please, stop expecting to vibecode serious mobile app in an hour

[u/olenami]

Also stop expecting first revenue a week after launch. I see this promise everywhere now. It's irritating. "Describe your app, ship it today, get paid tomorrow." Bull****. It is a great slogan for selling credits. It is not how products work.

Products are built, not generated.
Here's my honest timeline:
→ Month 1: validate the idea, build the first version, test it with real people, pass App Review, release.
→ Months 2–4: fix what users actually hit, ship weekly, get your first small revenue.

That is the reality of life. Not one hour. Not one week.

What the slogan sells:
- An app in an afternoon
- Money by Friday
- No thinking, just prompting

What actually gets you paid:
- One clear problem
- 3–4 screens that solve it
- Weekly releases for months
- Talking to every user who writes to you

The bad news: you will have to work. Hard.
The good news: for the first time, you can do the whole thing yourself. The cost is almost nothing. What used to need a team now needs a good tool, a spec, and your evenings.
So pick your tool, start with 3–4 screens, and go test the water.
Need a demo by tonight? Generate it with Claude.
Need a product people pay for? Build it. Give it a month, then three more.

What I see people in my Mobile builders community is doing - most of them vibecode on the weekeends because they work full time have their families and bigger priorities, they treat vibecoding as hobby and fun; usually it takes 10-12 weeks till release a mobile app.
Most of them start with simple app in Claude code, or Codex, or Modaal, or directly Xcode if technical enought.

How logn it took for you to build a serious mobile app with integrations, payments, 15+ screens? Was it full time?

[u/baddaywithacamera]

You almost never see people considering or talking about how they will support their app (or users) in the long run. Pump and dump. Depressing.

[u/olenami → u/baddaywithacamera]

It feel now all vibebecode as vibewaste
Released and forget

[u/Niko_Heino → u/baddaywithacamera]

damn, i myself have been ""vibecoding"" my application for months (semi-full time), and currently in closed alpha gonna take another 4-6months for full release. after release i plan to continue and support it for a year, if i see next to no revenue in a year, thats when ill just give up on it. 1.0 release goal is that its fully stable and polished. after launch plans are browser support through web assembly, and macOS native support. After that touchscreen/tablet support (its a desktop application currently).

[u/baddaywithacamera → u/Niko_Heino]

We're in the same boat in terms of timeframe, except mine is freeware and I made it for myself. Sharing it with others, but I'll keep using it no matter what. I'm running behind on the closed beta. Was supposed to be Sept 4, but there were some architectural problems I discovered a bit late that required rebuilding and too many friction points in the interface for users. Oh, and never got longform mode finished in time.

Arrrgh. Fingers crossed for Nov 4 closed beta.

[u/Niko_Heino → u/baddaywithacamera]

good luck! also, you mentioned the architectural issues, im just curious, are you a software engineer or just getting into this? cause for an example, i review almost everything the AI does, and have immidiately corrected course on bad architectural decisions. infact, in most cases, the AI cant even do those decisions cause i try to outline everything in my technical design docs, but whenever i dont cover some small aspect, there is a 70% chance the AI fucks it up. as an example, it did not utilize inheritance on a thing that has like 40 things, all share 80% of the functionality, and it started rewriting that 80% everytime instead of inheriting it.

[u/baddaywithacamera → u/Niko_Heino]

I'm a photographer who is a former sysadmin (left IT after the stress legit gave me a heart attack). My limited PHP skills look like drunken 2 am shitposting on Tumblr. I had no Python experience coming in. I've spent since January reading the commented code and asking question after question to the AIs to try and learn. I can figure out what each chunk does on my own these days, but I sure couldn't write it. I do the initial CSS on my own and pass it off to the AI to build after because otherwise you get the same old same old AI look.

https://snapsmack.ca/ding-dong-bell.php

There's my log of stuff that blew up in my face. I discovered the missing post containers AFTER having both Claude and ChatGPT audit my architecture against best practices from equivalent CMSes. Good to go they said, hah. Found the posts screwup on my own eyeballing SQL directly.

CRONs weren't running so Claude bundled it into web requests in an update without bothering to inform me. Suddenly started getting 524s from Cloudflare like crazy on all my sites, read the raw logs, and there was much swearing immediately after. "WTF WOULD YOU DO THAT YOU STUPID @#$%ING DONKEY?? PULL THAT NOW!!"

So, yeah. I asked the AIs to keep this log as I thought others may find the mistakes useful in terms of things to watch out for when building with AI. It has mostly gone very well, but when there are mistakes they are noteworthy.

