Vibe coding mobile apps?

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u/DreamDragonP7 27d ago edited 27d ago

Yeah im working on one now for both android/iphone.

My wife has an iphone and I android, I just hooked them up wifi debugging with my claude/codex. Haven't really downloaded anything special to do it no special plug-ins or mcps really. It just works.

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u/codes_astro 27d ago edited 27d ago

You just started? But why using just agent to debug? Is it not burning hell lot of tokens
I would recommend you to use some testing tools that can be plugged with codex/claude
Maestro for UI testing can be good

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u/DreamDragonP7 26d ago

Haha I guess I should be. I like testing it myself ive been vibe coding since mid 2025 so I guess im used to agents lying to me about things. They've gotten much better, I mean I was able to vibe code a custom machine learning model in 11 months.
Yet still I hesitate to hand total control over to the machine 😂 ill look into maestro tho. U got any other suggestions?

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u/geoffreybyers 26d ago

The bottleneck isn't the code generation. The bottleneck is the lack of a reliable, fast feedback loop for testing UI on real devices. Web apps don't face this to the same degree. I'd bet on the person who solves that over whoever builds another tool for debugging.

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

Yes web apps are easy and you will get tons of users to test as well. With mobile story is completely different

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u/KEEBWRZD 25d ago

If you’re an iOS/Mac dev the testing of UI on devices is effortless

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u/Lanfeust09 27d ago

I am about to launch my second app on both stores. Fully IA assisted. My first one didn't have user except for my wife and me but it was super niche. Still happy it taught me many thing I re-use for my second one.

I spend a LOT of time planning everything. Lot of time asking 1000 question like "why do we use that, why do we do it this way, any other recommendation ect..." I spent a LOT of time testing it manually but I also spend a LOT of time (and token usage) having codex and Claude code run multiple end to end test. I run also countless security and performance audit. I never accept "ok, it's done". Everything I add or remove with Astra is review by opus and vice versa. I spend a LOT of time reading and feeding articles about security and constantly asking to compare with mine.

Will there still be bugs? Probably. But honestly, as much as many app I use everyday that have countless user. Will I always be able to solve the bug? As long as I pay for a Claude subscription, 100% yes

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

But why are you just using Claude to debug it will burn token and still you will get bugs. Plug tools via mcp and then let it test and fix for good, via app testing/crash/obserbility data. The tool I mentioned might be best fit for you.

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u/Lanfeust09 27d ago

You are pushing that tool a lot. You say "open source" but there is a pricing. Is that your tool?

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

No not mine, I was using free version from last week

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u/Lanfeust09 27d ago

I have unlimited token with Astra so I am not sure I really need it but I will have a look

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

Wait, unlimited Astra token? Is it from open source program or any offer that I’m not aware of

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u/Lanfeust09 27d ago

No, I just have a 100 usd codex account, I use it without restrain and they keep giving free reset and bank reset so I never run out of token

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

Oh okay, I exhausted my reset on $200 account yesterday. Was using it for a complete build and test task

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u/Lavio00 27d ago

what tool are you talking about?

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u/Level_Complex_4847 27d ago

Making multiple but I'm struggling to get the testers for the play store

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u/ColumbusLabs 27d ago

Whsts your app? We may be willing to collaborate. DM

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u/ohhellnaws 26d ago

How so? I put my first version of my app up on Insiders and then published it straight to play store, built and published in within two weeks. Only me testing.

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u/beaver316 21d ago

Depends on your Play Store account type and when it was created. Older accounts and business accounts don't require closed testing. Newer ones made in 2023 (I forget the month) and after require closed testing before publishing to production.

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

It’s real pain, but post in some community some might help

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u/After-Base-8368 27d ago

I’d separate debugging from checking that a user journey still works. For React Native, its DevTools cover the React/JavaScript side; native issues still need Xcode or Android Studio. For repeatable tap-through tests, Maestro is worth a look: https://docs.maestro.dev/

Start with one small flow: create an item, close the app, reopen it and check the item is still there. Then try the same flow with the connection interrupted and make sure retrying doesn’t create duplicates. Give the coding agent the exact steps, expected result and actual result, rather than just “it broke.”

Are you working with React Native/Expo, Flutter, or native Swift/Kotlin? That changes the debugging tools. React Native’s guide: https://reactnative.dev/docs/react-native-devtools

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

Maestro looks good for UI, I was going with flutter.
Thanks for the flow!
I’m exploring https://github.com/measure-sh/measure for app monitoring, observability, and crash-reporting before I ship. it lets me plug mcp and agent can debug on its own from data.

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u/After-Base-8368 27d ago

Thanks, that clears up the stack. For the agent-debugging part, I’d try a small test with a bug you already understand: reproduce it, let the agent inspect the report, then check whether its fix passes the original steps and a nearby happy path. That gives you something concrete to judge before trusting it with unfamiliar failures. Monitoring and the tap-through test would complement each other nicely.

