Design-only / POD middleware
Export a file, or print into a store you already run
vs
MRCH one-flow
AI design + live shop URL on the same iPhone path
The job on iPhone
Generate with AI, upload your own file, or both.
Place the graphic on a real garment with a readable print area.
See production cost, set the sale price, confirm margin before you publish.
Publish a live store link, then print and ship after a paid order.
Class map
Build a graphic and export a file or mock. AI helps with generation or cleanup. Checkout URL, SKU, and print-after-order live elsewhere.
Print catalogs connect blanks to a storefront you already run. Mobile apps manage products and orders. Design and checkout often stay separate logins.
One app owns design on the blank, pricing with cost visible, a live store URL, and print after paid order. You share the link yourself.
Design-only apps (Canva-class) win when the phone is only for making art and you already trust a store plus printer. Export is not a store. POD middleware (Printful-class) fits when Shopify or similar is already the center of your business and you only need catalog print. The phone is a control panel, not the whole shop.
If an app stops at export, you still need a store and a print path. If an app is a print catalog, you still need design and checkout elsewhere. The question "best iPhone app" only makes sense once you know which steps you already own.
MRCH (Design & Sell Merch, App Store id 6757739071) is the one-flow store from Backstage AI LLC: AI design, live zero-inventory shop, transparent cost and profit, no deposits or order minimums to exist. Phone plus web at sellmerch.ai.
Honest limit: if you need Shopify-class ops (complex multi-channel inventory, heavy theme engineering, B2B quoting), keep a full ecommerce stack and treat MRCH as the wrong shape of tool. For the phone head-to-head with Printful and Custom Ink, see MRCH vs Printful vs Custom Ink. For the step-by-step path, see sell merch from iPhone.
A job-fit table, not a ranking. It does not score brands or invent install ranks.
| Feature | Design-only / POD middleware | MRCH |
|---|---|---|
| AI design on phone | Design-only / upload into POD | Yes — generate + place in-app |
| Live buyer URL | Separate or connected store | Built-in live shop |
| Print after paid order | Depends on stack | Yes |
| Inventory hold | None for POD SKUs | None |
| Order minimum to exist | Depends on store setup | None required |
The phone is for art and you already trust your store plus printer — or Shopify (or similar) is already the center of your business and you only need catalog print.
The missing piece is the listing itself: blank, price, URL, fulfill after sale, on iPhone. Leaving a platform is a rebuild. Export art and notes you control. Do not expect an automatic importer of products, customers, or history into MRCH.
Open the canvas. Place the graphic. Set the price. Publish the store. Share the URL at sellmerch.ai.
There is no single crown. Match the class to the job. Design-only apps (Canva-class) stop at export. POD middleware (Printful-class) prints into a store you already run. A one-flow store like MRCH covers AI design, live URL, and print after paid order on the phone. Pick by which steps you still need.
Yes, if you use a one-flow store app. On MRCH you place art on a blank, set price against production cost, publish the shop, and share the link. POD middleware still assumes a storefront you connect.
Both belong in the same canvas when the app is built for merch. Generate or upload, lock placement on the print area, then price and publish. AI that only makes a still still needs a blank and a checkout path somewhere else.
Keep Printful-class tools when you already run the cart and only need catalog fulfillment. Keep design-only when export into an existing stack is enough. Choose MRCH when you want design plus a live zero-inventory store on iPhone without assembling that stack first.
Generate artwork, see the margin, and open a live store. Free to install — iOS, Android, and web.
