No plugin to install — Free App Maker never touches wp-admin, so it works on free WordPress.com sites that can't install plugins at all, as well as on self-hosted WordPress.org. Paste your URL, get a signed Android APK in about 60 seconds.
Written by the Free App Maker team at My Mind Studio · Last verified 26 August 2026
Yes — you can turn a WordPress site into an Android app without installing a plugin, including a free WordPress.com site. Publish your site, paste its public URL into Free App Maker, and a signed APK is ready in about 60 seconds. Building and previewing are free; downloading the signed APK is a one-time unlock, with the price shown before checkout.
Source for the free-plan plugin limit: WordPress.com Support — Plugins, checked 26 Aug 2026.
WordPress powers 40.7% of all websites and 58.9% of the CMS market — more than every other content management system combined (W3Techs, August 2026).
It comes in two flavors that people constantly mix up. WordPress.com is the hosted service: you sign up, pick a theme, hit Publish, and your site is live at an address like yoursite.wordpress.com (or a custom domain).
Self-hosted WordPress.org is the open-source software you run on your own hosting, with full wp-admin control and plugins installed via Plugins → Add New.
Either way, what you end up with is a live website at a public URL — a blog, a WooCommerce store, a portfolio, a community site. Free App Maker is a website to APK converter: it takes that public URL and wraps it in a signed Android app. Your site keeps living wherever it lives; the app is simply a dedicated, installable window onto it.
Sources: W3Techs — WordPress usage statistics (40.7% of all websites) and WordPress.com Support — Plugins (over 50,000 plugins in the WordPress.org repository), both checked 26 Aug 2026. The 60-second figure is our own average build time, measured on the Free App Maker build pipeline.
An app-builder plugin has to be installed and maintained inside wp-admin. That works fine if you run self-hosted WordPress with full admin rights. But as of August 2026 WordPress.com's official documentation is explicit: installing plugins is available on paid plans (Personal, Premium, Business, and Commerce) — free sites cannot install plugins at all.
Source: WordPress.com Support — Plugins, checked 26 Aug 2026. Plan rules can change; check the current page before relying on it.
Free App Maker sidesteps the plugin question entirely. It does not log into your site or touch wp-admin, and it installs nothing. It only needs the public URL — so it works on a free WordPress.com blog, on a client's site you have no admin access to, and on a locked-down company install: the places a plugin-based app builder can't reach.
Honesty about how it works: the APK wraps your live site in an Android WebView. Your site must be online and public for the app to show content. What your pages do on the mobile web — forms, checkout, comments, embeds — should work in the app too; native-only device APIs that web pages can't use (Bluetooth, NFC, background services) are not available.
No Android Studio. No Gradle. No plugin in wp-admin. Just paste your URL and your APK is ready in about a minute.
On WordPress.com, that's https://yoursite.wordpress.com or your custom domain. On self-hosted WordPress, it's simply your domain. Make sure the site is publicly visible: on WordPress.com, check Settings → Reading → Site Visibility is set to Public — sites in Coming Soon or Private mode won't load for visitors.
Paste your URL into Free App Maker at freeappmaker.org. Enter a name for your Android app (this appears under the home screen icon) and your email address. Optionally upload a square 1024×1024 PNG icon — if you skip it, we generate a clean default icon automatically from your app name.
Free App Maker wraps your WordPress URL into a WebView APK and signs it — your build is ready on the build screen in about 60 seconds. Building and previewing your app is free; downloading the signed APK is covered by a one-time unlock, and its exact price is always shown before you pay. Open the APK on any Android device, tap Install, and your WordPress site runs as a standalone app with its own home screen icon.
Source for the WordPress.com Site Visibility options (Public, Coming Soon, Private) described in step 1: WordPress.com Support — Control your site visibility, checked 26 Aug 2026.
Ready to convert your WordPress site right now?
Start Free — Takes About 60 Seconds →From solo bloggers to agencies managing dozens of client installs, an Android app opens distribution channels a bookmarked tab doesn't reach.
Your readers already visit on their phones — give them an icon instead of a bookmark. A post you publish shows up the next time the app loads that page, because the app shows your live site. Share the APK link in your newsletter or Telegram group and your blog lives on readers' home screens.
