Mobile app (iOS)

Multica's iOS client is open-source and lives in the main repo alongside web, desktop, and backend. It isn't on the App Store yet — until that changes, anyone who wants it on their iPhone builds from source. The build takes about 10–20 minutes the first time and ~2 minutes after that, and it talks to the same backend as multica.ai so your existing account just works.

What you need

• A Mac with Xcode installed (free from the App Store).

• A free Apple ID added under Xcode → Settings → Accounts. A paid Apple Developer Program account is optional and only extends the 7-day signing window to 1 year — see 7-day limit below.

• An iPhone connected via USB cable, with Developer Mode enabled (Settings → Privacy & Security → Developer Mode).

• The Multica source code checked out:

  git clone https://github.com/multica-ai/multica.git
  cd multica
  pnpm install

If anything in that list is missing, walk through Expo's Set up your environment (pick Development build → iOS Device) — it's the canonical setup guide for everything except the repo checkout.

Build it

One command:

pnpm ios:mobile:device:prod:release

Xcode signs the build with the "Personal Team" your Apple ID automatically owns — this team is created silently the first time you sign into Xcode with any Apple ID, so it's there even if you don't remember setting anything up. This is a Release build: no Metro dependency, splash → app, exactly like an App Store install.

The first build downloads CocoaPods + compiles React Native from source — expect 10–20 minutes. Subsequent builds reuse Xcode's cache.

That's it for the typical path. If signing fails, jump to Troubleshooting.

7-day signing limit

A free Apple ID signs builds for 7 days. After that, the app refuses to launch on your iPhone and shows an "untrusted developer" error. Plug back into your Mac and re-run the same command to re-sign — your data stays put because it lives on the backend, not in the app.

The only way to extend this is an Apple Developer Program account ($99/yr from developer.apple.com). Signing is then valid for 1 year between renewals, and you can also distribute to other devices via TestFlight.

Updating

There is no auto-update yet. When the Multica codebase moves forward, pull and rebuild:

git pull
pnpm install
pnpm ios:mobile:device:prod:release

Subsequent builds are fast because Xcode caches the native compile.

Why no App Store yet

The iOS app is still moving fast — the team prefers ship-and-iterate over App Store review cycles right now. A TestFlight beta is the most likely next step before a full App Store release. Until then, the self-build path above is the only way to use Multica on iOS.

If you'd like to be notified when TestFlight opens, watch the GitHub repo.

Troubleshooting

"No matching provisioning profiles found" — Xcode refuses to sign the default bundle id ai.multica.mobile with your Apple ID. Rare, but happens if someone has registered that prefix on Apple's developer portal. Pick any reverse-domain you control (com.yourname.multica is fine), export it, and re-run:

export EXPO_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER_PROD=com.yourname.multica
pnpm ios:mobile:device:prod:release

The id doesn't have to mean anything — Apple just needs it to be unclaimed by other teams.

"Could not launch <app>" / "Untrusted Developer" — either you've hit the 7-day limit (re-run the build) or you need to manually trust the developer profile on your iPhone: Settings → General → VPN & Device Management → tap your Apple ID → Trust.

Build hangs on Pod install or compiles forever — first build is genuinely 10–20 minutes because CocoaPods downloads dependencies and Xcode compiles React Native from source. Subsequent builds are much faster.

App can't reach the backend — confirm apps/mobile/.env.production hasn't been modified (it ships with EXPO_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.multica.ai). If you changed it, restore with git checkout apps/mobile/.env.production.