How to build a stock tracker app for iOS
What a stock tracker app needs
- A watchlist of tickers with current price and daily change
- Price charts across ranges like one day, one week, one month, and one year
- A portfolio with holdings, cost basis, and unrealized gains and losses
- Price alerts delivered as notifications when a ticker crosses a level
- A market data API for quotes and historical prices
- An optional news feed and a Home Screen widget for watched tickers
The data feed is the deciding factor. Free APIs often give delayed quotes, while real-time data is licensed and metered, so pick the source before you design the screens.
How to build it with AppFlight
Describe it in plain English, for example: "A stock tracker with a watchlist of tickers showing price and daily change, a detail screen with a price chart over several time ranges, a portfolio where I enter shares and cost basis to see my gains and losses, and price alerts that notify me when a stock crosses a target. Pull quotes from a market data API." AppFlight plans the screens, generates native SwiftUI, and launches it in a live simulator. Connect Supabase with one click so your data API keys stay server-side instead of shipping in the app, and ask AppFlight to wire the requests. You iterate by asking for changes in plain language.
Monetization for a stock tracker app
A subscription is the natural fit, because it also covers the recurring cost of the data feed. Free users get delayed quotes and a small watchlist; the subscription unlocks real-time data, unlimited tickers, more alerts, and advanced charts. Add a RevenueCat paywall for subscriptions, and use Superwall if you want to test paywall designs without shipping an update. Two considerations specific to this niche: market data APIs usually restrict how you redistribute their data, so read the terms, and keep your app informational rather than offering financial advice, since finance apps draw closer review.
Shipping it to the App Store
When the app is ready, AppFlight signs the build, uploads to TestFlight so you can check live data on your own device, then submits to the App Store with metadata and screenshots from the simulator. If Apple rejects the build, AppFlight reads the reason, fixes the issue, and resubmits. Apple reviews every app, and finance apps in particular get a careful look, so a submission is not the same as an approval, but the whole pipeline runs without you opening Xcode.
FAQ
Do I need to code to build a stock tracker app?
No. You describe the app in plain English and AppFlight generates native Swift and SwiftUI for the watchlist, charts, and portfolio screens.
Where does the price data come from?
You connect a market data API. Free and delayed feeds exist, while real-time data is usually licensed and paid. AppFlight builds the app around the API you choose, and you can store your keys in your own Supabase backend.
How do stock tracker apps make money?
A subscription that unlocks real-time data, more alerts, and larger watchlists is common, since it also offsets the cost of the data feed. A RevenueCat paywall handles this.