Pushka case: a guest app for a Dubai lounge, feature by feature

Pushka ("Prosto Pushka") is an iPhone app for guests of one lounge in Dubai. It holds the guest card with cashback and deposit, books tables seat by seat on the floor plan, shows the menu offline, sends orders from the table to the staff and shows the bill as it grows. I built the guest app. As of 28 October 2026 it is submitted to App Review and is not yet in the App Store, so this article covers how it works. It does not report results.

If you run a lounge, café or bar in the UAE, you may be choosing between a branded app and a loyalty card plus a WhatsApp number. You can use the sections below as a working spec. Each one names three things: what the guest sees, what the venue gets, and what to ask the developer. App projects on the apps page start from AED 35,000 (Special offer).

What the guest app does

The App Store subtitle sums it up: "Guest card, table and bill". The other screens support those three.

Screen	What the guest sees	What the venue gets
Guest card	Cashback balance, expiry date, the amount that applies on this visit, deposit with history	One card per guest, created by the venue
Booking	The floor plan, free tables, individual seats at the big table	Bookings tied to a known guest, confirmed by notification
"On my way"	One button	The shift knows the guest is coming
Menu	Kitchen, bar, tea, signature flavour pairings, photos, ingredients, prices in AED, favourites	A menu that opens without signal
Table order	Add an item, send it	A request lands with the shift
Bill	What has been served, the running total, how much cashback covers	Payment happens at the till as usual
History	Past visits and bills, cashback accruals, venue notifications	A reason for the guest to open the app between visits

The app runs in Russian and English with a dark interface. It is rated 18+.

A new guest cannot open a blank account from home. At the venue, a staff member shows a QR code, the guest scans it and lands in their own card. The venue creates that card, and the app will not make a second, empty one.

This rule closes a gap in self-signup loyalty schemes. When guests register on their own, one person can end up with an account from a promo link and another created at the table. Cashback then splits between the two, and staff have to search by phone number. With the venue holding the card, the balance lives in one place from the first visit.

Hypothetical example: a guest visits on Thursday, the host shows the code, and the guest scans it before ordering. On the next visit the cashback from the first closed bill is already on that card.

Write these into your spec: - Who on the shift shows the QR code, and from which device. - What happens if a guest scans a code meant for someone else. - How staff merge or delete a card created by mistake.

Returning guests: Apple, Telegram or an email code

After the first visit, the guest signs in with Apple, with Telegram, or with a one-time code sent by email. There is no password. On a new phone the guest signs in the same way and finds the same card.

Pick sign-in methods from the messengers and accounts your guests already use. A Russian-speaking crowd is why Telegram is on the list for Pushka.

Ask the developer: - Does a guest who signed in with Apple and later with Telegram get one card or two? - How does Sign in with Apple handle guests who hide their email? - What does the guest see if the email code does not arrive within a minute?

Cashback and deposit the guest can read

Cashback accrues from every closed bill. The card shows three numbers: the balance, the expiry date, and how much applies on this visit. A deposit sits next to it with a full history of top-ups and charges.

Showing the expiry date gives the guest a dated reason to return. Showing tonight's amount lets the guest settle the balance question on screen, before it reaches the staff.

Decide before development: 1. The accrual percentage and which bills count: closed bills only, or also bills partly paid from the deposit. 2. The expiry rule: a fixed term per accrual, or a term that resets on each visit. 3. Whether cashback can cover a whole bill or only part of it.

Booking on the floor plan, seat by seat

I count booking on the floor plan as the main feature. The guest sees the room as it is and picks a table. At the big table the guest books individual seats instead of the whole table. Confirmation arrives as a notification, and cancelling takes one tap.

Seat booking changes how a large communal table fills. Hypothetical example: a group of three wants the long table on a Friday. With whole-table booking, they either take all ten seats or the venue turns them away. With seats, they take three, and two other small groups can book the rest.

What you need to hand the developer: - A floor plan with every table numbered and seat counts at the large ones. - How long a table stays booked when a bill is open. - Who can override a booking on the staff side, and how the guest is notified.

The "On my way" button

The guest presses "On my way" and the shift sees that this person is coming. Staff can set the table before the guest walks in, which matters most for seat bookings at a shared table.

The alert lands on the staff side through Pushka POS, covered below. Questions to settle: - Does the button work only for guests with a booking today, or for any card holder? - Who on the shift receives the alert: hosts, waiters, cashiers? - Can a guest press it twice, and what does staff see the second time?

