A reservation app for your restaurant, without the App Store

An app for guests, or for the venue?

A restaurant booking app can mean two different things. One is an app for guests: a restaurant directory where guests find a venue and book a table. The other is an app for the venue: the reservation book where staff see who’s coming today, confirm requests and log phone bookings.

Booklio is the second kind. Guests don’t install anything: they book on your website, on your booking page, from your Google profile, from Instagram or through the AI assistants Claude and ChatGPT. After booking, they save the date to their phone calendar in one tap. International guest platforms such as OpenTable or TheFork charge venues a fee per guest from their network; more in Commission-free reservation system.

An app without the App Store: how it works

The Booklio admin is a web app. You open it in the browser on any device, and once you add it to your home screen it behaves like an app from a store: it has its own Booklio.ai icon, opens full screen without the address bar and can send notifications.

• Nothing to download from a store. No approvals and no updates for anyone to install by hand. Every time you open it, it’s the current version.
• Works on anything with a browser. The iPad behind the bar, an iPhone, an Android phone or tablet, or the computer in the office. The same bookings everywhere.
• Set up per device. Turn notifications on only where you want them, say on the iPad behind the bar and the manager’s phone.

Steps on iPhone and iPad (Safari)

1. Open the admin in Safari and sign in.
2. Tap Share, the square with an arrow pointing up. On iPhone it’s at the bottom, on iPad at the top next to the address.
3. Choose Add to Home Screen. If you can’t see it, scroll down the menu.
4. Tap Add. The Booklio.ai icon appears on your home screen.
5. Open the admin from the icon and turn on Notifications on this device in the admin menu. Your phone asks whether to allow notifications; allow them.

Steps on Android (Chrome)

1. Open the admin in Chrome and sign in.
2. Tap the menu with three dots in the top right.
3. Choose Add to Home screen or Install app. The name depends on your Chrome and phone version.
4. Confirm. The Booklio.ai icon appears on your home screen or among your apps.
5. Open the admin from the icon and turn on Notifications on this device in the admin menu. Allow notifications when your phone asks.

Other browsers work much the same way; the option to add to the home screen is usually in the browser menu. On a computer, keeping the admin open in a browser tab is enough.

What the Booklio reservation app does

• Bell and badges. A new booking rings like an old cash register bell, and pending work is visible from every screen.
• Today at a glance. Pending cards on the left, the day’s list on the right, with tables and the status of guest messages.
• Confirm or decline. One or two taps, and the guest gets a friendly message in their language. When declining, you can offer up to 6 other times that day.
• Floor plan. A timeline and a map: who’s sitting where, what’s free and when a table opens up.
• Phone bookings. Logged in about 30 seconds, with a table already suggested.
• Arrived and no-show. After three no-shows the contact is flagged on the no-show list; staff decide.
• Night mode. The admin dims itself from 7 pm to 7 am, or switch it manually any time.
• Voice helper. Say what you’re looking for, and the helper takes you there and explains it in a couple of sentences.

The reservation book is covered in detail in A digital reservation book instead of a paper one, and every admin feature is on the Features page.

An iPad behind the bar, or a phone in your pocket?

The combination that works is both. A shared iPad behind the bar or at the front desk is the reservation book for the whole shift: it rings when a booking comes in, and staff log phone bookings on it. That’s how it works at James Dean Prague, where the staff admin runs on an iPad behind the bar.

The manager or owner has the admin on their own phone and gets notifications even when they’re not at the venue. They see what’s waiting for confirmation and can step in. Rules that affect revenue, such as online capacity or how long a booking holds a table, can only be changed by management with the manager code, so staff can’t switch them by mistake.

If you don’t want notifications on every device, there’s email too: new and changed bookings and cancellations also reach staff by email. You can switch that off in the menu.

What the app costs

Nothing. The home-screen app is part of the Booklio core, which costs CZK 0 a month, like all 9 modules. You don’t pay for bookings, tables or spaces. You only pay for text messages to guests (CZK 3) and drafts by Claude (CZK 3), excl. VAT; emails to guests are free.

Start by signing up on the Get Booklio for free page: fill in a few details, confirm your email and within minutes you have an admin you can add to your home screen straight away.

Frequently asked questions