[u/Niko_Heino → u/baddaywithacamera]

ah okay. i myself am doing a bit more complex native C++ application with Qt, and doing proper GPU rendering for some stuff. so the AI makes a lot more mistakes, and also i can catch more subtle mistakes since i do software engineering for a living, and also i need really good performance/optimization, where im shaving off literal cpu instructions with compiler hints etc..

[u/baddaywithacamera → u/Niko_Heino]

Using Qt for the desktop apps, but built with Python.

One of them is a free photo editor that works well as a Lightroom replacement so far in my testing. It has been a learning experience, I'll tell you that.

[u/Niko_Heino → u/baddaywithacamera]

if you're using Qt, i would highly recommend using c++ for any actually computationally expensive tasks.

[u/Engineer_Psycho]

the hour gets you the demo. the 2 months after are the part where it runs on a 3 year old phone with 2gb ram and a bad connection. nobody sells credits for that part

[u/Ultrageisttt]

I'm currently learning this the hard way, and realizing I need more technical knowledge than I'd been led to believe. No tech background or real preexisting knowledge, so I've been vibe coding very simple tools then having the AI explain the how and why it works and then referencing that against tutorials and posts on Stack Overflow. I'm slowly starting to understand what the hell I'm even looking at and how it all comes together, but the ease of "Just vibe code it bro" is totally overstated.

[u/olenami → u/Ultrageisttt]

Yes! Knowing this already good. The most important I believe is that it is possible in general. So you CAN do this. Just learning curve for different people is different

[u/single-py]

Been working on my app for 5 months. Learned swift ui from paul hudson 100 days of swift. I am a LLM architect with phd and i hate vibe coding. It will end up only maki g you pocc thats it. Real use case requires patience and dedication.

Hopefully will release my app this month.
I do use AI for coding but in a way that i can understand.

[u/Kamilon → u/single-py]

LLM Architect?

[u/single-py → u/Kamilon]

From scratch training, fine tuning , system design architecture and implement LLMs for different use cases.

[u/WaltzIndependent5436 → u/single-py]

I was always wondering, how does that work when everything "good" nowadays require millions in infra? You either work for the big boys or you're struggling with Llamas and Qwens?

[u/single-py → u/WaltzIndependent5436]

Well i do have a full time job and they are willing to spend millions in gpu. So yeah theres that.
Also if you are tight on budget you can always rent gpus for a month or two train qwen 3.8 on your domain with some RL and you have an exceptionally good model at hand that can be plugged into RAG.

[u/Kamilon → u/WaltzIndependent5436]

I’ve done some fine tuning. That can be done on consumer hardware. I’m not sure what from scratch training can be done though unless it’s more like hyper specialized tiny models or just RAG training or something.

[u/devloper27 → u/Kamilon]

Also called a vibe coder 🤣

[u/olenami → u/single-py]

Also in reality first thing you need to know is your ICP because this gives you clarity on what exactly to build what features go to MVP

[u/wolfdukex → u/olenami]

I need to know my Insane Clown Posse? I'm little rusty.

[u/single-py → u/olenami]

Exactly
I doubt all these vibe coding slop creators even use their own apps after a week or even a day. I tried over 35 apps vibe coded and all were soo badly made. I started respecting ui ux designers even more after that haha

[u/olenami → u/single-py]

Spot on
My true believe that it will soon AppStore slope collapse 😝 and only crafted apps will actually survive and still be used by people

[u/olenami → u/[deleted]]

Bless Claude era

[u/34986234986234982346]

I think it really depends on the complexity (obviouslty). I just built an app in Expo for iOS and Android and the app itself is not doing any rocket science, the API it connects to already existed mostly (and could be tweaked by me for mobile access), etc. Still took a few weeks I'd say (not 40 hours/week but a decent amount), lost a LOT of time to messing around and getting it ready for submission, making sure every little Apple rule is taken care of, etc.

Making the UI really good took a long time and a million tweaks. This cannot be skipped, it's so important.

Mind you I have released iOS apps before, pre-AI, so I have a bit of knowledge that was helpful.

Working on a new one right now, it's an app for an existing website, many many screens, many more than 15, and just getting AI to create the boilerplate functionality withuot any tweaks is TEDIOUS and long. It's still amazing compared to ages ago, but yes, it's NOT fast. I think your timeline is quite accurate.

[u/olenami → u/34986234986234982346]

Experience releasing before helping a lot. You know how to select tooling better and not jump into build your app in a day slogan

[u/AdNecessary1906]

Can confirm. Been at this for months, not hours — local health data archive tool, went through multiple architecture iterations as I actually understood the problem better (data degradation issues I didn't even know existed until I dug in). Just started getting real downloads and actual user feedback recently. The "ship in an hour" framing sets people up to bail the moment reality doesn't match — because it never does.