Your storefront, cart, and checkout are web pages — in most cases they work inside the app the way they work in Chrome on a phone. Give repeat customers a one-tap way back to your store. Test a full order on a real device before you share the app, just as you would after any theme change.
Event calendars, announcements, member pages — WordPress handles the content, the APK handles the reach. Distribute the app directly via a download link in WhatsApp or email; no Play Store listing, developer account, or review wait needed for members to install it.
A client asks for "an app version" of the WordPress site you built. Because Free App Maker needs only the public URL, you deliver an installable Android app without touching the client's wp-admin — no new plugin to install, no plugin conflicts to debug, nothing added to their maintenance load.
Free App Maker uses a full Android WebView, so most modern web features behave much the way they do in Chrome. Here's a practical breakdown for WordPress sites.
Sources for the two WordPress.com rows above: WordPress.com Support — Ads on WordPress.com and WordPress.com Support — Control your site visibility, both checked 26 Aug 2026.
Not sure if your WordPress site is compatible? Run it through our free WebView Compatibility Checker before you build. And this flow isn't WordPress-only — any live page can be wrapped, as our URL to APK guide shows.
There are several ways to get a WordPress site onto Android. Here's how they compare on time, cost, and what they require from your WordPress install.
| Approach | Free App Maker ✓ | WordPress App Plugins | Hire an Android Dev | DIY Android Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plugin install on your site | None — paste the URL | Required, in wp-admin | Not needed | Not needed |
| Works on WordPress.com Free plan | ✓ Yes | ✗ No — free sites can't install plugins | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Time to first APK | ~60 seconds | Varies by product | Weeks of developer time | A day or more of setup |
| Cost | Free to build — one-time unlock to download | e.g. AppPresser from $59/mo billed annually | Agency or contractor rates | Your time |
| Coding required | None | Plugin + builder setup | Full native dev | Java / Kotlin |
| Auto-updates when your site changes | ✓ Yes | Varies by product | New build needed | New build needed |
| No Android Studio needed | ✓ Yes | Varies by product | Dev handles it | ✗ Required |
| Signed APK included | ✓ Yes | Varies by product | ✓ Yes | Sign manually |
Competitor pricing checked 26 August 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page: AppPresser (Standard, $59/mo billed annually or $79/mo billed monthly, as of August 2026). The WordPress.com Free-plan row is from WordPress.com Support — Plugins, checked 26 Aug 2026. Other app-builder plugins have their own pricing and feature sets — check each vendor's site for current details.
Beyond the speed, there are real technical and practical advantages to converting your WordPress site with us.
Because the APK loads your live WordPress URL at runtime, new posts and edits show up the next time the app loads that page — subject to any caching or CDN you run. No app review, no new build, no forced update prompt for users.
Each APK we generate is digitally signed, so Android will install it once the device allows installs from your source. Android still shows its standard unknown-source prompt for any app that didn't come from Play. Share it as a direct download link, in a newsletter, or through your community — no store listing required.
Installing Android Studio and running a Gradle build on your own machine is a detour before you ever see a first APK. Free App Maker's build pipeline runs server-side in optimized containers and delivers your APK in about 60 seconds. Iterate quickly — test a new app name or icon in minutes.
Your launcher icon has to exist at every screen density Android needs. Free App Maker auto-generates those sizes from a single 1024×1024 PNG. No Figma, no Photoshop, no manual export needed. We generate a default icon if you don't have one.
No plugin means nothing new to update, no compatibility worries with your theme or existing plugins, and no wp-admin access needed. It leaves your WordPress site untouched — including sites where installing plugins isn't even possible.
Our APKs run on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and above. Whether your readers run Samsung Galaxy budget phones or Pixel flagships, the WebView rendering engine is kept up to date through the Google Play Store on devices that have it.
Everything you need to know about converting a WordPress site to an Android APK.
Sources: WordPress.com Support — Plugins and WordPress.com Support — Ads on WordPress.com, both checked 26 Aug 2026.
Source: WordPress.com Support — Ads on WordPress.com, checked 26 Aug 2026.
Source: WordPress.com Support — Control your site visibility, checked 26 Aug 2026.
Source: Android Developers — About Android App Bundles, checked 26 Aug 2026.
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