Vibe Coding or just Vaporware?
I’ve been wanting to keep an eye on AI generated apps to see what kind of SDKs and libraries they end up using for AppGoblin’s massive resource of 100k+ apps and SDKs. So for the past year I’ve clicked/followed a few companies with the goal downloading the actual apps that get created. As I did my most recent rounds checking the “Examples” and “Showcases” I think I can say these apps are just not being delivered in that final native form. To be clear there are lots of web app demos, but when it comes to actual apps landing on the Play and App Stores I’ve found few to no clear examples.
Why?
Looking for links to native apps in the various company communities/Discords I see a few reasons:
- People are building proof of concepts, and like any project, as you get closer to the reality, the dream gets a bit less rosy. People are getting real value by actually implementing their ideas into apps and thinking through the actual use case.
- People once finished their app, do not want to publish the fact that it was vibe coded or used a specific company to build.
- The last mile, from fully working demo to production is hard for AI.
AI Companies that have native iOS and Android builders
As I was writing, this I’m reminded that the ‘native’ term is a bit ambiguous. Most of these companies seem to do Expo/JS related apps into native apps. For this article, I’m just looking for anything that has an app on an app store, as I’d like to later breakdown the use of Expo or other tools.
fastshot.ai -> YC Backed, newer so worth giving them some time. Showcase is mostly empty with only one screenshot so far on Discord.
a0.dev -> The site has a dozen very high quality examples of web apps. The links to them is to download their own app though. The only examples on the App Stores seem to be from July by the developers.
replit.com -> Dozens of real examples of web apps but I couldn’t find any that had Android or iOS apps made by replit. Replit was quite early, launching in February 2024 so I think if there’s any examples this might be the easiest to find.
could.ai / dashwave.io / gobuildmy.app -> These ones all have pricing pages but don’t even have examples or demo or showcase pages.
What’s next?
I think we’re all coming to see that AI coding tools are good for rapid prototyping but struggling to deliver magic results. That being said, people are using these tools, likely mostly as prototypes and later transitioning to managing the apps directly.
If anyone has used these tools and wants to share their apps please reach out. You can also request SDK scans of apps on AppGoblin for free.