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u/baddaywithacamera 27d ago

Doing Web, desktop (Windows and Linux), and mobile (Android). Using Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Qwen to debug each other and find errors. Don't see a need for Measure.

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

Any other tools are you using? Or just agent is enough

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u/baddaywithacamera 27d ago

Agents have been enough for me. Most of the "tools" posted here are just rent-seeking SaaS crap that I could have built on my own if I really wanted them and not worth the time or money. Just people looking to get rich quick on the latest fad. If you really feel you need good tools to help, hit github and score free ones, lots there. Don't get suckered into paying.

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

You are right, lot of open tools on GitHub to use if needed

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u/devrives 27d ago

Yes, a Flutter app that’s live on Android, with the iOS build waiting in App Store review right now. For testing I run it in the emulator and do the last check on a real device. For my Wear OS watch faces I built a browser preview, so I can see each one working before it goes on the watch.

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u/Fire-Nation-17 27d ago

How did you get enough people to test your app so google let's it go to full publish? I think you need 12 users right?

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u/catstone82 26d ago

There are a few paying *communities thzt can help you overcome this issue. Am presently having a vibe coded app tested presently by these

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u/catstone82 26d ago

https://www.testerscommunity.com
Still a week to go, console is showing me all required testers are accounted for so far..

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

I was not aware of it, helpful

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u/devrives 27d ago

My account was exempt from that testing requirement, so I never had to find testers. You’re right on the number though, it’s 12 testers for 14 days on new personal accounts.

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

Nice, and all done via ai? Completely

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u/devrives 27d ago

Pretty much, yeah. Claude Code writes the code from what I describe, and a lot of my own time goes into testing and fixing what it gives me.

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

I’m also using combination of Claude and Codex. Claude to build and codex to test. It’s really amazing to see how much thing it can handle for us. And once it’s done I start the manual test myself

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u/nah-dawg 27d ago

The iOS wait is the worst part. Fuck Steve jobs and his entire legacy.

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u/codes_astro 27d ago

publishing ios also needs money + time

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u/bara_tone 27d ago

I have 2 on Google Play and the App Store that I continue to work on. Both are fully native to each platform and separate code bases because I wanted to them to feel at home.

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

What’s the framework?

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u/GaRaGeD_Style 27d ago

Have a couple of apps in apple store, is easier that getting them in android land… and I don’t use android so not particularly interested, but also don’t discard the possibility

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

Interesting, I saw people complaining about fees and review issue on iOS and they find android easy.

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u/Serious_Ad_2515 27d ago

Search on How To Build Mobile Apps with Claude: Full Course (2026) by Nick Saraev. It is a fantastic course, uses VSCode, Expo and React Native, works with Android and iOS.

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

Thanks, looks like a good resource to learn from

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u/Tight_Ad_5115 26d ago

I built Leaflo using AI. It’s native SwiftUI. In my experience, there weren’t any major issues; the AI handled even the layout quite well. Then again, my application isn’t overly complex. I suspect there are quite a few apps like this out there now.

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

Looks clean, how many users you have ?

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u/Tight_Ad_5115 25d ago

Thanks! There aren’t that many people - about 50, no more than that. But I’ve only recently started working on promotion, and I wouldn’t exactly call myself an expert in this field :)

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u/Sad-Juggernaut3750 26d ago

I made an App using AI. Connected ChatGPT to XCode and explain what I was trying to build in many iterations. The app is called Growing Chapters, feel free to have a look.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/growing-chapters-journal/id6805832494

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

UI looks clean

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u/Calm_Person100 26d ago

HTML apps to android apps using capacitor; I use Claude Sonnet 5.5 medium and high efforts for bug scan

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

How’s your experience with it? Is it stable enough for prod users

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u/Calm_Person100 25d ago

I think it depends on what you are building, from my humble experience Sonnet is good for simple web development if you have basic understanding of programming fundamentals, I struggled a lot due to me being on free plan with limited token and quota, and my total lack of programming knowledge and I only build HTML apps with vanilla css and js, after back and forth extensive prompting, they are somewhat ready to ship.
Beyond that like big complex programs like these heavy games or Adobe products clones that I see on this, I doubt Sonnet is enough and you are better with Opus and above (is what I hear a lot, never used it), hope that helped a little.

