I constructed an iOS app in simply two days because of AI – and it was exhilarating

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Xcode 26.1 AI was unusable. Xcode 26.3 AI is a giant leap.
• AI-driven migration delivered large change in below two days.
• One rule mounted it: no background brokers, frequent standing updates.

I’m certain that the time will come when AI coding does not look like some wonderful new magic ripped from the longer term. However not in the present day.

The undertaking I have been engaged on for the final two days counts because the third main product I’ve executed utilizing AI coding. Really, it is extra just like the third main undertaking set, as a result of I added 4 premium add-ons to my WordPress safety plugin, I constructed iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch apps for my 3D printer filament supervisor, and I’ve simply made main inroads right into a surprisingly highly effective stitching sample supervisor on iOS.

Additionally: Xcode 26.3 lastly brings agentic coding to Apple’s developer instruments

I’ve discovered that once I work in a distinct AI atmosphere, I wish to work on a novel codebase. That approach, I do not get totally different AIs confused about the identical factor. So when Apple launched its Xcode 26.3 candidate, supposedly with considerably enhanced AI integration, I wanted a brand new undertaking to work on with it.

By combining a tightly built-in AI assistant and voice dictation (extra on that later) to construct a robust app with built-in machine studying capabilities, I actually do really feel like I am dwelling sooner or later.

The undertaking

My spouse prompt I do a stitching sample supervisor, one thing to assist her (and presumably different sewists) handle their giant stash of paper and digital stitching patterns.

It is a undertaking just like the filament supervisor, in that it makes use of images and NFC tags to trace the places of bodily gadgets. However it’s additionally a wildly totally different product in that stitching patterns have many extra attributes than rolls of 3D printer filament.

This isn’t a small market. There could also be a number of hundred thousand 3D printing geeks within the US, as much as possibly a max of 1,000,000. That pales compared to the stitching market, the place artful sewists quantity round 30 million within the US and Canada, in line with the Crafting Trade Alliance.

So, yeah, I selected this undertaking largely as a result of my spouse favored the concept. However the complete obtainable market is large sufficient that if I made a decision to take all of it the way in which to an App Retailer product, there’s some there there.

I attempted Xcode earlier than

I attempted utilizing Apple’s Coding Intelligence again in November. I used to be in a position to make use of Xcode 26.1 to vibe code a easy “Good day, world” app, which I documented in my how-to article. However as quickly as I attempted to get it to do extra, it obtained silly. Then it hung.

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At the moment, I used it with each OpenAI’s Codex and Claude Code. That approach, it did not should depend on Apple’s personal AI. However I could not paste in any screenshots for it to interpret. I could not get it to run for a couple of or two steps. It could not create any of the configuration recordsdata wanted to create an app for any of Apple’s platforms. And it obtained caught. Loads.

It was, just about, unusable, not less than for vibe coding.

As a substitute, again in November, I used Claude Code within the terminal to create highly effective iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch apps. These used NFC tags and the interior picture capabilities of the iPhone to assist me set up my 3D printing filament. The problem when you might have quite a lot of 3D printers, every of which might assist 4 totally different spools of filament, is protecting monitor of what is on every printer and what’s obtainable in your filament stash.

Additionally: Claude Code made an astonishing $1B in 6 months – and my very own AI-coded iPhone app exhibits why

It took me a number of hours a day, over 11 days, to construct the primary model of the iPhone app. It took a number of extra days every to construct the Mac and Watch apps. I take advantage of that app day-after-day as a result of it solves a private productiveness problem. For extra particulars, you’ll be able to learn this text.

Claude Code, operating out of the standard terminal, was nice. It might do all that Xcode 26.1 could not, together with configuring these recordsdata.

Now there’s Xcode 26.3

Xcode 26.3 is not Xcode 26.1. When it got here to the built-in AI assistant, Xcode 26.1 was simply plain unhealthy information. Xcode 26.3’s developer preview, with some tolerable exceptions, is superior.

Let me let you know about what I in-built lower than two days utilizing Xcode 26.3. Any further on this article, once I say Xcode or “the brand new Xcode,” I imply the developer preview of Xcode 26.3.

Additionally: Need native vibe coding? This AI stack replaces Claude Code and Codex – and it is free

I wrote concerning the new Xcode a number of days in the past on this article. The massive change is that the brand new Xcode helps agentic operations and may let these brokers faucet into virtually every thing that wants doing. The brokers even have entry to Apple’s coding documentation, which proved to be very useful.

To get began, I made a replica of my filament spool undertaking, renamed it for stitching patterns, and set to work with Xcode and Claude Agent. I did not even actually get to work on it for 2 full days. I had quite a lot of different work to do for ZDNET yesterday. I additionally needed to cease early as a result of it ran out of token allocation for some time. In the present day, I needed to cease early sufficient to put in writing this text.

Even so, Claude, Xcode, and I inserted 52,947 new strains of code and deleted 10,626 strains of code over 689 recordsdata. The present codebase consists of 116 code recordsdata totaling 32,381 strains of code. This consists of some tremendous cool machine studying additions I made utilizing Apple’s newest AI/ML libraries.

