# How to share an app you made with ChatGPT (2026)

By Will Evans, one of the people building Podda.
Published: 2026-08-22. Updated: 2026-08-22.
Canonical: https://podda.app/blog/share-an-app-you-made-with-chatgpt


ChatGPT wrote you a working app, and now it is stuck in the chat. To share it, give it a home: connect Podda and say "put this on Podda". Then invite your family and friends by name, free and invite-only. That is the private route. Here are all the ways, including the public ones.

## Why can't I just send the chat link?

A shared ChatGPT link shows someone the conversation. They can read what you asked and see the code, and that is it: nothing runs for them as their own app, and nothing they do is saved anywhere. A custom GPT does not solve it either, because a GPT is a chatbot to talk to, not an app your family opens and uses. The app needs somewhere real to live first.

## How do I share it privately, invite-only?

Put it on Podda, a private home for personal software. You connect Podda to ChatGPT once, which takes about a minute, and from then on ChatGPT can publish apps straight into it.

1. Connect Podda, then tell ChatGPT what to publish. Say "Put the packing list app from this chat on Podda", and it does the rest. The [ChatGPT connect guide](/guides/connect/chatgpt) has the click-by-click steps.
2. Invite the people it is for. They sign in on their phone and use it, with no ChatGPT account needed and nothing to pay.

Anyone you have not invited cannot find the app or open it. There is no public link and no search listing. The app also gets somewhere to keep its data, so the packing list is still ticked off tomorrow and everyone sees the same list, without you setting up any kind of database.

## What about ChatGPT Sites?

Sites is ChatGPT's own way to publish what it builds, and a new Site starts private to you. It is built around ChatGPT workspaces, which makes it a better fit for a business team than for family and friends: sharing runs through the workspace rather than a simple invite-by-name list, and it is a beta on paid plans.

## What if I want anyone to be able to open it?

Then the answer is to make it public on purpose. Paste the code into a host like Vercel or Netlify, or ask ChatGPT to walk you through it, and you get a link anyone can open. Two catches: anything the app needs to save means setting up your own database, and keeping strangers out afterwards means building your own sign-in. That makes it the right shape for a toy you want to show off, and the wrong shape for the family's shared lists. The fuller comparison is in [how to share a vibe-coded app privately](/blog/share-a-vibe-coded-app-privately).

## Can I just send the file?

Sometimes, honestly, yes. If ChatGPT made a single small page, you can download it and message the file, and whoever opens it sees the app in their browser. The limits arrive fast: everyone gets their own separate copy, and nothing is saved or shared between people. It is a postcard rather than a home.

## Which way should I pick?

If it is a one-off to show around, a public link or the file itself is fine. If it is an app your family and friends will actually use, with saved lists and names on the door, put it on Podda and invite them. Built it in Claude Code instead? Here is [how to share an app you built with Claude Code](/blog/share-an-app-you-built-with-claude-code).

Connect Podda to [ChatGPT](/guides/connect/chatgpt) and get the app out of the chat. The [free plan](/pricing) keeps it invite-only from the start.