# Built for Shopify

> Built for Shopify is a badge Shopify gives apps that meet its quality bar for speed, design and support.

- Source: https://storestandards.com/glossary/built-for-shopify/
- Also called: BFS
- Updated: 2026-08-14
- Author: Ana Sousa, Design lead, Store Standards

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A small badge on an App Store listing, and the only quality signal on that
page that a developer cannot buy.

## What it is measuring

- Speed, checked against real load times, not a demo
- Built with Shopify's own design system, so the app looks like the admin
- Modern APIs and app embedding, not an old bolt-on
- Support response times and a decent review record

An app has to keep meeting the bar. The badge can be taken away, which is what
makes it worth reading.

## What it does not tell you

Whether the app does your job. A beautifully built stocktake app is still the
wrong tool for booking in a delivery.

It also says nothing about which permissions the app asks for on the
[Admin API](https://storestandards.com/glossary/admin-api/), or whether the data it writes into a
[metafield](https://storestandards.com/glossary/metafield/) leaves with it. Ask both before you install.

## Where it goes wrong

The badge is treated as a shortlist. Plenty of good, small apps do not have it
because the developer has not been through the review, and plenty of apps that
do have it will not survive contact with your stockroom Wi-Fi.

Install two, run a real delivery through each, and see which one your team
still opens in week three. That is the only test that has ever predicted
anything, and it tells you more than the badge and the review count together.
Our own comparison of the
[barcode receiving apps](https://storestandards.com/compare/best-shopify-barcode-scanner-apps-for-purchase-orders/)
applies the same six checks to four of them.

## Related terms

- [Shopify POS](https://storestandards.com/glossary/shopify-pos/): Shopify POS is Shopify's till app for selling in person, sharing one product catalogue and one stock count with the online store.
- [Admin API](https://storestandards.com/glossary/admin-api/): The Admin API is how apps read and change things in your Shopify store, including the stock levels a scanner updates.
- [Metafield](https://storestandards.com/glossary/metafield/): A metafield is an extra field you add to a Shopify record to store something the built-in fields have no box for.