There is no perp dex on the Apple App Store, and there will not be one for the foreseeable future. The way you trade perps on iPhone in 2025 is by installing a PWA, a progressive web app. uponly.win is built as a PWA-first product, and you install it in two taps from Safari. Once installed, it lives on your home screen and behaves like a native app.
This guide walks through the exact install steps for iPhone, what you get out of it versus using Safari directly, and why a PWA is actually the better experience for one-tap perp trading.
why there is no perp dex in the app store
Apple does not allow leveraged crypto perp trading apps on the App Store. Even if a perp dex tried to submit one, it would be rejected at review. This is not a uponly.win problem, it is a category problem.
A few related restrictions worth knowing:
- Apple takes a 30 percent cut on in-app purchases, which is incompatible with crypto deposits.
- Apple restricts wallet apps that interact with non-custodial keys in specific ways.
- Apple is generally hostile to high-risk financial products targeted at retail.
The PWA route sidesteps all of this because a PWA is not in the App Store. It is a web app installed via the browser.
what a pwa actually is
A PWA is a web app that includes a manifest file telling the browser how to install it to the home screen, what icon to use, what name to display, and how to launch it. On iOS, Safari reads the manifest when you tap "Add to Home Screen" and creates what looks and feels like a native app icon.
Once installed, the PWA launches in its own window without the Safari URL bar, runs full-screen, and behaves like a native app for most user-visible purposes. The user typically cannot tell the difference unless they look hard.
how to install uponly.win as a pwa on iphone
- Open Safari on your iPhone. Other browsers do not currently support PWA install on iOS.
- Go to uponly.win.
- Tap the share button at the bottom of Safari. It is the square with an arrow pointing up.
- Scroll down in the share sheet and tap "Add to Home Screen."
- Confirm the name and tap "Add."
- The uponly.win icon appears on your home screen. Tap it to launch full-screen.
That is the entire install. There is no App Store, no review delay, no version update queue.
what you actually get from installing vs using safari
- Full-screen experience. No Safari URL bar stealing real estate.
- Home screen icon. One tap to launch.
- Persistent session. You stay signed in to your smart wallet across launches.
- No tab-switching mishaps. The app is its own window, separate from your other Safari tabs.
- Faster cold start. The PWA caches more aggressively than a typical web page.
For the underlying mobile UX argument, see the easiest mobile perp app overview.
first trade after installing
Once the PWA is on your home screen, the first trade flow is the same one-tap UX you would get on desktop, but optimized for thumb reach.
- Tap the icon to launch.
- Sign in with email, Apple, or wallet via Privy. A smart wallet is created automatically.
- Deposit USDC on Base. Bridge in or send from a CEX that supports Base.
- On the trade screen, choose collateral and leverage.
- Tap RIP. The trade opens. Gas is sponsored by the Pimlico paymaster.
There is no separate wallet app to install. There is no ETH funding step. The trade happens inside the PWA from start to finish.
limitations of the pwa approach on iphone
A few honest caveats. iOS PWAs have real limitations compared to native apps:
- Push notification support exists on recent iOS versions but is more limited than native.
- Background tasks are restricted.
- Storage limits are tighter than native apps.
- Some hardware APIs are not available.
For a perp trading UX, none of these matter much. The PWA needs to render the trade screen, sign user-operations, and show the position. All of which work fine.
updating the pwa
PWAs update automatically. The next time you open the app, it pulls the latest version from the server. There is no App Store review delay, no "please update" prompt, no version drift between users. This is one of the underrated wins of the PWA model for a fast-moving product.
For a perp arcade shipping new features regularly, having every user on the latest build within minutes of deploy is a meaningful operational advantage.
troubleshooting common iphone install issues
- Cannot see "Add to Home Screen" in the share sheet. Scroll down. It is below the AirDrop row.
- Icon does not appear. Make sure you tapped "Add" on the confirmation, not "Cancel."
- PWA opens in Safari instead of full-screen. Make sure you launched from the home screen icon, not from a Safari bookmark.
- Sign-in does not persist. Some privacy modes clear PWA storage aggressively. Disable Private Browsing for the uponly.win session.
pwa vs other mobile options
A few alternative paths people consider on iPhone:
- Native wallet apps. They support some perp dexes via in-app browsers, but the UX is fragmented and gas often shows up as a separate step.
- TestFlight betas. Real apps in TestFlight cannot offer leveraged perp trading without Apple flagging them.
- Sideloading via developer accounts. Possible but impractical for retail users.
- PWA via Safari. The only option that actually works for one-tap perp trading at scale.
For the gasless USDC angle that makes the PWA actually work, see our paymaster explainer.
install and try the iphone perp app right now
The fastest way to feel the actual iPhone UX is to open uponly.win in Safari, install via the share menu, and tap the icon to launch. The first trade takes under a minute including sign-in and deposit.
Perps are high-risk entertainment. The PWA does not change that. Use collateral you can afford to lose entirely.