makes sense for your community — send me an e-mail with a link to your forum.

Send inquiry

Why your own app? Discourse Hub often is not enough

Discourse ships an official app: Discourse Hub. For self-hosted forums it has two catches. On iPhone there are no real-time notifications — the app only polls periodically, often at 15-minute intervals. And the app belongs to Discourse: its branding, your forum as one site among many, next to a directory of other communities.

For a member community that wants to be visible under its own name, that is not enough. Your own app carries your organization's name and icon, opens straight into your forum — and notifications arrive when they are written.

Real push, honestly explained

Push delivery for every app in the world runs through Apple's and Google's services — no vendor can change that. The difference is in the data: with this solution, your own forum server manages subscribers and content, notifications are transmitted encrypted, and no push SaaS provider sits in between as an additional data processor. Anyone promising you push "entirely without Apple and Google" is promising something technically impossible.

How the project works

  1. A short conversation about your community and goals — then you receive a fixed-price quote.
  2. Setting up accounts: Google Play (one-time 25 USD), and for the iPhone app the Apple Developer Program (99 USD/year). I guide you through both.
  3. I build the app from your existing forum, you test it via TestFlight, and I guide the store review.
  4. After that the monthly fee takes over: yearly mandatory store updates, certificates, push operations and monitoring.

The foundation: your forum on miTT Hosting

The app builds on a Discourse forum hosted with miTT Discourse Hosting, because the push connection is configured directly on the forum server. I migrate an existing forum beforehand — users, posts, uploads and settings are preserved.

Frequently asked questions about the Discourse app

Answers to the most common questions before inquiring.

For self-hosted forums, Discourse Hub delivers no real-time notifications on iPhone — the app only polls periodically, often at 15-minute intervals. It also carries Discourse branding, and your forum is just one site among many. Your own app appears in the stores under your name and icon and delivers real push.

Yes. Apple requires an app to be published under the account of the organization whose content it shows — the Apple Developer Program costs 99 USD per year. Google Play charges a one-time fee of 25 USD. I guide you through setting up both accounts, including Apple's organization verification.

Delivery runs — as with every app worldwide — through Apple's and Google's push services. The difference is in the data: subscribers and notifications are managed by your own forum server in Germany, the content is transmitted encrypted, and there is no push SaaS provider acting as an additional data processor. A data processing agreement (DPA) is available.

App stores demand ongoing maintenance: yearly mandatory updates for new iOS and Android requirements, certificate and profile management, operating and monitoring the push connection, and compatibility with Discourse updates. That is exactly what the monthly fee covers — your app stays in the stores without you having to think about it.

A Discourse forum hosted with miTT Hosting, because the app's push connection is configured directly on the forum server. I migrate an existing forum beforehand via a full Discourse backup — users, posts and settings are preserved.