Unlisted Shopify apps (limited visibility) vs custom distribution

Short answer: an "unlisted" Shopify app is a public app whose App Store listing has limited visibility. Shopify now uses the term limited visibility. It is not its own distribution method, and it is not a way around app review: Shopify's review documentation says its "app requirements are the same for both fully visible and limited visibility public apps." Limited visibility removes discovery and nothing else. The listing is left out of App Store search, category pages and search-engine results, and merchants install from its App Store URL. If you want one app for many unrelated merchants, this is the supported route. If you need your own billing, no review queue, or an app set up for one client, the alternative is custom distribution, at one app per merchant.

What is an "unlisted" Shopify app?

It is a public app with a hidden listing. Shopify's App listing visibility page says every app distributed through the Shopify App Store "must have an app listing page", and that you choose whether the page "is fully visible or has limited visibility." The difference is stated in one paragraph: merchants can install both kinds "from an app listing page that uses a Shopify App Store URL", but only fully visible apps appear in relevant category pages, Shopify App Store search results and third-party search engine results.

A Shopify staff member put it plainly on the developer forum in April 2026. The "unlisted" state "is considered a 'limited visibility app'", which means the app is "not publicly searchable or exposed on the App Store, or crawled by web indexing bots, but it is still accessible by manually visiting the URL to install it" (Kellan-Shopify, April 8, 2026).

Three consequences follow from it being a listing setting:

• Visibility can change; distribution can't. Shopify says you can switch between Limit visibility and Make fully visible at any time, on the app's App Store visibility card. The distribution method, public or custom, is permanent: "You can't change the method after you select it" (Select a distribution method).
• Custom apps have no listing to hide. Shopify's note on the visibility page: "Only public apps can be listed on the Shopify App Store. Custom apps are built exclusively for a single Shopify store or Plus organization and aren't listed."
• The old no-review public app is gone. Shopify's distribution page lists unpublished apps as "Deprecated as of December 9, 2019". That was a public app type that "didn't require any approval from Shopify" (About app distribution). Limited visibility is not its successor.

Does a limited visibility app need app review?

Yes. Shopify's review process page says: "Shopify's app requirements are the same for both fully visible and limited visibility public apps." The staff reply quoted above is just as direct: "an app review is required, as the app does need to have a Public distribution status in order to install it on multiple stores, even if you are leaving the app in an 'unlisted' state."

What that means in practice:

• Registration. Public distribution needs Shopify App Store registration, a one-time fee of $19 USD per Partner account. Shopify's revenue share page adds: "If you distribute your app to multiple merchants, you need to publish it through the Shopify App Store."
• The review itself. The app moves through Draft, Submitted, Reviewed and Published. A reviewer is assigned after the app meets core requirements.
• Submission limits. Your organization can have only one new app in review at a time. If it already has published apps, each one needs 10 or more paid installs before you can submit another new app (Submit your app for review). Updates to a published app don't count toward these limits.
• Timing. Shopify publishes no review timeframe. The April 2026 staff reply said "we are unable to provide any specific estimated timeframes for how long a review may take", and that wait times had increased because Shopify was reviewing "a larger influx of apps than normal."
• After approval. A staff member wrote in May 2025 that Shopify does "periodic re-reviews of all apps on the Shopify App Store, but deploying updates to your app does not trigger a new review" (Liam-Shopify, May 8, 2025). Review is a gate at the start, not on every release.

What else does a limited visibility app inherit from public distribution?

Everything a listed app has. Four obligations matter most when you compare it with custom apps.

Shopify billing. App Store requirement 1.2: "Apps that use off-platform billing cannot be distributed through the Shopify App store, unless you've been notified otherwise by Shopify." Charges go through Shopify App Pricing or the Billing API (App Store requirements). Shopify staff confirmed this covers limited visibility: "if your app connects to a paid service, then there has to be a path for merchants to install your app and pay for it through Shopify, even if you keep your app unlisted." The same reply said you "do not need to change anything for your existing clients" who already pay you directly (KyleG-Shopify, July 3, 2026). Under the standard rates, developers keep 100% of the first $1,000,000 USD of lifetime gross app revenue and 85% above it, and all billing carries a 2.9% processing fee (revenue share).

Expiring access tokens. Public apps created on or after April 1, 2026 must use expiring offline access tokens (changelog, March 20, 2026). Older public apps must migrate by January 1, 2027 (changelog, October 27, 2026). An expiring offline token lasts one hour and comes with a 90-day refresh token (Access tokens). Custom apps are excluded from both requirements, as of today.

An IP allowlist. On November 5, 2026 Shopify made an IP allowlist mandatory for public apps, which limits where the app's Admin API tokens can be used. Bulk operations from public apps without one fail after November 12, 2026, and those apps are delisted and blocked from new installs after November 20, 2026. Custom apps and apps created by merchants are listed as unaffected (changelog, November 5, 2026).

