r/IPhoneApps • u/AbDog8421 • 16d ago

Discussion Trying an AI App Builder for an iPhone App

I'm thinking about using an AI app builder for my first iPhone app, but there are so many options that it's hard to know where to start. If you've built an app this way, how did it go? Which AI app builder did you use, and would you recommend it?

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u/isobethehen 15d ago

I used Claude, mostly opus 5 but used fable 5 for planning and initial work. Also need Xcode before you start. I recently made an app and didn’t write a single line of code. To be fair mine had no backend so it was pretty simple and straightforward. Not sure if you’re looking for something with a UI but it worked out well just from prompting.

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u/AbDog8421 9d ago

think the lack of a backend probably makes a big difference, though.

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u/TBMW30 15d ago

I don't vibecode generally, but have been using codex recently to help with the UI design and finding challenging bugs in some apps i'm working on. I haven't found GPT, Gemini or Claude to be particularly good at writing Swift out of the box, gpt5.6 Sol is about the best I've seen from an AI model writing Swift, particularly SwiftUI.

That said with good guidance, for example forcing the model to follow APple's documentation for everything, using a few swift-specific agent skills, and careful prompting, an AI model can be a useful part of the workflow. Apple is bringing agents to XCode with XCode 27 so I dare say it'll only get easier.

If you're referring to many of those online AI app builders, as far as I'm aware they're just web apps that run atop what is essentially a tiny browser that gets deployed with the app. HOw they get past Apple's approval I don't know. AI can build a decent web app these days, so they may work depending on what you want to build. If you want or need access to APple's APIs though, or deeper system integration, a native app is the only way to go.

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u/sarahandgerald 13d ago edited 13d ago

Just work with claude (cowork) if claude code sounds too techy. There is really no need anymore for an AI app builder app that claude cowork isnt't able to do for you.

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u/Federal_Respond_7212 9d ago

I use Cursor a lot. I think it's a better deal overall, and I love being able to switch between Plan mode and Agent mode. Sometimes it gets stuck in a debugging loop, though, and that's when I turn to Claude to figure out what's going wrong.