Questions and answers

Serentelli builds real apps from a conversation. You tell Tatanka, our buffalo guide, what you need. Tatanka asks a few questions, writes a plain plan, and once you sign it and pay, we build your app, host it and look after it.

You don't need to know anything about code or websites.

Tatanka is Serentelli's AI guide. It helps you plan your app, builds it the way a developer would, and answers questions like these. Like any developer it can make mistakes, which is why you try a test version before anything goes live.

1. Type your idea on build.serentelli.com.

2. Answer a few tap-to-pick questions (you can type your own answers too).

3. Confirm your email with a short code, then read your plan: what the app does, its screens, how it looks, and its price.

4. Ask for changes to the plan until it's right, then sign it and pay.

5. We build it and email you a test version to try. Anything that doesn't match your plan, we fix free (up to 3 rounds).

6. When you say it's right, it goes live.

No. Telling Tatanka your idea, answering its questions and getting your plan are free. You pay only when you sign the plan.

If you'd like more design work before you decide, you can buy a design package (see Design packages).

Yes. Every app is a web app: it works in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, and people can add it to their home screen so it opens like an app. That's included.

Yes, as an add-on. We build the web app first, and the store listing is priced once your app is live. Most people don't need it.

It can go under your own Apple and Google developer accounts (Apple's costs about $99 a year, Google's is a one-time $25, and we give you simple steps to set them up), or under Serentelli's accounts for a small share of revenue or a fee we agree with you.

Apple and Google run their own sign-up and review, so we can't promise approval or how long they take.

Yes. In the chat, tap the paperclip, paste or drop files in: up to 8 files. Pictures (PNG, JPG, GIF or WebP), Word and Excel files, CSV and plain text all work. PDFs aren't accepted; save a page as a picture instead.

No. Your app is designed in your own style. Tatanka always asks how you'd like it to look, and your plan has a "How it looks" line you sign.

We say yes to every legal app. We don't build gambling, adult content, copies of real brands or companies, scams, anything that collects passwords for another service, or anything illegal or meant to harm people.

It depends on the tier your app needs:

Simple: $99 to build, then $19 a month.

Standard: $299 to build, then $49 a month.

Advanced: $999 to build, then $149 a month.

Protected: $2,499 to build, then $399 a month.

You see the exact price on your plan before you sign. The monthly plan covers hosting, upkeep, and daylight for changes.

Simple: one-purpose tools like sign-up sheets, RSVPs, menus, event pages and small business sites. The owner can have a private sign-in to edit their own content.

Standard: people log in and keep their own saved information, several people can help run it, email notices. Apps that keep children's names or other people's contact details are at least Standard.

Advanced: take payments, different kinds of users, each with their own access, bookings, connect to outside services.

Protected: keeps health or medical records, bank or card details, ID documents, or private records about children, with the extra protection they need.

Tatanka picks it from what your app needs to do and keep, and shows it on your plan. If you change your plan, the tier and price can change with it.

Protections Tatanka adds when your app keeps something sensitive, each with a plain reason. Required ones (for example logins when an app keeps children's names) always stay. Recommended ones stay unless you untick them before you sign.

Optional extra design work before you build:

Starter, $49: A logo for your app; 3 looks to pick from, each with its colors and lettering; Your plan, written up to keep.

Blueprint, $149: Everything in Starter; Clickable mock screens you can tap through; How each kind of person uses it, step by step; A short look at what's out there already; The choices to make, with Tatanka's pick.

Pro Blueprint, $499: Everything in Blueprint; A full spec: who can do what, what it keeps, its rules and what it connects to; Yours to own and take to any developer.

Yes. If you sign a build plan within 30 days of buying the package, what you paid comes off the build fee, up to the whole build fee.

If the package cost more than your build, the rest can come off a later move up a tier, while it's still within those 30 days.

Yes, whether or not you build with us. You can print it or save it as a PDF from its page. A package is paid before Tatanka starts it and isn't refunded once it has started.

The build fee and your first month, plus a domain if you chose to rent one. After that the monthly plan is charged on the same day each month.

By card, through Stripe's secure checkout. We never see or keep your card number. Your bank may ask you to confirm the payment.

Tap "Have a promotion code?" on your plan or at checkout and type it in. Depending on the code, it can take money off the build fee, some months of your plan, or a domain you rent. Codes don't apply to extra daylight, and most can be used once per person.

If a code stops working before you pay, we take it off and show you the new total.

The build fee pays for building your app on Serentelli, so it isn't refunded once building starts. Monthly payments, design packages, extra daylight, tier moves and domains aren't refunded once they've started or been bought.

If someone takes your domain name before we can buy it, we refund what you paid for the domain.