Protected customer data review. Shopify's protected customer data table lists level 1 and level 2 access as "Requires review" for a public app and "Always available" for a custom app.

Limited visibility vs custom distribution vs a listed app

The custom-distribution column comes from About app distribution, which lists "No" under approval required and "Can't charge merchants through Shopify's app billing system" under limitations. For the full comparison of app types, see Shopify custom apps explained.

When does limited visibility beat one custom app per store?

When the thing you ship is a product, not a per-client build:

• The app is the same for every merchant. One codebase, one configuration and one release reach every install.
• The merchants are unrelated, there are many of them, or you can't predict who will install. Custom distribution can't serve them with one app.
• You can pass review, and you can offer Shopify billing to merchants who find you through the listing.
• You want self-serve installs. A merchant opens the App Store URL and installs; nobody generates a link per store.

Shopify staff point the same way as numbers grow. In an April 2026 thread where a staff member prescribed one custom app per client store, he added: "If the number of stores grows significantly down the road, you might want to consider building a public app with limited visibility instead, which would let you use a single app across all stores (though that route involves app review, unlike custom distribution)" (Donal-Shopify, April 15, 2026).

When does one custom app per store fit better?

When each client relationship is its own arrangement:

• Each client gets an app set up for them: their app name, their scopes, their settings, their release timing.
• You already have a contract and an invoice with each client. Custom distribution can't use Shopify's billing, so the billing relationship stays with you.
• You need level 1 or level 2 protected customer data without a data review, or you are building with App Home UI extensions, which Shopify's distribution page says can use "only custom distribution".
• You can't wait for a review queue before the first client goes live. Custom distribution needs no approval.
• Your backend depends on a non-expiring offline token. Custom apps are exempt from the expiring-token requirement, as of today.

The cost is operations. N clients means N apps, N install links, N credential sets and N releases for every version. Shopify staff describe this pattern as "a bit more setup up front, but for a handful of stores it's manageable" (the Donal-Shopify thread above). How to install a Shopify app on multiple stores walks through the per-store path, and Shopify custom distribution covers its limits.

Is one custom app per client store allowed?

The rule is written in Shopify's API Terms. A Custom Application is one "made available to a single Merchant", and §2.3.20 requires that you "not make Custom Applications available to or for use by more than one Merchant." One app per merchant is the shape the terms describe. One app across several merchants is what they forbid. Shopify staff have told partners with separate client merchants to use custom distribution with an install link for the client's store (KyleG-Shopify, February 3, 2026), and to create one app per client store (the Donal-Shopify thread above).

There is a second reading, and you should see it before you choose. In the same thread that confirmed limited visibility needs review, the staff member also wrote that you are "not able to workaround these limitations by creating a new Custom distribution app for each merchant, as long as the app is not unique and created per each merchants requirements", and that duplicating "the same app to get around this limitation" would be against the Partner Program Agreement. That agreement lists, among developer prohibitions, "Create multiple Applications that offer substantially the same services" (Partner Program Agreement, Part C). In January 2026 another staff member described installing custom apps on unrelated merchants' stores as treating a custom app as a "private public app", and said: "If you want to install your app on many unrelated stores at scale, you should use public distribution" (Liam-Shopify, January 7, 2026).

Both readings are on Shopify's own forum. The per-store pattern staff prescribe is a known client list, each app set up for that client. A generic app that any merchant could install is the case they steer to public distribution, and limited visibility is how you keep that app out of search. This is our reading of public sources, not legal advice.

How do you move from a custom app to limited visibility?

You can't convert one. The distribution method is fixed once selected (Select a distribution method). Moving to limited visibility means a new public app, App Store registration, review, Shopify billing for new merchants, and an install of the new app on every store. If that move is likely, plan the data and token migration before your first client, not after your tenth.

Where DeploTeka fits (product note). If your product is the same for every merchant and you can pass review, a public app with limited visibility gives you one app and one release, and DeploTeka adds nothing to that path. DeploTeka is for the other branch: one dedicated custom-distribution Shopify app per client store, created inside your own organization. It seals each app's credentials and delivers them to your backend, and pauses with a named action when a step needs a person. It does not clone, build, or run your source on our servers, and the merchant still approves each install. Shopify requires that, and no tool removes it. deploteka.com

Sources: Shopify — App listing visibility, Shopify — About the app review process, Shopify — Submit your app for review, Shopify — About app distribution, Shopify — Select a distribution method, Shopify — App Store requirements, Shopify — Revenue share, Shopify — Access tokens, Shopify — Protected customer data, Shopify changelog — expiring offline tokens for new public apps, Shopify changelog — migrate before January 1, 2027, Shopify changelog — IP allowlists required for public apps, Shopify API Terms, Shopify Partner Program Agreement. Community threads are linked as evidence of what Shopify staff said in them, not as statements of Shopify policy. DeploTeka is independent software and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Shopify.