Methods and systems are disclosed for providing approaches to generating managed applications from unmanaged applications on a mobile device. The methods and systems may include storing, by a mobile device in a memory of the mobile device, one or more unmanaged applications each comprising a corresponding application bundle and decoding, by the mobile device, the retrieved application bundle corresponding to the first unmanaged application. The methods and systems may also include modifying, by the mobile device, the decoded application bundle corresponding to the first unmanaged application by adding a set of one or more policy-based control instructions, compiling, by the mobile device, the modified application bundle to generate a first managed application, the first managed application being configured to operate in accordance with the set of one or more policy-based control instructions, and providing, by the mobile device, the first managed application.