Your app was built with React, a framework for building web apps. Unfortunately, React is not fully compatible with native mobile apps. This problem is usually solved by using a similar framework specifically designed for mobile apps, like React Native.
You can still get your app published for the App Store, it just wonāt be quite as streamlined as Boltās recommended approach.
Thereās no easy or straightforward way to convert a React app to a React Native app, so to do this ārightā, youād need to get it rebuilt from scratch.
Thatās why the dev shop you quoted you so much - they arenāt going to use an AI building tool, and thereās no simple way to do a direct conversion to a mobile framework, so theyād have to rebuild from scratch.
I still think they quoted you high and added some unnecessary fluff, but thatās where they were coming from.
With Bolt, you can build mobile-native applications by using their React Native / Expo starter kit, or including āmobile appā in your very first prompt.
This would give you a React Native app from the start, and youād be able to deploy it to the App Store quickly following their guide.
However - you already spent a ton of time on this, and Iām sure youād rather get something in front of your users than spend a bunch of time rebuilding, even if itās not gonna cost you $8k. So that takes us to option 3ā¦
To avoid paying $8k, and to avoid rebuilding your whole app, you can use a tool like Capacitor to basically wrap your app up in a shell that can be deployed as a native app on iOS or Android.
The caveat here is your app might not feel truly ānativeā, because itās essentially just an in-app browser running inside an empty shell with your app. However, I think this trade-off is worth it when it means you can get your app in front of real users ASAP.
Iād recommend you go with Option 3ļøā£, and deploy your app with Capacitor.
Check the HOW_TO.md file for instructions!