--- title: Apps description: Build Polkadot Products, sandboxed apps that run inside the Polkadot Hosts, addressed by .dot domain names, and signed by the user's phone. categories: - Apps url: https://docs.polkadot.com/apps/ word_count: 791 token_estimate: 1263 version_hash: sha256:96b5385e397fac2af1d038661cded23703a17ad61d1391ed952916394795e39f last_updated: '2026-06-18T10:12:03+00:00' --- # Build a Polkadot Product ## Get the Polkadot App The Polkadot App is your wallet, identity, and signer: the center of everything you build. Install it first; every path below connects through it.
[:material-apple: App Store — Coming soon]() [:material-google-play: Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.pcf.polkadotapp)
## Then Pick Your Path
- Guide **Deploy a Product in Under 15 Minutes** --- Go from nothing to a live `.dot` Product: in your browser with RevX, or from the terminal with the CLI. No local environment to set up. [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Quick Start](/apps/quick-start/) - Guide **Develop Locally (the Full Route)** --- Install Polkadot Desktop, pair it with your phone, and get TestNet tokens, then build your Product capability by capability. [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Get Started](/apps/get-started/)
## What Is a Polkadot Product? _Polkadot Products_ are what _you_ build: third-party applications that run _inside_ one of the Polkadot Apps. Products are sandboxed single-page apps (HTML / JS / CSS), addressed by `.dot` names (e.g., `awesome.dot`), registered on-chain through a decentralized name service, and they never see the user's private key. The bundle itself is published to a decentralized cloud storage provider and fetched by the Host on demand. _Polkadot Apps_ are the three applications that can host Polkadot Products, collectively known as the _Polkadot Triangle_: - **[Polkadot Desktop](/reference/apps/hosts/polkadot-desktop/)**: The workstation host. Loads Polkadot Products by their `.dot` name and runs them in a sandbox. - **[Polkadot App](/reference/apps/hosts/polkadot-app/)**: The mobile wallet and signer. Holds the user's private key and approves every signing request. - **[Polkadot Web](/reference/apps/hosts/polkadot-web/)**: The browser host at `dot.li`. Resolves `.dot` names client-side via a light client and renders the Product in a sandboxed iframe. You build Polkadot Products. They run inside one of the Polkadot Apps. This section teaches you how. ![The Polkadot Triangle: Polkadot Desktop at the top, Polkadot App at the bottom-left, Polkadot Web at the bottom-right, with Polkadot Product running inside](/images/apps/index/polkadot-triangle.svg) For the architectural breakdown covering how the Product, SDK, Host, and Polkadot infrastructure relate, see the [App Development Reference](/reference/apps/). ## Why Build a Polkadot Product? Polkadot Apps is a complete environment for building Web3 decentralized applications: **Wallet built-in**: The Polkadot App on the user's phone is the wallet for every Polkadot Product they use. No wallet integration code, no "Connect Wallet" button to design, no signing plumbing to maintain. Your Product receives a derived per-user account and asks for signatures; approvals happen on the user's phone. **Identity built-in**: Per-Product accounts are derived from the user's `.dot` identity, so there is no signup flow. With [Proof of Personhood](/reference/apps/infrastructure/pop/), you can gate features on verified-human status without seeing who the user is, a privacy-preserving humans-only access model built into the platform. Need to recognize the same user across two of your Products? Same alias system, scoped to your Product set. **Decentralized hosting**: Your bundle lives on a decentralized cloud storage provider. Your `.dot` name lives in a decentralized name service. There is no centralized hosting provider, no DNS service, no platform in the middle. Users fetch your Product directly and verify it themselves. **Product SDK**: The Product SDK covers what you would otherwise integrate yourself: - **Chain access**: Query state and submit transactions through the Host. No RPC servers to operate; signing prompts open on the user's phone. - **Decentralized storage**: Upload files, get a permanent content-addressed URL. - **Real-time signed messaging**: Pub/sub between users of your Product via the [Statement Store](/reference/apps/infrastructure/statement-store/), every message verifiable. - **Privacy-preserving payments**: Request, top up, track status. Built on [Coinage](/reference/apps/infrastructure/pop/pallet-coinage/). - **Chat**: Rooms, bots, interactive action buttons. - **Identity**: Derived per-Product accounts, plus optional [Proof of Personhood](/reference/apps/infrastructure/pop/) gating. - **Local storage**: Per-Product key/value, persisted on the user's device. Permissions (microphone access, outbound network requests, on-chain transaction submission, and more) are declared in your Product's [manifest](/reference/apps/hosts/polkadot-desktop/permissions/) and prompted at runtime. Users see exactly what your Product can access before they grant it. The Host enforces the boundary inside its [sandbox](/reference/apps/protocol/truapi/sandbox/), not your code. **Three Hosts, one Product**: The same `.dot` bundle runs in the mobile Polkadot App, on the workstation in Polkadot Desktop, and in any browser via Polkadot Web. You do not write three apps; the Triangle abstracts the platform.