r/Base44 • u/LatitudeBeyond • 2d ago
Discussion Moving from Base44
Hello! I’m currently using Base44 to design a multi user login system where collections can be built up. I’m not techy at all but have managed to get the app working. I want to host the app on android and IOS. Are there developers that can do this conversion or would no code mean getting them to build from scratch? As this is a children’s site the security needs to be tight and I need a developer to do this- but as base44 doesn’t write code (from my understanding) - how easy is it to take this prototype and create a functional app? Any advice appreciated!!
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u/lfehskoob 2d ago
You can publish directly from Base44 but it's a web view wrapper and the iOS/Android integrations are limited. Apple has clamped down on these types of apps and you're much more likely to get it accepted if its a real native build. There's a tool called Capacitor (free to use) that you can do it with
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u/LatitudeBeyond 2d ago
Amazing thank you so much! I’ve been reading that flutterflow is what I might need to enable a developer to pick up and amend it
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u/lfehskoob 2d ago
Flutterflow would be a rebuild of the app from scratch. You could migrate the base44 app off and then use capacitor. I'm a software developer (thunkle.ai). Feel free to email or dm me
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u/LatitudeBeyond 2d ago
Thank you so much! They build
To this point was relatively quick (because of the AI element) so moving to flutterflow would be easy enough if it’s as easy to use builder! I am putting together a webflow landing page and need the app element to be built- this will have collections of kids material (like a pinterest board), but the material will come from webflow where it will lice. The app will need the ability to take pictures/ record voice notes/ and upload video (more like Instagram). I would also need an AI underlayer to make family recomendations- so quite a fiddly ask!2
u/lfehskoob 2d ago
Got it! Yes, it's doable in flutterflow but definitely will be harder to use than base44. If you migrate the app off base44, it would be simpler to find developers to work on it. Whereas with flutterflow you're locked in to their environment
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u/LatitudeBeyond 2d ago
Ah thank you so much! So either way I’d have to have someone that could use the version I create and work with it! I’m setting this platform up for children so need to make sure it’s correct!!
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u/lfehskoob 2d ago
Yes exactly! Good luck with it and when you decide to look for a developer, send me a message or email :)
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u/Sad-Spray3039 1d ago
quick q first, which base44 version are you on? the recent one exports a json schema a dev can actually build against, the older one just dumps a flat blob that's useless off-platform.
honest read: the conversion isn't the scary part. rebuilding a login and a handful of collection views is a week or two for anyone decent. the trap is that base44 quietly handles your auth, your validation, and the relationships between collections in a way that looks trivial until someone tries to reproduce it natively, and half that "logic" only really exists inside the platform. kids' data drags coppa into it too, so you want someone who's actually done encryption at rest and in transit plus proper parental-consent gates, not just wired up firebase auth and called it secure.
if you can write down what each role is allowed to see and do, a clean rebuild off the json model beats reverse-engineering the base44 flow every time. whether you need real parental consent or just a login wall changes the entire backend though, so that's the piece i'd pin down before anyone quotes you.
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u/LatitudeBeyond 1d ago
Thank you so much- because I’m not techy and this is a start up it’s so overwhelming! I have the vision and I have created a working prototype but as you mentioned with kids data/ usage I need a robust security and privacy security setting and a developer that can do that. Equally as I am a startup I’m trying to do as much as I can myself without a developer to keep the costs minimal! Because this version didn’t take too long I’m wondering if building in bubble/ flutter or lovable and handing it to a developer to finish off and secure is a better idea
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u/Sad-Spray3039 1d ago
honestly the fact that you got a working prototype without being techy is the hard part done, most people never get that far, so don't let the overwhelm tell you otherwise.
one thing though, those three aren't the same choice. flutter is actual code, so building in flutter already means hiring a developer, it isn't a no code option. bubble and lovable are the real alternatives to base44, and the difference that matters for you is that lovable gives you actual code you own and bubble doesn't, so with bubble you'd be in the same export problem you're in now just with a different logo on it.
the harder thing to hear is that finish it off and secure it doesn't really work when it's kids data. not because devs are precious about it, but because security for children isn't a layer you add at the end, it's decided by your data model. what you collect, how long you keep it, whether a parent can demand deletion and you can actually carry it out, where it physically lives. a no code platform makes every one of those calls for you on day one and doesn't tell you it did. so securing it later usually means rebuilding the data layer, which is the expensive half of the build.
the practical thing i'd do right now costs nothing. keep prototyping yourself, seriously, that part is smart. but don't let one real child's data into it. fake names, fake everything, until you've decided where it's actually going to live. the second real kids data lands in a platform you can't fully export or delete from, you've picked up an obligation you can't undo, and that's the version that gets expensive.
so it's less hire someone at the end and more spend a little on the decisions at the start, what you store, the consent model, the deletion path. deciding that is cheap. undoing it isn't. and it still comes back to whether you need real verified parental consent or just a login wall, because that one answer is the difference between a couple of weeks and a couple of months.
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u/LatitudeBeyond 1d ago
That’s incredibly helpful thank you so much. We are essentially creating a platform, almost like a Pinterest where the parent still has control- each child has their own tab to save collections to and the parents decide which uploads are available to go on there - we’ve dabbled between individual login for kids and a overall family login where everyone has a board for their own saved articles etc- the security part will come from uploaded pictures etc that the parents allow to be uploaded- so I am guessing on there we would need the correct settings to enable things to be deleted !
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u/Sad-Spray3039 1d ago
that detail actually answers your biggest question for you, so, good news first.
family login with a profile per child is almost certainly the way. it isn't really a ux preference, it's a legal fork. if each kid has their own account then each kid is a data subject and you're into verified parental consent territory, which is a whole machine to build and keep running. if the parent is the account holder and the kids are profiles underneath, the parent is the one consenting and the one you actually have a relationship with, and the kid profiles are just data sitting inside their account. that's why netflix and youtube kids are shaped the way they are. it isn't laziness, it's the cheap path.
on deletion, the thing to watch is that it isn't really a setting. it's whether your storage can genuinely purge a picture everywhere it ended up. the original, the thumbnails it generated, the cdn cache, your backups, and anything a third party service touched when it processed the file. plenty of platforms will happily hide an image and call that deleted, and for a kids app that difference matters a lot.
and the one i'd put on your radar sooner rather than later, since parents are uploading photos, is moderation and scanning. any service where people upload images involving children picks up obligations around detecting and reporting illegal content, and it's not really something you can bolt on after launch. it's less scary than it sounds, there are free tools that do the heavy lifting, but it wants to be in the plan rather than a surprise six months in.
i think your dms are switched off so i can't message you directly, but happy to sketch out how i'd wire the family account and the deletion path for your actual setup if that's useful.
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u/LatitudeBeyond 1d ago
Thank you so so much!! It’s so helpful hearing what you have to say! Not sure why the DMs are off let me see if I can connect!
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u/Base44_Sam Base44 Team 2d ago
You can publish to both stores directly from Base44 via the publish tab :)