Frequently Asked Questions

Describe your app idea in plain English and Nucleate generates a working app using React Native and Expo. You can test it instantly on your phone by downloading the Nucleate app for iOS or Expo Go app for Android and scanning the QR code, or view it in your browser. The browser preview is a great way to quickly see how your app feels, but the details may vary and not all native features are available in the browser.

Nucleate makes a working prototype in minutes just from plain English descriptions. If you want to make a complex mobile app with authentication, database, payments, push notifications, etc. – you'll currently need engineering help at some point or spend time researching how to implement these features.

Nucleate makes a beautiful v1 of your app, allows you to prototype any number of screens, and easily build AI-powered applications like Chat, Voice Transcription, or Image Generation. Nucleate apps also store data on the device and integrate with any third-party APIs. However, integrating features like database, authentication, notifications, and payments will take more time to figure out or will require engineering help. We are working on making it super easy for non-technical people to build complex apps.

Yes, you can use Nucleate for professional purposes.

Yes, Nucleate apps are fully native apps built with React Native and powered by Expo, the #1 cross-platform framework that powers Discord, Shopify, Coinbase, Instagram, and nearly 30% of top 100 apps on the App Store. They work on both iOS and Android devices, but often can also be exported to web. It is a common misconception that native apps can only be built in Swift or Kotlin and require expensive development. React Native is a great way to build native apps with TypeScript that covers more than 95% of the native features, and allows you to write Swift/Kotlin native code later if needed.

Our team is focused on building the best support for native mobile apps. Nucleate is a great way to build production-ready apps. Nucleate starts with a working prototype built in a production-ready tech stack used by Discord, Shopify, Coinbase, Instagram, and nearly 30% of top 100 apps on the App Store. Nucleate can complete lots of simple apps and publish them to App Store or Google Play. If you hit a wall at some point, you can always sync with GitHub and find engineers on Upwork/Fiverr to finish complex features for your app.

Yes! Nucleate builds cross-platform apps that work on both iOS and Android devices.

Nucleate apps also work on the web, but we do not offer a hosting service for them. You can download your Nucleate app code and host it on Expo, Vercel or Netlify. Here's a guide from Expo to host your app on the web: https://docs.expo.dev/guides/publishing-websites/

Yes, you can ask Nucleate to integrate with Supabase or Firebase, but we do not offer an easy way to do this yet, so you'll need to spend time with it. Note that if you want Supabase/Firebase Auth or Firebase Push Notifications, you'll need to use external guidance/tutorials to implement them.

Nucleate easily integrates with OpenAI API. We are committed to hosting the AI for you on paid plans and you do not need to struggle with API keys. You can simply ask Nucleate to build an app that uses AI chat, voice transcription, or image generation. If you want to use OpenAI API directly, you can export the code and ask Cursor to use your own OpenAI API key.

Yes, you can integrate Nucleate with your business tools like Google Sheets, Airtable, Notion, or your own API. Just ask Nucleate to integrate with the service you want. It will ask for an API key. It's recommended you send it the link to the API documentation.

You can use Figma designs by copying your Figma app screen frames as an image and copy-pasting them into the Nucleate AI chat input. Also, you can bulk export all of your Figma screens as images and drag-and-drop all of them into the Nucleate AI chat input. We're working on a better way to import Figma designs into Nucleate.

Right now we do not offer native payments integration, but you can export the code and use Cursor to add payments to your app, or find an engineer on Fiverr/Upwork to help you with it. We recommend using RevenueCat for in-app purchases and subscriptions since they integrate with native payment systems of App Store and Google Play, and also support Stripe for web. You will need to make a custom Expo Development Build to integrate with RevenueCat. You can export the code, setup Expo EAS CLI, and follow the official Expo guide on how to setup payments with RevenueCat.

First, make sure you really need authentication, because most mobile apps on the App Store do not have authentication as most of user data can be stored on the mobile device itself. If you really do need authentication (e.g. your app is a social media app, needs cloud sync or collaboration), we recommend integrating email/password or magic link authentication with Supabase Auth. Just ask Nucleate to integrate it. If you want to use Social Login (Google, Apple, etc.), you will need to make a custom Expo Development Build and it's only possible with external guidance.

First, make sure you really need push notifications, because Nucleate supports in-app local notifications out-of-the-box. If you do, we recommend integrating with Firebase Cloud Messaging. You can export the code and use Cursor to guide you through the setup, or find an engineer on Fiverr/Upwork to help you with it.

Yes, you own all generated code, but only on paid plans.

You should subscribe to a paid plan to export the code and then you can download it from the Code Editor view.

We do not have a team collaboration feature yet, but you can invite engineers through GitHub integration to help you with your Nucleate project.

We offer a free tier and a simple Nucleate Plus plan ($25 per month). If you hit your credit limits on the plan, you can purchase credit packs to use Nucleate as much as you need.

You can purchase credits on the Account page. There are various options and price points available for credit packs.