Your Lovable, Bolt or Replit app isn't in the App Store yet: what it costs to get there

You built something in Lovable, Bolt or Replit. It works in the browser. Now a friend asks, "Is it in the App Store?" and you find out it's a separate project with its own fees, accounts and waiting. I read each price and each rule on the vendor's own page on 3 October 2026. I did not build or submit an app for this piece, so there are no war stories here, just what the pages say.

What do the two stores charge you?

Apple charges $99 per membership year. Google charges a one-time $25 registration fee. Those are the entry tickets, and neither one pays for hosting, a database or the build itself. Apple's page says "99 USD per membership year, or in local currency where available."

• Apple: $99 a year. Eligible nonprofits, schools and government entities can request a fee waiver. Membership also includes 25 Xcode Cloud compute hours a month, which is Apple's own build service for people who use Xcode on a Mac.
• Google Play: $25 once. Prepaid cards are not accepted, you must be 18, and Google may ask for a government ID and a credit card in your legal name.
• Commission, only if you sell inside the app: Apple takes 30%, or 15% under its Small Business Program and for qualifying subscriptions. Google says 97% of developers pay no service fee, and of those who do, 99% qualify for 15% or less. Rates differ by country.

Apple's pricing section lists the membership fee and the commission. I saw no separate fee for App Review on that page.

What does Expo charge for building the app?

Expo's software is free and open source, and its cloud service, EAS, is where the price is. The Free plan costs $0 and includes 15 Android and 15 iOS builds and the ability to submit to the stores. Starter is $19 a month, Production is $199 a month, and both add usage on top.

A "build" is the step that turns your code into the file a store accepts. Expo does it on its servers, so you don't need a Mac for the iPhone version. Here is what each plan says it includes:

Past the credit, builds are flat-priced: Android $1 on a medium worker and $2 on a large one, iOS $2 medium and $4 large. The Free plan's queue is the real cost. Expo says you "may experience wait times of 90+ minutes" at peak times on the low-priority queue. If you ship twice a week, that is tolerable. If you are fixing a rejection at midnight, $19 starts to look cheap.

What does each vibe coding tool actually give you?

Only two of the three produce a mobile app. Lovable builds web apps. Bolt and Replit build Expo apps, which are real native apps. That decides how much work stands between you and the stores.

• Lovable: its publishing FAQ says it "builds web apps" and "there isn't a built-in flow that packages and submits your project to the App Store or Google Play." Its two suggestions are a Progressive Web App (people add your site to their home screen) or a Capacitor wrapper made outside Lovable. It adds that Lovable "does not generate projects in React Native." Its own iOS and Android app is for building projects from your phone, not for shipping yours. See what Lovable is for the basics.
• Bolt: ask for a "mobile app" and Bolt uses Expo. Its docs list a path to TestFlight and the App Store, and to Google Play testing and the Play Store. You need the EAS command-line tool, an Expo account, and paid Apple and Google developer accounts. One warning from Bolt: "Projects created for web do not easily switch over to mobile," so say "mobile app" in the first prompt.
• Replit: Agent builds native iOS and Android apps with Expo. Its Launch feature builds, signs and uploads the app to App Store Connect, with the build compiled "on Expo's servers." Replit says this can take up to 45 minutes. Its page states no price for that step, so I can't tell you one.

What is the wait nobody mentions?

On Google Play, a new personal account can't go public on day one. Google requires accounts created after 13 November 2023 to run a closed test with at least 12 testers who stay opted in for at least 14 days. Only then can you apply for production access.

The practical move is to start the closed test as soon as you have a working build. The 14 days run while you keep improving the app. Organization accounts are a different type, so check which one you choose at sign-up.

Apple's wait is different. Replit's docs put enrollment at "about a day" and review at "often a day or two, and sometimes longer, especially the first time." Those are Replit's estimates, not Apple's. Replit also calls rejections "common."

What gets a simple app rejected?

Apple's Guideline 4.2 says your app "should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website." It also says apps shouldn't primarily be "marketing materials, advertisements, web clippings, content aggregators, or a collection of links."

That matters most for a wrapped web app, such as a Lovable site put in a Capacitor shell. A native Expo app isn't automatically safe either. It still has to be useful on its own. Replit adds that a mismatch between your App Privacy answers and what the app collects is a common rejection reason. If your app stores user data, run the security checks before you share it first, because a store listing puts it in front of strangers.

A watch item: Android developer verification

Google is rolling out developer verification for Android. Per Google's page, protections begin on 30 September 2026 for users installing from participating stores in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand on certified devices, with a global rollout in 2027. Google says Play "automatically registers 99% of apps," and hobbyists can share apps with up to 20 devices without a government ID or registration fee. If you only publish through Play, you are mostly covered. I did not see a price on that page.

So what should you budget?

For one app on both stores, plan for $124 in the first year if the Expo Free plan is enough, and $352 with Expo Starter all year (both are sums of the prices above). Then add your time. The money is small. The real cost is the two or three weeks of accounts, builds, testers, screenshots and review.

If you only want it on phones quickly, a PWA from a Lovable app costs nothing in store fees. Before you buy any plan, compare it with your other running costs in what hosting costs, and see the full path to going live in how to ship a vibe-coded app.

This page has no affiliate links or sponsored placements. It is a price check, not legal or tax advice, and store rules change, so confirm on the linked pages before you pay.