Additionally: I attempted a Claude Code different that is native, open supply, and fully free – the way it works

I do not code full time. Not even shut. I steal a number of hours right here and there from all my different tasks. But when I have been in a position to commit full time to coding, I estimate it might have taken me an absolute rock-bottom minimal of 4 to six months to do the identical work I did for a part of yesterday and a part of this morning.

For me, as an impartial lone developer, the drive multiplier of AI coding is nothing wanting breathtaking.

The half that broke

There have been two foremost phases to the undertaking to this point. The primary was migration. The second is including and eradicating options.

Migration is so much more durable than you’d assume. As I mentioned, I copied the unique undertaking folder and renamed it. However every thing inside was oriented towards spools of filament. Every thing on this undertaking must be oriented round stitching patterns.

It is not potential to simply do a search and substitute. A lot of strings of characters needed to change, however so did all the info buildings, in addition to all of the app configuration information. That is good work for an AI. It’s extremely technical, very exact, and really, very tedious.

That is additionally the place I virtually gave up.

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The expertise of vibe coding in (not less than the preview construct of) Xcode 26.3 alternates between exhilarating and wonderful, and “what the hell simply occurred to me?” and “did I simply destroy every thing?” It is not an excellent feeling.

Think about you are on the Starship Enterprise. You go to warp, and all the colours are streaming previous you at warp velocity. It is exhilarating. It is an unimaginable feeling.

After which, unexpectedly, every thing goes darkish. You see a tiny glimmer of sunshine, and also you understand you are in some cave someplace. You don’t have any concept what occurred, the place you might be, or how you bought there.

That is what it feels wish to vibe code in Xcode with a number of brokers operating. On this new construct of Xcode, Claude and Xcode love to run a number of parallel brokers.

You are cooking alongside simply effective, after which out of the blue nothing. The system hangs. You don’t have any concept the place within the set of adjustments you might be. There’s nothing you are able to do about it besides stop Xcode and begin again up. The massive hope is that nothing obtained fully destroyed. This isn’t an excellent feeling.

This deep, darkish second of despair shouldn’t be brought on by only one factor. It is not brought on by simply the AI agent operating out of context and needing extra tokens. And it is not brought on by only a background agent getting caught as a result of it does not have permissions and is not reporting again. And it is not brought on by simply having a number of background brokers making adjustments on high of one another, inflicting all of them to cease operating.

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It is brought on by all of those conditions. Hastily, you are cooking alongside properly, after which the following factor you recognize, you are caught in concrete for 3 hours. Do you restart Xcode? Do you wait? Do you want as soon as once more you’d listened to your mother and gone to legislation college as a substitute of engineering college?

In my case, I launched one other occasion of Claude Code within the terminal and requested it to analyze. That was useful as a result of it was in a position to establish caught processes. However operating Claude Code within the terminal defeated the entire objective of doing issues within the Xcode IDE.

There does not look like a approach to cease operating background agent duties, so they only preserve operating. So far as I can inform, there isn’t any approach to keep within the Xcode IDE and verify their standing, and Xcode will not allow you to cease them until you simply abnormally stop the applying fully.

It obtained worse. Hastily, the terminal Claude Code occasion advised me I had used up 91% of my utilization cap and was about to hit 100%. That resulted in a 3-hour and 19-minute work stoppage. The stalled Xcode background brokers that ran for greater than 3 hours had consumed most of my token allocation. Apparently, even idle or caught periods can eat into the session funds due to the context they maintain.

When Claude Code does a compression within the terminal, it stops operating for fairly some time. However not less than there is a message there telling you what is taking place. With Xcode and its penchant for launching background brokers, there’s nothing. Apple, in the event you take no different recommendation from me in the present day, take this: you want higher administration and visibility for background brokers. Stat.

That was yesterday. In a single day, I thought of it. This morning, I inserted a brand new instruction into the overall CLAUDE.MD directions for this undertaking. I advised it, “Do NOT use background brokers or background duties. Do NOT break up into a number of brokers. Replace me frequently on every step. Do NOT run steps that take greater than a minute or two with out having an replace heartbeat.”

Additionally: Is your AI agent as much as the duty? 3 methods to find out when to delegate

In the present day was very productive. Very productive. Nothing ran within the background. No agent tried racing towards the opposite brokers. Claude and Xcode simply did their job. It took about 20 minutes for the AI to wash up the migration mess from the day prior to this.

After which it was time so as to add new stuff. That is the place issues obtained actually enjoyable.

The cool new hotness

So here is the factor. Sewists love them their patterns. Loads. For many years, patterns got here in little paper envelopes. You’ve got seen them. Perhaps you’ve got used them or seen your mother purchase them. Paper envelope patterns nonetheless exist, however digital PDF-based patterns are additionally massive. So are patterns that are available in books of patterns.

