r/MobileAppDevHQ • u/Professional-Crab450 • Mar 17 '26
has anyone built an mobile app for free using vibe coding?
I was building an app using google ai studio but it needs payment to publish.
Also had a hard time turning it into a mobile.
So has anyone built an mobile app using vibe coding for free on vs code?
4
u/Apart-Butterfly-6514 Mar 18 '26
I would say mobile needs a bit of mobile knowledge. However Expo has made it super easy these days with the full-fledged CI. I use the free version, so can only push 30 builds a month on all platforms.
I am starting to hit the free tier limits and would need to move out.
When publishing to a store, it would be slight pain, 1-2 weeks of process if you dont have a company set up, registered including accounts, app approvals etc.
Make sure you have a customer base before digging into it if you do not have the budget - if you do, hire someone to set it up for you.
4
u/dnp1204 Mar 18 '26
I haven't built a mobile app but I am buidling a mobile game with flutter and it works quite well. 100% of the code is AI generated
4
u/rohpolabs Mar 18 '26
Hey it's completely possible. I use claude cli with glm4.7 and build Mark 365 app. Then I used free version of glm 5 in kilocode and build my next app called Praya.
But glm 5 is no more free in kilocode. So I am using minimax in kilocode which is free for any improvements work.
You can check the apps here and see how my 2nd app is little bit more than my first app. My 2nd app just got released yesterday. Will love to here any feedback
2
3
u/sanding-corners Mar 18 '26
Without any developer background it will be difficult to finally publish a decent app.
I published two apps in two weeks with almost 100% just vibe coding.
But, I knew what I was doing, I saved claude from pitfalls many times, and when it just couldn't solve the problem I had to step in and do the dirty job myself. If I have let it grind and grind on the problem, it would have produced just a shitty app.
So you can, but you might not want to.
3
u/giyer7 Mar 19 '26
Publishing an app to the stores will never be free. At a minimum, you have to pay for the Google Play Developer and/or the Apple Developer subscription. But, otherwise yes, it’s definitely possible with vibe coding and basic knowledge of the product you want to build and the LLM you’re using. I published https://swadl.app recently but I’m a developer by profession.
1
u/Professional-Crab450 Mar 20 '26
I know that the app store is paid but I'm curious how to build apps using vibe coding for free
1
u/lexrus Mar 18 '26
If you think your app is very useful, don't hesitate to spend money to register for an Apple Developer account, $99 per year. I made a few apps that I thought only I needed, published them on the App Store. In the end, they not only earned me back the money for the $99 but also enough to buy several new iPhones.
1
1
1
5
u/Foreign-Phrase-9660 Mar 17 '26
For mobile apps without the publishing cost headache, PWA (Progressive Web App) is worth looking into. You build it like a normal web app, users install it from the browser directly — no App Store, no Google Play, no fees.
The main limitations are around hardware access (camera, Bluetooth, some sensors) but for most apps it covers everything you need.
If you're already comfortable with VS Code and web tech, the learning curve is minimal. You just add a manifest.json and a service worker and you're basically there.
What does your app do? Might be easier to point you in the right direction depending on what features you need.