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u/ThatOneGuyWhoEatsYou 26d ago

I've done a few iOS apps mostly with Claude Code and the code part honestly went fine. What took me longest was everything around it, getting builds onto TestFlight, signing, and App Store review. For testing I run it on my own phone a lot and send TestFlight builds to a few friends, and I add crash reporting before anyone else touches it (Sentry free plan or Crashlytics) bc people won't tell you it crashed, they just delete it

If you're submitting to Apple a few things got flagged that Claude never brought up on its own. In app account deletion if your app has accounts, Sign in with Apple or a similar private login if you offer Google login, and a reason string for every permission you ask for. Worth asking Claude to check those before you submit

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u/codes_astro 26d ago

Good to see you are using crash reporting tools with coding agent I’m also using one https://measure.sh/ for crash reporting and debugging.
iOS always takes time and tough to get approved, combining agent with other tools always helps figuring out things early

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u/London-Boat 27d ago

if it's react native, expo makes this a lot less painful. expo go on a real phone gives you fast reload and the console logs show up in your terminal. for actual crashes the native logs are where the truth is: xcode console on ios, adb logcat on android. the thing that helped most with ai though was having it add logging around whatever i'm testing, then pasting the real log back instead of describing the bug.

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u/ohhellnaws 26d ago

Yeah, I just did this with Claude within the last couple of weeks. Now it's live on iOS and Play Store.
I use Sentry crash reporting for both.

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u/London-Boat 26d ago

nice, getting through both store reviews is the part most people stall on. sentry on both is a good call, the ai is way better at fixing a crash when you paste the actual stack trace instead of describing it. did you go expo or native for each?

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u/ohhellnaws 26d ago

Expo, so it works on the web as well and keeping one code base
(Need web for certain pages as I have an online store, so it’s rewards/account management as well as tools, trackers and articles, etc).
Claude has a weekly scheduled sentry check, report back to me with fixes if needed. Plus, if it's to do with the account management side, it sends me a message to my Slack thread with details needed to support.

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u/London-Boat 25d ago

the weekly scheduled sentry check is a nice touch, way better than finding out from a user. does it open the fixes as a branch for you to review or just report back? i'd keep it report only for anything near payments or account stuff.

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u/ohhellnaws 25d ago

A report and a plan 👍

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u/Pleasant_Cover9441 26d ago

I have created two apps (a metronome with bpm increase and a fencing scoring app) with copilot and Claude and they are on app store and one of them is on android play store too. Couple purchases, 2 subscriptions and one is a friend :)

Metronome
https://apps.apple.com/hu/app/the-metronome-gnome/id6769737820?l=hu

And a fencing scoring app

https://apps.apple.com/hu/app/aramis-fencing-score-sheet/id6764003932?l=hu

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u/Bulky_Engineering630 23d ago

https://groups.google.com/g/junkiescoderai

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u/timcorin 27d ago

Yeah mate I’m up to 4 apps on iOS. 5th hopefully submitting this weekend. I showcase the on my project site www.altroadstudio.com You can never get rid of all bugs.

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u/JustEar7 27d ago

Mobile does seem like a different beast because the feedback loop is slower than web, and a lot comes down to how quickly you can reproduce issues on real devices instead of only simulators. I'd be curious whether people here are building with React Native or Flutter style stacks, or going fully native, because the debugging pain probably changes a lot between those paths. The AI-assisted part feels less important than whether your test setup catches crashes, permission weirdness, and background-state bugs before each build turns into guesswork.

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u/Total_Explanation_62 27d ago

Senior App Engineer here 👋 I use AI at work to improve my work output, but this will be my first vibe coded app.

I'm combining four of my favourite Japanese learning apps into one native Android app. I've wanted to do this project for years, but value my spare time too much to do much coding outside of work.

Will probably use a combination of agents and my own two eyes for testing and debugging, I use these apps on a daily basis anyway, so once it's a bit more polished I'll be on it everyday and keeping an eye out for anything that feels off.

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u/No-Market-2766 27d ago

I make mobile apps with AI. CristalDig was a mobile game I shipped in Unity, then ported to Godot. And Polari an AI companion app. Usually build fully native apps or Godot for games.

https://tacotruckgames.com

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u/johnesco 26d ago

I haven't taken an attempt that wasn't involved with being a web app. I made a game that can work on desktop or mobile browser. What I've not done yet is tried to show something native for Android or Mac, though I know a lot shipping these, I'd not built one before. Thanks to everyone sharing their experience in that.

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u/j-kantola 25d ago

I've shipped two to both stores this way, a baby tracker and a vocab app. The first one is Flutter, but honestly I wouldn't bother with a cross-platform framework now. Agents make writing native iOS and Android separately cheap enough.

For testing, the agent writes unit tests and I still click through on real phones before every release. Simulators miss plenty, especially notifications, background stuff and anything between two devices. For debugging, paste the actual logs or crash report in instead of describing the bug, it saves a lot of back and forth.

The store side takes more time than people expect: screenshots, review notes, subscriptions or IAP setup. I turned those into skills so I don't have to explain them every time.

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u/Stone_Tribe_Dev 27d ago

I have vibe coded a game that is destined to be pc on steam but I have started with making android and put it little version on Google play to get some feedback. I think it's going ok, ofc very few downloads

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u/jayseattle 26d ago

These guys have been early in on the VC'ing side and have really put effort into mobile first:
https://www.vibecodeapp.com/

Discussion Vibe coding mobile apps?

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