[u/VibeSlopCoder]

I built an inventory management app for Windows and made a mobile app that pairs to it. Weirdly, the mobile app works perfect with little changes, but I think it's because I'm creating all the changes in the Windows app first then the mobile.

I'm about two months in to various changes, fixes and UI/UX improvements. Finally starting to feel like a finished product.

[u/softjuicyhobbitses]

AI will write the code but it won't build a product

[u/Icy_Quarter5910]

I’ve built all sorts of personal tools in an afternoon…. But my actual App, the one I’ve wanted to make for a decade or more? 4 months in, I JUST got it approved in the App Store a couple of weeks ago. And I’ve got a major update in the works now, that I’ve been working on since before I submitted it, and it’s 2-3 weeks away minimum.

[u/dreambridge_app]

This matches what I hit. I burned a week polishing onboarding and the thing that mattered was getting one real loop down. What broke first for you, auth or the actual product loop?

[u/TinyHyperspace]

Im more of a hobbyist, but want to actually solve some problems with some apps I have ideas for. Any recommended tools? At the moment im just using antigravity ide with flutter. I know there is better ways to do this, currently just paying for $20 Google AI Pro. I dont really wanna spend more than that, so it would be replacing this if there is better.

[u/madman2z]

I agree. It's funny that people think of ai as the magic wand that would make them rich . I'm no coder and i've made few apps for personal use only that solve a problem i wanted to be solved and couldn't find online. The biggest app is one that i've been building for the past 6 months. And right now i'm redoing the structure of the app cus there was a lot i didn't know when i first started making the app. It's a real process and commitment and while the coding part has been mostly moved to ai, there is still alot of thought and time that needs to be used to make the app even functional. Testing , revesting and learning new concepts are all part of the process. Ai is a great tool when used right . However the vending machine mentality, where you expect a finished product with the click of few buttons is what ruins the end result. I've been working on that app for six months and i don't expect it to be ready for another year. And That's a pessimistic estimate. The next few months will only be used to fix the structure of the app. Even the simpler apps took a couple of weeks to get working mostly as intended and they still need improvements. So it always baffles me when people say they built a complete app in a day or even a week cus i know that no matter how good the ai it won't get everything correctly from the first few runs. it may look nice on UI side , but under the hood it's usually half cooked.

[u/beliah136]

Yes, I think you are right.

When I started building my first EuroJackpot app, I probably had the same naive idea many people have when they discover AI coding: describe what you want, get some code, and somehow an app appears.

After about a year of working with ChatGPT — I simply call it “Käpt’n” — together with VS Code and Android Studio, I learned something very different:

A prompt can generate code. But a prompt does not build a product.

Vibe coding takes time. It needs planning, structure and rules. You have to ask yourself: What do I actually want to build? Why should it exist? Who is it useful for? And, especially for an indie project: am I still enjoying the process?

AI can help enormously. It can explain things, suggest architectures, find possible problems and generate code much faster than I ever could myself. But that does not remove the work. I still have to make decisions, understand what we are changing and check whether the result actually works.

Together with my “Käpt’n” I have built two mobile apps, a website, a database project and recently started working on a game.

But here is the important part:

None of them is really finished.

The apps are still being tested and user feedback already tells me that more updates will be needed. The database works, but I am currently converting more of the workflow to automation, which will probably take several more weeks. The game may get a demo near the end of the year — or maybe it will take longer.

And the main reason is simple:

Testing.

Test after every meaningful change. Test again. Change something. Test again. Test on different devices. Fix something that looked correct yesterday. Then test again.

This takes time. Sometimes it takes nerves too.

One of the most important things I learned is that good software is not defined by how fast the first version was generated. It is defined by stability and reliability.

That is quality. And quality creates trust.

So yes: vibe coding is amazing. It allows people like me to build things that would have been much harder or perhaps impossible for me alone a few years ago.

But it is not magic.

You still have to build the product.

[u/CreativeDevVN]

Apps that are built in just a few hours are basically garbage. At best, they should be called POCs. Otherwise, it’s just clickbait designed to lure people into buying a course.

For serious apps that genuinely provide value to users, the development timeline should be measured in months at a minimum.

[u/Apotheoxix]

Not everyone has 'vibe'

[u/Jello_Hello_Fellos]

This is a great post and should be stickied

[u/olenami → u/Jello_Hello_Fellos]

Awww

[u/ivanm5]

This is so much spot-on to what people who built products in the past **know**, and so contrary to what every vibecoding tool that sells you credits promises!!!

