The PrimeStay mobile app — what it brings and when it arrives
For nearly a year now, PrimeStay has lived as a web app — open the site, log in, work. That still works perfectly on desktop and, honestly, holds up well on a phone. But every time a host opens Calendar or Bookings one-handed while making coffee with the other, you can feel the phone giving up somewhere between a browser tab and a URL bar. Time for a real native app.
This is a quick update on what's coming, what exactly works in v1, and what we're holding back for v2. No marketing puffery — just the real things we'll ship.
Why a mobile app, why now
The most common moments hosts use PrimeStay aren't "sitting at a desk analyzing revenue" — that happens once a month. Day-to-day moments look different: a guest arrives early and asks about check-in, a cleaner sends a damage photo, you need to quickly check whether you confirmed the next booking. All of that on a phone, at a traffic light, while someone else is driving, between two calls.
The web app handles those things — but with friction. A tab you lost, a URL you have to type, a scroll that froze, a virtual keyboard hiding the input field, a downloaded file you can't find. A native app strips all of that away.
What you get in v1
V1 is "everything you have on the web, just faster and more natural". Same platform features — Dashboard, Bookings, Calendar, Properties, Guests, Expenses, Analytics, Tasks, Directory — but in a native shell that gives you:
- Speed — native rendering without browser chrome, instant tap, smooth scrolling
- Native gestures and haptics — swipe back, vibration on key actions, native modals
- Home screen icon — one tap, no browser, no tabs to lose
- PDF invoices and reports save straight to Files (iOS) or Downloads (Android) — no more "where did that go?"
- Native share — send a booking or invoice straight to WhatsApp, Viber, mail through the native share sheet
- Full-screen experience — no URL bar, no tabs, the entire screen dedicated to the platform
What we're saving for v2
Three things were intentionally deferred to v2 because they need extra engineering attention and shouldn't block launch:
Push notifications (FCM + APNS)
The backend already sends check-in, cancellation, and payment alerts — we just need the Capacitor push plugin wired up to Firebase Cloud Messaging on Android and Apple Push Notification Service on iOS. Planned: first v1.1 update within a week of the Android launch.
Biometric login (Face ID / fingerprint)
Instead of typing a password, log in with a glance or a touch. Technically clean — Capacitor has a mature plugin, we just need to wire it into the existing auth flow and securely store the JWT in Keychain (iOS) or Keystore (Android). Targeted for the v2 release.
Offline mode
The most ambitious one. Caching bookings, calendar and guests locally, a queue for changes made offline, smart sync when the connection comes back. This is labor-intensive (several weeks) and full of edge cases (what if two devices changed the same booking simultaneously), so it's deliberately in v2 — let v1 prove the shell is stable first.
All three are documented on the public roadmap on the apps page — we update statuses as work progresses.
When exactly it arrives
Android first — Google Play Console identity verification is done, and the remaining technical steps (signed AAB, Play Console listing, internal testing track) are realistically a week or two of work. Targeting late April or early May 2026.
iOS is waiting for Apple to approve the Developer enrollment. Apple put our account in manual verification, which usually takes 1-4 weeks. The moment they approve — TestFlight beta, then App Store submit. Realistic timeline: May-June 2026.
How to be the first to know
Follow the changelog — every release is logged there with the date and a list of what changed. When the app is live on the Play Store and App Store, the download link goes straight into the changelog and the Apps page.