Web apps

What is a web app in TeleportHQ?

September 15, 2026
What is a web app in TeleportHQ?

In TeleportHQ, a Web App is a project that uses features that need a server: workflows, user sign-in, an online store, online bookings, a blog or help center, an admin panel or an AI chatbot for visitors. A website (a Presentation Website in the app) presents your business, and it can still show and hide elements, open pop-ups and run calendars, countdowns and other widgets in the visitor's browser. Web apps publish and run from TeleportHQ, their code can't be downloaded, and each web app needs a Web App slot to keep running after a 7-day full-access window.

Website or web app: which one do you have?

Every TeleportHQ project is either a website (the app calls it a Presentation Website) or a Web App.

  • Website. A site that presents your business: pages, text, images, forms that email you, and interactive parts that run in the visitor's browser. You can download its code on a paid plan, host it anywhere, and it needs no Web App slot.
  • Web App. A site with live logic on a server behind it. For example, a bakery that shows its menu and a pop-up with its opening hours is a Website. A bakery that lets customers sign in, takes online orders and emails the owner on every order is a Web App.

On the dashboard, a web app's project card shows a Web App chip in its line of chips, under the project's name and address. In the list view, the chip sits next to the name. A website's card doesn't have this chip.

A TeleportHQ dashboard project card with the Web App chip highlighted next to the project name

What only a TeleportHQ web app can do

These features need a server, so they're only available in web apps:

  • Workflows: automations such as "when the form is submitted, save it, send an email, then go to the Thank you page". See What are workflows?
  • User sign-in: sign-up, sign-in and members-only pages. See How to add sign-up and login to your site
  • An online store, online bookings, a blog and a help center.
  • An admin panel: a back office on your live site to manage your data. See What is the admin panel?
  • An AI chatbot for your visitors. See How to add an AI chatbot to your web app
  • The Marketing Studio, global state (values every page can read) and cached data lists.
  • Elements that need a server: Site Search, Newsletter Signup, Autocomplete and Upload Asset (visitor file uploads).

What a TeleportHQ website can do too

A TeleportHQ website doesn't need to be a web app to be interactive. These run in the visitor's browser and work in websites and web apps alike:

  • elements that show or hide on a click, and values a page or component keeps for itself (states);
  • tabs, pop-ups (modals) and collapsible text;
  • calendars, countdowns, a kanban board, drag and drop, QR codes and barcodes, a signature pad, color and emoji pickers;
  • a cookie banner, a language switcher, and Motion, Scroll Scene and Scroll Video animations;
  • forms, and content from data sources such as the built-in TeleportHQ database, a headless CMS or a Google Sheet. Connecting a data source doesn't make a website a web app.

Adding any of these never opens the Enable Web App features? window. You can also ask the AI Assistant to show or hide an element on a website. See How to add interactive elements and How to add a pop-up (modal).

The trade-offs of a TeleportHQ web app

Before a website becomes a web app, the Enable Web App features? window lists what changes:

  • Code download is no longer available. You can't download HTML, React or Next.js code for a web app. You can still publish and host it from TeleportHQ.
  • There's no switch back. The window says the change is permanent: the project "cannot be converted back to a presentation website". When you confirm it, TeleportHQ first saves a backup named Before Web App features Enabled. A project that is still blank (an empty home page and no components) gets no backup, because there is nothing in it to restore. To make the project a website again, restore that backup, or ask TeleportHQ support to restore it for you (backups aren't included in the trial, so on a trial, ask support). See How to back up and restore your project.
  • It needs a Web App slot. A web app that isn't covered by a slot gets 7 days of full access. Then its site goes offline and the project is archived until you add a slot. It's never deleted. See Why does my web app need a slot, and what is the 7-day window?

How a project becomes a TeleportHQ web app

There are three ways:

  1. Create it as a web app. On the dashboard, click + New Project, then choose Web App ("A full app — auth, blog, e-commerce, workflows and the AI assistant"), E-commerce or Bookings. Projects made with these three cards are always web apps. Presentation Website ("Presents your business — no accounts, store or bookings; code you can download") and Blank project start as websites.
  2. Add a server feature to a website. For example, add a workflow, or turn on Authentication in Plugins (in the left sidebar). TeleportHQ shows the Enable Web App features? window first, and nothing changes until you click Enable Web App features. See How to turn a website into a web app
  3. Ask the AI Assistant for a server feature by name, such as "add a login page" or "add a blog". Asking for the feature counts as your confirmation, so the window doesn't open.

Web app how-to guides

Good to know

  • Plans. Creating a web app is never blocked by your plan. Trial and Premium workspaces include 1 Web App slot; Pro includes none. Any paid plan can buy extra slots. See How to buy, assign or cancel a web app slot.
  • Watermark. A web app without a slot publishes with a TeleportHQ watermark during its 7 days of full access.
  • Code export. If you need to host your code yourself, keep the project as a website. See Can I download my site's code?
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Related Articles

What's the difference between a website and a web app?

In TeleportHQ, a website (a presentation website) presents information and its code can be downloaded, while a web app adds workflows, user accounts, a store, a blog or online bookings, can't have its code downloaded, and needs a Web App slot to stay online after 7 days.

How to turn a website into a web app

In TeleportHQ, a website becomes a web app when you add a server feature (a workflow, user sign-in, a store, a blog, bookings, an admin panel or an AI chatbot) and click Enable Web App features in the window that opens; show/hide, pop-ups and browser widgets don't need it, and you undo the change by restoring the backup saved right before it.

Why does my web app need a slot, and what is the 7-day window?

In TeleportHQ, each web app needs its own Web App slot to keep publishing and running; a web app without one gets 7 days of full access with a watermark, then its site goes offline and it is archived until you add a slot, and it is never deleted.

How to add interactive elements (calendars, kanban, countdowns and more)

In TeleportHQ, you add interactive elements such as calendars, kanban boards, countdowns, tabs, QR codes and drag-and-drop lists from Elements → Primitives and set them up in the right panel; they run in the visitor's browser, so they work in websites too, and only Autocomplete, Site Search, Newsletter Signup and Upload Asset ask to make the project a web app.

What are workflows?

A workflow in TeleportHQ is a visual recipe that makes your web app do something, one trigger (like a button click or a form submission) followed by steps (like saving to a database, sending an email or opening a page), built without writing code; adding one makes a website a web app.

How to add sign-up and login to your site

In TeleportHQ, you add sign-up and login by clicking the Authentication (padlock) button at the top left of the canvas, or Plugins → Authentication in the left sidebar, and following the Activate Authentication steps; TeleportHQ creates the sign-in, sign-up, password and profile pages, keeps the accounts in a database and makes your site a web app.