Email open rates keep declining. Your best readers want more than a newsletter in their inbox. Give them a branded app they can install, and reach them with push notifications instead.
Free Android APK build to start. No card needed. 14-day money-back guarantee.
"An email in an inbox competes with 84 other unread messages. An app icon on a home screen competes with nothing."The case for owning your reader relationship
Both channels let you reach your readers. The similarity ends there.
With an app, every new post can trigger a push notification to every reader who installed it. New essay, new episode, breaking thread — straight to the lock screen, not the inbox.
You control the message. Send it manually, or let it fire automatically when you publish. Either way, your readers see it before they open anything else.
Substack has a reader app. Before you assume that covers it, here is what it actually is.
The app loads your full Substack publication. If it works in your browser, it works in the app.
The whole thing takes about 10 minutes. The wait is Google and Apple, not us.
Copy your publication URL — your custom domain or your yourname.substack.com address. Either works. This is the only technical step.
Upload your app icon (we generate all required sizes automatically), choose your header and splash screen colors to match your Substack branding, and set up a bottom tab bar if you want quick links to your archive, podcast feed, or paid content.
Click Build. Our automated pipeline compiles, signs, and packages your Android APK, AAB, and iOS IPA files. Builds are typically ready within the hour.
Download your signed files and submit to Google Play and the App Store — or let us handle the full submission process. Google Play typically approves in 2-3 days, App Store in 1-2 days.
If your readers come back more than once, they deserve a better experience than an email thread.
You left a masthead to write without editors. An app with your name on the App Store takes that independence further. Your brand, not Substack's, front and center.
You publish both written posts and podcast episodes. An app gives your listeners a dedicated player and your readers an archive — all under one icon on their home screen.
Paid subscribers are your core audience. Giving them an app — not just a newsletter — signals that you are building a product, not just a hobby. Paywalled posts work exactly as they do on the web.
Finance, law, tech, film, history — niche Substacks build loyal readers who want to go deeper. An app with push notifications, chat access, and a custom tab bar turns a newsletter into a destination.
As your subscriber list grows, email deliverability becomes harder and open rates become more fragile. An app is an owned channel that does not depend on inbox placement or spam filters.
Your Substack is the face of your brand's thinking. An app puts it on the same shelf as your product — a serious piece of infrastructure, not a side project.
Paste your Substack URL, configure your branding, and see a live preview before you pay anything.
Free Android APK build included. 14-day money-back guarantee.
Yes. The app loads your full Substack site, so paywalled posts, subscriber-only content, and Substack's native login system all work exactly as they do in a browser. Readers sign into their Substack account once and stay signed in across sessions.
Yes. Audio posts and podcast episodes embedded in your Substack play inside the app using the same player your site uses. Readers can listen without leaving the app. There is no separate podcast configuration required.
The Substack reader app is a shared platform where your publication sits alongside hundreds of others, under Substack's icon and branding. A Shastra-built app is listed under your name on the App Store, carries your own icon, and contains only your content. It is a standalone publication app, not a slot inside someone else's reader.
Yes. Notes, Chat, Comments, and every other Substack feature work inside the app because the app renders your full Substack publication. Any feature that works in your browser works in the app.
Yes — and this is one of the biggest reasons to build an app. Once readers install your app, you can send push notifications from the Shastra dashboard. You control the title, body, and which URL it opens. Push notifications typically see 2-3x higher engagement than email.
Yes. If your Substack uses a custom domain, just enter that domain when setting up the app. Standard yourname.substack.com addresses work equally well.
Yes. The app always loads your live Substack site, so new posts appear the moment they are published. No new build, no update submission, no action required on your end.
The app uses your existing Substack subscription and paywall. In-app purchase is not layered on top. Readers pay via Substack's existing payment flow — no additional billing system, and no Apple or Google commission on top of what you already pay Substack.
Visit shastrapps.com/pricing to see current pricing for your region. There is a 14-day money-back guarantee on all paid plans.
Shastra works with any website platform