Payments people make inside your app carry a Serentelli service charge of 2%, plus the card processor's own fee. You're the seller, so refunds, taxes and delivering what you sell are up to you.

Before your app goes live, we email you a link to a test version. Try everything that matters to you, with real-looking information.

Tap "Something's not right" on your app's page and say what's wrong. Anything that doesn't match your signed plan, we fix free, up to 3 rounds. If you still need help after that, email support@serentelli.com.

Something new that wasn't in your plan is a change, not a fix. Ask for it once your app is live; it uses daylight.

When your test version is right, tap "It's right. Make it live." We then make it live at its address and email you. Once you approve, you're the one running the app, so check it well first.

Daylight is what we use to make changes and fixes to your live app. Your monthly plan gives each app 100% every month, and its page shows how much is left.

It refills on the 1st of each month. Unused daylight doesn't carry over, and each app has its own; it isn't shared between your apps.

Email support@serentelli.com (or reply to any of our emails) and say what you'd like changed. Changes after approval use your daylight. If we broke something that used to work, fixing it doesn't.

Add more on your app's page. One extra month's worth adds another 100%, and you can add up to 3 at a time:

Simple: $9 for each extra month's worth.

Standard: $27 for each extra month's worth.

Advanced: $135 for each extra month's worth.

Protected: $135 for each extra month's worth.

Choose "Just this month" (it's gone when the month ends) or "Every month" (added and charged on the 1st until you stop it). Stopping keeps what's already added until the month ends.

Yes: tap "Move up" on your live app's page. You pay the difference between the two build prices once, and the new tier's monthly price starts with your next bill. The bigger tier's daylight starts right away.

For example, Simple to Standard is $200 once, then $49 a month.

Then tell us at support@serentelli.com which new features you'd like. A move up isn't refunded once it's paid.

We host it for you; there's nothing to set up. Hosting and upkeep are part of the monthly plan.

Every app gets a free address like your-app.serentelli.com. You can also rent a domain of your own from us, like yourbusiness.com, or use one you already own.

Pick a name when you sign your plan and pay for 1 to 10 years up front. The price shown includes everything. We buy the domain, own it and rent it to you, and your app works there as well as at its serentelli.com address.

You choose the name, so it's up to you that it doesn't copy someone else's business name or trademark.

Yes, free. After you pay, we show you one record to add where you bought the domain. Once it's in, your app works there too. You keep owning it and paying for it where you bought it.

We email you 60, 30, 7 days before and on the day they end, and your app's page shows a Renew button. Renewing pays for 1 to 10 more years at the price shown.

If you don't renew, we let the domain go when its years end. Your serentelli.com address keeps working.

We try your card again for about 7 days and email you a link to update it. Your app's page has an "Update my card" button too. Once the card works, the bill is paid straight away.

If a payment still can't be made after those tries, your app is paused: it shows a short "paused for now" page, and nothing is deleted.

To bring it back, tap "Restart my app" on your app's page and pay. Your monthly plan starts again from that day, and the weeks it was paused aren't charged.

If it stays paused for 30 days, it closes the way a cancelled app does.

Tap "Cancel this app" on your app's page, once there's a test version to try. While we're building or fixing it, email support@serentelli.com.

Cancelling stops the monthly plan and any extra daylight you add every month, so nothing more is charged. The month you've paid isn't refunded.

Your app stays up until the end of the month you paid for, and you can tap "Keep my app" until then. After that it's taken down and its addresses point to serentelli.com.

We keep its information, so you can ask support@serentelli.com for a copy.

Yes. We move it to you for a $49 domain move fee, with any years you've already paid for, once everything is paid and no payment is disputed. Plans signed before November 2, 2026 get the move free, as their terms promised.

If you don't take it, it points to serentelli.com and we may sell it. A domain you already owned is always yours; just remove the record you added for us.

Go to build.serentelli.com/signin and type your email. We email you a link that signs you in; it works once, for 60 minutes. There's no password to remember.

Yes. All your apps are under My apps. Each one has its own tier, price, daylight and address.

Yes. Sign in and open your app's page, then use "Alerts on your phone". Phone alerts are free and work in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari. On iPhone, first add build.serentelli.com to your home screen (Share, then Add to Home Screen) and turn alerts on from there.

You can also get texts at a US mobile number. We only text about your apps, like a payment that didn't go through, and you can reply STOP any time.

You do. What you and your users put into your app is yours. We keep it private and never sell it.

At build.serentelli.com/terms. Your plan shows a short version above the sign button.

Ask Tatanka on build.serentelli.com/faq, or email support@serentelli.com. Tatanka answers first. For Advanced and Protected apps, a person steps in when Tatanka can't sort it out.