App admin is a new application-level role in Zoho Creator. It lets an organisation hand the day-to-day administration of one app to the person who runs it, without giving that person control of the whole Creator account. This guide covers what an app admin can and cannot do, how to assign and remove the role, and how it compares with the admin and super admin roles. It is part of our summary of Zoho Creator User Management Updates, October 2026.

When to use it

Imagine several departments, each with its own Creator app: HR has an onboarding app, Finance has an expense app. Each needs someone who can manage users, publish updates, configure API access, check the logs, and take backups. Rather than make those people account admins, you make each one app admin for their own app. The Creator account stays under central control, and each department runs its app independently.

What an app admin can do

All of this applies only to the apps they are assigned to.

What an app admin cannot do

• Open any app they are not assigned to.
• Add new users to the Creator organisation. Only a super admin or admin can do that, and only then can an app admin assign the person to an app.
• Assign or remove the app admin role for anyone, including themselves.
• Grant or revoke the Create Application privilege.
• Change Creator account settings.

How the roles compare

How to assign the role

A super admin or admin can do this in three ways. An application can have several app admins.

1. When adding a new user

1. Under Manage in the left pane, click Users, then Add User.
2. Enter the person's email address and name.
3. Optionally switch on the Create Application privilege, if they should be able to build apps.
4. Open the App Admin sub-tab under Add to Application, and select the apps. Use Add Application for more.
5. Click Add User. The person receives an invitation email and gets app admin access once they accept it.

2. For an existing user, from the Users section

1. Under Manage, click Users, and select the person. Their detail view slides in.
2. Open the App Admin tab under the Application section, and click Add Application.
3. Select the app and click Add. Repeat for any others.

3. For an existing user, from the app's Summary

1. Under Deploy, click Solutions, hover over the app's card, click the ellipsis, and choose Summary.
2. In the Users section, click the down arrow next to Add User, and choose Add App Admin.
3. Enter one or more email addresses, separated by commas, and optionally switch on Send email notification.
4. Click Add. They can manage the app straight away. Only users already in the Creator organisation can be added this way.

How to remove the role

1. Under Manage, click Users, and open the person's detail view.
2. On the App Admin sub-tab, find the app.
3. Click the More icon beside it and choose Delete.
4. Click Remove in the confirmation. The change saves automatically.

Removing app admin access does not remove the person from the organisation. If they have another role in that app, such as Developer or User, or access to other apps, those stay as they were.

Things to know

• The role and the Create Application privilege are independent. Removing the privilege stops someone creating new apps, but not their app admin access to apps they already created. See Zoho Creator Create Application Privilege: Let Teams Build Their Own Apps.
• App admins cannot assign other app admins, even though an app can have several. Only a super admin or admin can.

Our advice

This section is our own advice, not Zoho's.

• Keep a short list of who is app admin for which app, and review it when people change roles or leave. A person who leaves still needs removing from every app they administer.
• Think about the sensitive areas. App admins can see the audit trail and logs, manage API access, and grant the support team access to the app. Those can expose personal data or open routes into the app, so assign the role only to people who need them.
• Consider two app admins per important app, so one person's absence does not leave the app with no administrator. They can be assigned only by a super admin or admin, so plan who covers when those are away.
• Try it in a test app first, and check what a new app admin can and cannot see, before you rely on it for live data.