Quickstart

By the end of this page you will have an .apk on your machine that opens your community on a phone. Most of the fifteen minutes is the build compiling.

This is the short path, with each step linking to its own page when you want the detail.

See a finished community first

community.memberside.app is a live community running the same plugins a Memberside app connects to. Sign in as a demo Member or Pro member to try the feed, groups, forums, messages, jobs and members-only content, then come back here to build your own.

1. Install the Memberside plugin on your site.

   Open Downloads in the header here and download the latest version. In WordPress, upload it under Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin and activate it. A Memberside menu appears in the WordPress sidebar.

   It is not in the wordpress.org directory, so searching Add New on your site will not find it.

   Installing the plugin

2. Enable the endpoints you need.

   Go to Memberside → REST API and switch on the groups the app will use. At minimum: Authentication, Users, Directory, Forms and Appearance.

   Every endpoint is off until you turn it on. This is the step people skip, and skipping it is the most common reason a feature will not work later.

   Enabling endpoints

3. Make your forms and member directories visible.

   Open each Ultimate Member form you want the app to use and tick Show this form to REST API. Do the same for each member directory.

   These are separate switches from the endpoints, and they are also off by default.

   Forms and directories

4. Create an application password.

   In WordPress, go to Users → Profile → Application Passwords, create one named Memberside, and copy the value. Use a dedicated password so you can revoke it later without changing your own.

5. Create an app and connect the site.

   In the builder, create your first app, then enter your site URL, your WordPress username and the application password. Press Test & continue.

   A green Connected as… confirmation means the plugin answered and the credentials were accepted.

   Connecting your site

6. Check the navigation.

   A new app arrives with the starting layout you picked, built from the plugins your site runs. If you picked Start empty, drag Profile, Directory and Settings from the left sidebar onto the Bottom Nav bar. Three is enough to prove the app works; you can shape the navigation properly afterwards.

   Starter templates

   Placing features

7. Preview it.

   The phone frame beside the canvas renders the real screens against your real site. Check that the directory lists members and the profile loads.

   Previewing your app

8. Build.

   Press Build. The job compiles a Flutter project and produces both an .apk and an .aab. Expect five to fifteen minutes.

   Download the .apk, transfer it to an Android phone and open it.

   This page stays on Android because an iPhone build needs an Apple Developer account, which takes longer than the rest of this put together. When you want it, Getting ready for iOS builds picks up from here.

   Running your first build

When something does not work

Three failures account for most first attempts:

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Endpoint not found when connecting	The Memberside plugin is not installed or not activated on that site	Install the plugin
A feature card is greyed out in the sidebar	Its backing plugin is not active on the connected site	A feature is greyed out
A screen is empty in the preview, or the API returns 404	The endpoint group is still switched off	Enabling endpoints

Next

Work through The app builder to shape the navigation, or go straight to the feature catalogue to see what else you can place.