PrestaShop has no official app for the back office. You have three real options: open the responsive back office in a phone browser, buy an app builder if what you want is a shopping app for customers, or use an admin app built for the owner. Only the last one turns store work into something you can do one-handed.
The official answer
PrestaShop's help center answers this directly in its mobile article: currently, there is no official application available to manage your back office. The recommendation is to open the back office in a phone browser.
The same page is refreshingly honest about what that gets you. Using the back office on mobile, it says, is not about fully managing the store, because that remains more practical on a computer. It is about a few key functions while on the move: tracking orders, managing clients and keeping up with customer service.
Option 1: the back office in a phone browser
It is free, it is already there, and it can do everything, because it is the real back office. Log in from your phone browser and use the menu icon in the top left. On Android you can add it to your home screen so it opens like an app.
What you give up is everything that makes an app an app. It is a desktop layout on a small screen, so tables scroll sideways and buttons sit close together. Nothing tells you a new order arrived, because a web page only knows things while you are looking at it. And a session that expires while you are at the warehouse means logging in again with a password on a phone keyboard.
Option 2: app builders, which solve a different problem
Search for a PrestaShop mobile app and most results are app builders. These take your storefront and produce an app for your customers: browsing, add-to-cart, checkout, published under your brand in the app stores.
That can be a good investment if you have repeat buyers. It does nothing for the person running the store. If you are trying to check today's revenue from a train, an app builder is not the category you want, and knowing that saves you the price of one.
Option 3: admin apps, built for the owner
An admin app connects to your store and gives you the daily work in a mobile layout: orders and their statuses, customers, products and stock, sales figures, messages. Several exist for PrestaShop, from one-person projects to module vendors' companion apps, so it is worth checking a few things before you trust one with your store.
PrestaOne is our own answer in this category: install the module, scan a QR code from the Back Office, and the store is connected in minutes. No webservice API keys to create, and no store business data passing through our servers. See what the PrestaOne app covers.
What to check before you trust an admin app
- How it connects. A QR pairing takes minutes. Webservice API keys are the most common place setups fail, and the most common complaint in app store reviews for this category.
- Whether it is maintained. Check the last update date and which PrestaShop versions are listed. An app that has not shipped since your last upgrade is a risk, not a tool.
- Where your data goes.Ask whether orders and customer details pass through the vendor's servers, and what is stored there.
- What happens when you are not looking. Notifications are the difference between an app and a mobile web page.
- What it costs after the trial. Free downloads that need a paid module to do anything are the norm in this category, so look for the full price before you install.
Which option should you pick?
| Back office in a browser | Mobile app builders | PrestaOne app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | You | Your shoppers | You |
| What it does | The full back office, on a small screen | Turns your storefront into a shopping app | Runs the daily work of the store |
| Tells you about a new order | Only if you go and look | No | Push notification in seconds |
| Built for one-handed use | No, it is a desktop layout | Yes, for buying | Yes, for running the store |
| Setup | None, log in | App build and store review | Install the module, scan a QR code |