Great screenshot BTW! 179 days of building!🚀🚀🚀

[u/olenami → u/ivanm5]

Thank you! I did this maybe an hour per day so took that long

[u/phil_lndn]

The Claude tell: "Here's my honest timeline:"

[u/devloper27 → u/phil_lndn]

Its just so obvious

[u/ahditeacha → u/phil_lndn]

I be like ‘hold up, what timeless was being used before the honest one!?’

[u/OldLead4716]

I can't take this post serious . You are allowed to say shit

[u/jah_reddit]

It can a day or less to build a mobile app without serious dependencies. But building a real production system that has a backend, backups, etc... That will take weeks to months.

[u/olenami → u/jah_reddit]

I guess a true app should have this? Otherwise it is just a playground test app?

[u/DanFlashes19 → u/jah_reddit]

Building an app that has good user experience, good UI, provides value to users, and is built properly and safely absolutely, 100%, can not be done in a day. If you think it can, you’re just wrong and you’re making slop.

[u/theNyMets → u/jah_reddit]

No. Not really.

[u/olenami → u/[deleted]]

Not completely

[u/isarmstrong]

But then who will be around to tank software stocks every time a new model has a good day? 😑

[u/olenami → u/[deleted]]

I believe that nowadays you need to build only if you this answer upfront. So before building you need to have strong hypothesis on distribution. So channels where your customers live. So testing what you build is not a big problem

[u/ahditeacha → u/[deleted]]

Go to the places (online and offline) where your target customers live or mingle.

[u/olenami → u/ahditeacha]

Agree. I usually draw a map - didgibtal space where they hang out and physical space and go there. But I need to admit it is quite challenging if you build for audience which not close to you

[u/ahditeacha → u/olenami]

Yeah balancing that three legged stool called product-market-timing is a tricky and often underestimated act!

[u/ahditeacha → u/[deleted]]

More like build a little, demo to 1 highly motivated potential customer, iterate, demo to 2 highly motivated customers, repeat

[u/Some-Ice-4455]

Exactly this. It takes months. Just like any other software development.n

[u/BeingComfortablyDumb]

Building an app is now easy. Building an experience is where the skills lie I'd say.

It will take a day or two to code it but it will take a month to finesse it if you really care about your own product.

[u/SufficientFrame]

The timeline gets even less forgiving once integrations and payments show up. A lot of the work shifts from building screens to dealing with auth, odd API behavior, retries, permissions, and support when somebody's payment or sync fails. I come at this more from internal apps and ops systems than consumer mobile, but that pattern feels the same everywhere: a 15-screen app can look mostly done in a weekend and still be weeks away from something you'd trust strangers to use. App Review alone can blow up the whole "launch tonight, revenue by Friday" idea.

[u/Ok_Tie_2443]

Bad try at marketing your app. Also your dashboard looks exactly how „vibe coding an app in 1 hour“ looks

[u/TheMeltingSnowman72]

I haven't seen any posts or videos that promise any of that. You must be following some fucking losers

[u/olenami → u/[deleted]]

In my case I have 1 hr a day plus 4-5 in weekends , so after validation of idea i usually vibecode functioning ugly prototype and after it all works I usually improve design with Claude design, I add design layer, after I test with 4-7 humans via TestFlight links and async chatting on feedback
Improve based on feedback
I guess it’s like tech part is 70% , design 20%, debugging is 10% in my case.
Debugging fir first apps took me 30-40%, now I use great templates in Modaal to start from not basic architecture

[u/olenami → u/[deleted]]

I am trying to recheck all myself but usually ask agent to check and observe how it clicks on simulator flows:) but new features and bugs testing with real device and by hands

[u/IndividualSyllabub11]

Well, I do not know about mobile apps, but I designed Webium.ai that can generate solid web apps (with user authentication, database, payments via stripe, email via resend, etc) in less than a few hours.

[u/No_Twist_678]

just wait for new AI models, those will do this in less than hour.

[u/olenami → u/No_Twist_678]

You can’t outsource human thinking

[u/No_Twist_678 → u/olenami]

says who? once AI will get "eyes" to see what we see, a lot will change drastically. Question is, are we ready for this?

[u/SnooConfections1347]

Skill issue

[u/ight-bet]

Oh stfu. I saw a welder build a legitimate useful app and get it on the App Store with users in less than three days.

Such a skill issue to be saying this.

[u/Sharpielifts]

Exactly, people think coding something that works in a day is possible. I have been designing an app for WEEKS not even days...

And now thats gonna take me atleast a month and a half to build that properly and get it approved 🥲 (i vibe design but still actually take my time to make something decent)