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My spouse wished to handle all three varieties of patterns within the new app. As you’ll be able to see from the image, she has bins and bins of paper patterns. We even have a server share devoted to her digital patterns. And there is a whole bookcase stuffed with sample books.

Though I am together with assist for digital patterns and books of patterns, my consideration was largely targeted on the paper envelope-style patterns. That is as a result of they could possibly be managed in a approach just like my filament spools. They could possibly be tracked with NFC tags and moved from location to location.

However there’s additionally a giant distinction. The back and front covers of sample envelopes are like gold to the sewists who acquire them. They present what’s being constructed, present inspiration, and in addition typically present helpful and mandatory buy data for all of the provides wanted to make regardless of the sample describes.

Additionally: How I turned an previous laptop computer into a house doc station – and reduce down on paperwork chaos

My app needed to seize very high-quality photos of these back and front covers. Primarily, I needed to construct a scanner app into my sample database. Not solely does the app should seize a picture, it has to determine what a part of the picture is the sample envelope, then straighten it, reshape it so corners are proper angles, and crop it.

After which I wished to do yet another factor. Paper patterns are largely listed by vendor identify (Simplicity, McCalls, and so on) and sample quantity. I wished my app to extract these two items of information from the photographs, after which let customers select them for naming and indexing the patterns.

To do that, I wanted to make use of Apple’s machine studying APIs, most of that are fairly new. It seems that Claude Code, operating within the terminal, wasn’t acquainted with most of them. However Claude Agent, operating in Xcode, was in a position to simply question Apple’s documentation and create these options.

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I bumped into one different snag. The AI in my app was having a tough time distinguishing between the numbers which are a part of bar codes and the sample numbers. So I had Claude and Xcode prepare my app on how you can establish bar codes and eradicate them from consideration from the sample quantity choice course of.

As a bonus, since my app needed to OCR the photographs as a way to discover the seller identify and quantity, I added an OCR information subject to every sample, so customers can search on something on the entrance or again cowl. I additionally determined to avoid wasting the bar code quantity and the precise bar code with every sample, simply in case the person desires it for one thing.

Claude, Xcode, and I did much more in our quick improvement cycle. My massive objective was to get the AI to construct machine studying into the app and make it work by the point this text was revealed. We met that objective.

My spouse is fairly stoked concerning the app. I am having a blast engaged on it. So I will most likely preserve tinkering with it over the weeks till it meets all her wants. I am unsure if I will put it up on the App Retailer. I do have plans to do an article referred to as one thing like, “Methods to vibe code your approach onto the App Retailer,” so that you would possibly see extra of it or the filament app in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.

Different tidbits

There’s one usability characteristic within the Xcode implementation I like much more than Claude Code’s terminal implementation. You’ll be able to Command-V paste a picture into Xcode’s AI assistant. In Claude Code, you must use Management-V. It is not a giant factor, besides that I’ve a long time of muscle reminiscence doing Command-V to stick on a Mac, and Management-V takes me out of circulate. So I like how Xcode does it.

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The AI assistant also can do builds, which signifies that it could possibly see if the code works. If there are errors, it could possibly repair them by itself. Typically, it runs for an hour or extra all by itself. In the present day, that permit me take a stroll within the park (actually), whereas the AI crew of Xcode and Claude have been busy determining how you can correctly orient and crop a sample cowl.

Talking of circulate, I have been utilizing Wispr Circulate to dictate to Xcode. I would say about 75% of the prompting I did to the AI was executed utilizing Wispr Circulate. The product has a vibe coding mode that made it work very well throughout coding. I used to make use of the Mac’s personal dictation, nevertheless it’s notoriously unreliable. I’ve discovered Wispr Circulate much more dependable.

Why do I dictate to my improvement atmosphere, you ask? I’ve an 8-pound Yorkipoo that likes to twist up on my left shoulder and be held by Daddy whereas he sleeps. So, in fact, I do a ton of my at-computer work utilizing just one hand. Dictation makes this potential, and Wispr Circulate does an awesome job of doing so successfully.

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As for this being a developer candidate for Xcode 26.3, Apple says the complete launch shall be up on the Mac App Retailer throughout the month. So keep tuned. I am hoping it does one thing about managing these runaway, rogue background duties.

However even with these troublesome beasties harshing my coding buzz, I’ve to confess that I am having a ton of enjoyable vibe coding my approach into my spouse’s iPhone’s coronary heart.

Have you ever tried agentic or vibe coding workflows but? If that’s the case, what labored nicely and what broke down? Do you assume tighter IDE integration beats utilizing AI instruments from the terminal, or do you favor protecting them separate? How involved are you about background brokers, runaway duties, and token utilization when AI is deeply embedded in improvement instruments? And at last, do you see your self trusting AI to deal with large-scale refactors or migrations, or does that also really feel like a step too far? Tell us within the feedback under.

You’ll be able to observe my day-to-day undertaking updates on social media. Make sure to subscribe to my weekly replace publication, and observe me on Twitter/X at @DavidGewirtz, on Fb at Fb.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, on Bluesky at @DavidGewirtz.com, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.