Internal communication: employee app, intranet, Slack or Teams?

For internal communication, start with Teams or Slack if every employee has an account, and use an employee app to reach the staff who have none.

Teams and Slack are built for conversation and teamwork. An employee app fits better when part of your staff has no company account, when most of what you send is news and alerts, and when you want a price that does not grow with your headcount. Built with GoodBarber, it goes out as an unlisted app on the App Store, behind a login, or as a private web app.

An intranet answers a different need. It holds the policies and the reference documents, and whichever tool you choose for news can point to it.

When everyone is already in them. Microsoft sells Frontline Worker licences, F1 and F3, for staff who work on phones and tablets. According to Microsoft's own documentation, those employees chat in Teams, plan their shifts in Shifts, track tasks in Planner, and find company news and resources through SharePoint, Viva Connections and Viva Engage. If your company runs on Microsoft 365 and every employee has a licence, that is your channel.

The same goes for Slack, if your teams spend their day in it. Slack keeps conversations and files in one place, and its free plan keeps 90 days of message history.

Both are priced per user. Slack bills every member who takes an action in a 28-day period, as its pricing page explains, and Microsoft assigns its frontline licences user by user. If everyone already has a seat, an extra app only gives your employees one more place to check.

When the people you need to reach are not in those tools.

• Part of your staff has no company account. Seasonal or part-time staff may have no seat in a collaboration suite. In an app built with GoodBarber, you create the accounts yourself, with the email address each person uses.
• Most of what you send goes one way. News, safety alerts, the week's schedule, the onboarding kit, the HR forms. A push notification can go to one group only: one site or one shift.
• You want it in your brand. Your name and your colors on the home screen, not a channel inside another company's product.
• You want a flat price. A GoodBarber plan is not priced per employee: the price stays the same whether 50 or 2,000 people sign in.

What the app does not replace is the conversation inside a team. Its chat is one-to-one and plain text only, with no photos, videos or links. Keep Teams or Slack for the people who work together all day, and use the app to reach everyone. The two can run side by side.

Six things, all available in a GoodBarber employee communication app.

1. Let only your employees in.Turn off free sign-up, and only the people on your user list can log in. Add them from the back office, or import up to 10,000 users at a time from a CSV file, straight into their group.
2. Show each group its own sections. Create groups by department or by site, and decide which group sees which section. The warehouse does not scroll past head office news to find its schedule.
3. Send notifications to the right people. Target a push by group, by location, or by behavior, such as the employees who have not opened the app recently.
4. Help people find each other. A staff directory with search, filters by group, and profile fields you choose. With the chat, included up to 5,000 registered users, an employee can message a colleague from their profile, and anyone can switch that option off.
5. Give employees a voice. Forms and submission sections collect survey answers and questions for HR.
6. Work on every screen. Native iOS and Android apps for phones, and a web app for the people at a desk, which you can keep private.

One limit to know before you choose: accounts live in the app. Employees do not sign in with their Microsoft Entra ID or Google Workspace work account. Someone has to add each new hire and remove each departure, from the back office or with a CSV import. With Zapier or Make, you can then move users in and out of groups automatically.

Our guide to personalizing content, access and notifications goes further on groups.

Not through a public App Store listing. The App Store is built for the general public, and an app made for the employees of one company does not belong there as a public app. Apple offers three other routes, and the web app needs no store at all.

Unlisted distribution: our first recommendation. The app goes through App Review like any other, then stays out of the App Store's search, charts and categories. Only people with the link can download it, and Apple names “employee resources” among the good candidates. The link can be passed on, so Apple advises a way to prevent unauthorized use: that is your login. Our help center shows how to request unlisted distribution.

Custom App, if you already manage your devices. A custom app is offered privately to your organization in Apple Business, then installed through your mobile device management (MDM) tool or with redemption codes. It needs an Organization developer account and an Apple Business enrollment with a D-U-N-S number, as our Custom App guide explains. Choose it if your company already runs both.

In-house distribution, rarely. The Apple Developer Enterprise Program costs $299 a year, requires 100 or more employees, and is reserved for cases that the App Store, custom apps, Ad Hoc distribution and TestFlight cannot cover. After enrollment, you wait 14 days before you can build the app, according to our in-house guide.

No store: the web app. The same app runs in the browser on any phone or computer, behind the login or a shared password. Employees add it to their home screen.

On Android, the app is published on Google Play like any other, the login does the filtering, and Google's reviewers need a test account too.

At GoodBarber, the block we most often see when an internal app launches is Apple's review of an app where every section sits behind the login. Apple's review guidelines ask for full access to the app, with an active demo account for every account-based feature, and a reviewer who cannot see the content rejects the app. Three steps avoid most rejections.

• Give Apple a real-looking test account. Create it in the back office, do not call it “test”, and add it to every user group, so the reviewer sees every section.
• Say what the app is for. In the review notes, explain that the app serves your employees and that it is intended for unlisted distribution.
• Keep a few sections public. The company presentation and the contacts, for instance. The reviewer then sees an app that works before anyone logs in.

GoodBarber prices the app, not the employees. The Pro plan costs $135 a month, or $1,260 a year ($105 a month billed yearly), or $4,600 in a single payment, as listed on our pricing page (prices as of October 2026). It includes login, user groups, the directory and the chat, the native iOS and Android apps and the web app, unlimited back-office seats and 250,000 push notifications a month.

The Premium plan starts at $70 a month, but login ($12), the directory ($5) and the chat ($20) are monthly options on it, and it comes with 3 back-office seats and 30,000 push notifications a month. For an internal app, we recommend Pro: the difference is small and it removes the limits. The Standard plan is web app only and does not include login, so it does not suit an internal app.

Add the store costs: the Apple Developer Program costs $99 a year, and a Google Play developer account $25 once. Slack and Microsoft bill per user, so their cost follows your headcount. This one does not.

What is the best app for internal communication?

The one that reaches the people you need to reach. If every employee already has a Microsoft 365 or Slack account, use Teams or Slack. If part of your staff has no company account, or if you mostly send news and alerts to groups, an employee app with its own accounts reaches everyone at a flat price.

Can an employee app replace Slack or Teams?

Not for teamwork. A GoodBarber app carries news, alerts, documents, a directory and one-to-one messages, but its chat is plain text only, with no shared conversations, files or calls. Keep Teams or Slack for collaboration, and use the app to reach everyone.

Can employees sign in with their Microsoft or Google work account?

No. Accounts are created in the app, from the back office or a CSV import of up to 10,000 users at a time. Employees do not need a company mailbox: you add them with the email address they use.

Can you publish an internal app on the App Store?

Not as a public listing. Apple offers unlisted distribution, custom apps through Apple Business, and the Enterprise Program for organizations of 100 or more employees. We recommend an unlisted app behind a login. The web app needs no store at all.

Can the app be reserved for employees only?

Yes. Turn off free sign-up, import your employees into their groups, and decide which group sees which section. Keep a few sections public, such as the company presentation, so Apple's review has no reason to reject a fully closed app.

How much does an internal communication app cost with GoodBarber?

The Pro plan costs $1,260 a year, or $135 a month, whatever the number of employees. It includes login, groups, the directory and the chat. Add $99 a year for the Apple Developer Program and $25 once for Google Play.

GoodBarber comes with a 30-day free trial, no credit card required. Start your app, turn off free sign-up, import one team, and send them the first piece of news. Our employee communication app page walks through every feature.