The menu covers the kitchen, the bar, tea and signature flavour pairings. Each item has a photo, ingredients and a price in AED, and guests can save favourites.

The app keeps a copy of the menu on the phone, so it opens with weak or no signal. Venues in basements, malls or rooms with thick walls lose mobile data, and a menu that needs a connection fails at the table.

An order from the table goes to the shift as a request. The app takes no money. The guest asks and the staff bring the item. Your existing flow at the till stays as it is, and the store description can say exactly what the order button does.

Ask the developer: - How fast does a price change in the back office reach the offline copy on guests' phones? - What happens to a request sent while the phone is offline? - How does staff mark a request as accepted or unavailable?

The live bill and payment at the venue

During the visit the guest sees the bill as it grows: what has been served, the total so far, and how much cashback will cover. When it is time to leave, the guest picks a payment method in the app, pays on site, and the till closes the bill.

Because payment stays at the till, the venue skips a new payment provider contract, new refund rules and new reconciliation. After the visit, the bill goes into history with the cashback it earned, and the venue can send notifications to card holders.

Confirm in the spec: - Which system is the source of truth for the bill: the till or the app. - How a discount or a voided item applied at the till shows up in the app. - Which payment methods the guest can pick, matched to what the till accepts.

Where the staff side fits

A guest app only works when staff see what guests do in it. Pushka POS is the staff app for the same lounge, and it is in TestFlight. It sends APNs push notifications and Live Activity cards on the Dynamic Island. It opens behind a Face ID lock screen and reports crashes through MetricKit. A working geofence limits "guest is on the way" alerts to cashiers and waiters within about 1 km of the venue, so staff who are off shift at home do not get pinged.

I wrote about how staff apps change a venue's daily work in Staff apps: what changes in venue operations. The path from idea to submission is in A venue app from idea to App Store. What Apple looks at in review is in What Apple checks in review. The project page is Pushka.

What not to do

These are the mistakes this design avoids. Check any venue app proposal against them.

Letting guests create cards on their own. You get duplicate accounts and split balances. Have the venue create the card and open it by QR at the first visit.
Hiding cashback expiry. Guests who cannot see the date find out when the balance is gone. Show balance, expiry and tonight's amount on one screen.
Booking big tables only as a whole. Small groups get turned away while seats stay empty. Offer seats at communal tables.
Putting payments in the app before you need them. In-app payment brings a provider contract, refunds and reconciliation. If the till works, let the app show the bill and let the till take the money.
Writing store copy that promises more than the app does. If your table orders are requests to staff, describe them that way. App Review compares the description with the build.
A menu that needs a connection. Keep a copy on the phone so it opens in a basement or a mall.
Announcing a launch date before review clears. Pushka has been waiting since 27 October 2026. Schedule the launch post for after approval.

Checklist: before you commission a venue app

Decide who creates the guest card, the venue or the guest, and write it into the spec.
List the sign-in methods your guests use. For a Russian-speaking crowd, ask for Telegram next to Apple and an email code.
Draw your floor plan with every table and the seats at the large ones.
Define the cashback rule: percentage, which bills count, when the balance expires.
Decide whether payment stays at the till. If yes, the app shows the bill and the payment method.
Prepare the menu with a photo, ingredients and an AED price for every item, including tea and signature pairings.
Ask the developer how the menu works offline and how it updates after you change a price.
Confirm what staff receive, and on which device, when a guest books, presses "On my way" or orders.
Agree the age rating and the languages before anyone makes screenshots. Pushka's store submission has 8 screenshots in English and 8 in Russian.
Leave time for App Review in the launch plan, and check the store description against the build before you submit.

Questions and answers

Can guests pay inside the Pushka app?

No. Guests choose a payment method in the app, pay at the venue, and the till closes the bill. The app has no payments, so an order from the table goes to the staff as a request.

Why does the first sign-in need a QR code from staff?

The venue creates the guest card, and the guest scans a code shown by staff to open it. Each guest gets one card, so cashback and deposit history never split between a real card and an empty duplicate.

Is Pushka in the App Store?

As of 28 October 2026 the guest app is submitted to App Review and is not yet available. The staff app, Pushka POS, is in TestFlight.

How much does an app like this cost?

My app projects start from AED 35,000 (Special offer). The final figure depends on the screens, the integration with your till and the staff side.