Aave began onboarding early users to its iOS mobile app on Wednesday, moving its consumer savings product into early access. Android and web users, by contrast, remain on a waitlist.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov said Ghost Passes allow users to invite friends to bypass the waitlist.
A phased opening, not a first App Store appearance
The announcement signaled a staged opening rather than the app’s debut in Apple’s store. The App Store had already listed the Aave app and showed a recent version update before Wednesday’s onboarding announcement.
Product focus: deposits, yield and withdrawals
Aave’s current product page describes the mobile app as a savings product built around depositing, earning and withdrawing. Users can connect bank accounts and debit cards, and the app’s stablecoin wallet supports deposits and withdrawals on Arbitrum.
Deposited funds generate yield through open lending markets. Aave said those assets are supplied to lending pools, where borrowers pay interest that is returned to depositors.
The current product page does not advertise direct borrowing or a user-directed trading feature. In July, Aave Labs said card fees, asset swaps and foreign-exchange products were expected to roll out in phases during 2026. At that time, the company also said swap and FX capabilities had not yet been built or cleared for launch.
Stable Vaults sit underneath the savings layer
Stable Vaults support multiple stablecoins and can swap commonly denominated stablecoins for one-to-one redemption. Aave presents that function as part of the vault’s savings infrastructure, not as evidence that the app already includes a general-purpose trading feature.
Self-custodial design with local key storage
Aave describes the app as self-custodial despite using fintech-style login and recovery flows. According to the app’s terms, the embedded wallet generates and stores private keys locally, while Aave Labs never takes possession of user assets or keys. The launch architecture uses smart accounts to abstract wallet setup and gas management from users.
Access remains restricted
Aave Labs said in July that its iOS waitlist included about 50,000 registered users, and identity checks on that waitlist were then available only to U.S. users. The app’s terms also say access is subject to local law and prohibit use by people in sanctioned and other restricted jurisdictions.
Aave’s Wednesday launch post did not specify which countries were included in the early-access group.
Retail distribution push continues
The app extends Aave Labs’ retail distribution strategy after its October 2025 acquisition of Stable Finance, whose team built an iOS app for stablecoin savings. At the time, Aave said Stable’s existing app would be phased out and its technology would be used in future Aave products.
Stable Vaults now power the savings layer in the Aave App and are also offered to fintech companies looking to embed stablecoin yield. Broader distribution remains the next step: as of Wednesday, Android and web users were still being directed to the waitlist.