Transcription
With zero coding knowledge, I built an iPhone app with ChatGPT, and you can download it in the App Store right now. After just a couple hours of working with ChatGPT, having it give me all the code, fixing bugs, and even creating the artwork for this app, I submitted the app that night. And while it got rejected the first time, and we'll get into that, I used ChatGPT to fix the errors, and now it was approved and live in the App Store.
So I'm going to walk you through my entire conversation with ChatGPT, how I got the code fixing bugs, how I made UI tweaks and feature changes, even though I have no idea how to code, problem solved getting around Xcode because I had no idea how to use it, why my app got rejected, how ChatGPT fixed it, and now that I know I can make an app and get it in the App Store, what I'm going to do next.
So I'm going to show you the app and what it does in a moment, but I started by asking ChatGPT5, can it write an iPhone app in Swift code? I want it to be in Swift and using all the latest hits or whatever. Again, not a developer, so I don't know all the terms, but the whole idea for the app is right here. Make an app that finds coffee places in a 10-mile radius of a user's current location or give the option to enter a zip code. and show those places on a map, and once chosen, open directions to that cafe. After that simple prompt, ChatGPT gave me all the code I needed to put into Xcode and create an app.
Now, it told me where to put the code in and what files, but I don't use Xcode, I don't know it. So I actually asked it to just give me the file so I can download it and import it into Xcode, if that's something that can be done. And it gave me a zip file that I was able to download, import it to Xcode, and I was almost done.
Now I'm going to get back into the process and how I made small changes to the app, but here's what it does. It's a super simple app, it's really just a proof of concept, but I call it Coffee Finder. The express purpose is to find coffee shops near you. It will ask to use your current location on launch, and if you give it access, just tap search, and it's just going to show you coffee places near you. That's it. If you don't want to give it location access, you can just toggle use zip code, type in any zip code you want. This works in other countries as well, and you'll get coffee places near that zip code. Tap on a coffee place's name, either on the map or in the list, and you can just quickly open directions to that coffee place. That's it. That's the whole app. It's super complicated. It's very bare bones, but I was able to make it. Well, ChatGPT made it. And I'll put a direct link in the video description, but you can just search for Coffee Finder, and you'll find it right away. Also, the entire description and features, this was also all written by ChatGPT. We'll get to that in a second.
Now, even after ChatGPT gave me the zip file and told me what to do, not having using Xcode, I asked it to walk me through step by step. And ChatGPT did exactly that, giving me exact steps on how to use Xcode. This is me using the ChatGPT app on my MacBook Air, the zip file, getting it imported into Xcode. During the process, I had to ask it what it meant by like targets and projects. Again, didn't know how to do any of this stuff. Now, whenever I didn't know how to do something in Xcode, I would literally just take a screenshot of the Xcode window, send it to ChatGPT 5 and say, "I don't see this. Here's what I'm looking at." And every time ChatGPT told me exactly what to look for, and I was able to see it. After several times of trying to build the app, I would get errors in Xcode. I would just take screenshots of the errors, send it to ChatGPT, and it would give me changes to make. I did think about trying to pull in ratings for these businesses directly into the app, and ChatGPT was going to walk me through actually using the Google API for Google ratings, or maybe getting the Yelp ratings. But I was really trying to get this done as fast as possible, so I skipped that feature.
Now, there were two changes I did ask ChatGPT to make to the app after it gave me that initial code. One, you can see here there's not a lot of padding, and so I asked it to actually give me a little more space between this bar and the top of the app. Also, the number pad wouldn't disappear once someone taps search in the app after entering a zip code, so I said that was a problem, and it gave me the code to change. But anytime it told me to change code in the middle of the document, I didn't want to mess anything up. So I would just ask ChatGPT to give me all the code for this new change so I can copy and paste the entire thing. And here's me asking about the padding right there. And once again, ChatGPT gave me all the code I needed. I ran another build, opened the simulator, padding was fixed, the number pad and the zip code issue was fixed, and I was ready to submit it.
The last thing I needed to do was get an app icon. And yes, I used ChatGPT for this too. Not to pull the ratings in from the Google API. I did a brief description about what I would want for the app icon, including a gradient, the mug, and it created the app icon you literally see in the app right now. Now, Xcode wants a bunch of different sizes for the image. So I asked ChatGPT, can it generate all the sizes? And sure enough, it can. There were a few times GPT-5 would give me a download link where I could download the sizes, and it would give me an error that the link has expired. So I had to ask it sometimes several times for the same link, but eventually it would work and I could download the file.
Now once I put in all the different app icon sizes here in Xcode, I was ready to submit it, but again, had no idea how to do that. I asked ChatGPT and it gave me these step-by-steps. So I did all of this, archived the app build, used the organizer to distribute it. Again, never done any of this before. And I thought I was close to done. Turns out I was not. So once it uploaded from the organizer, I was able to go to App Store Connect, which you do need a paid Apple developer account to be able to submit a hundred dollars a year. I uploaded some screenshots. I was able to install it onto my iPhone directly from Xcode. Here in App Store Connect, promotional text and a description. I just asked ChatGPT to write that too. Every time I tried to add it for review, it gave me warnings. I would fill out more information. It said I needed privacy documentation. So I asked ChatGPT to write that, gave me a privacy policy. I put it on my website, just copy and pasted that from ChatGPT and then gave App Store Connect the URL, took my website URL, put it right here in the app privacy section. And I thought I did everything I needed to, but my build wouldn't appear here in App Store Connect. And I had no idea why. Then I finally checked my email and realized I kept getting these errors from apps store connect saying that there was a missing required icon for iPad specifically so I started asking ChachapiT where do I put this icon size because I didn't see it in xcode and this was my biggest struggle ChachapiT didn't really seem to know how to do it with the built-in tools for the app icon sets and so I went down this rabbit hole of manually doing an info.plist file in xcode and manually adding the icon images to be totally honest this took way longer than actually building the app just trying to figure out how to get this iPad icon to make it so this build went to App Store Connect. Now, I probably could have disabled distributing to iPad, but I didn't want to try and figure that out too. So I just did this whole P-List thing, eventually got it to work. Finally got the build to upload, submitted it in App Store Connect, and then it was waiting for review Sunday night, just about three to four hours once I'd begun this process.
Now, I was told by many developers online that the App Store review process can take a while, so I didn't hear anything Monday. But Tuesday, I got this. It was rejected from the App Store because there was an error on iPad Air specifically. So I went back into ChatGPT to try and fix it. And before we get to that, two quick plugs. I'm going to be discussing this in-depth on my tech podcast, Primary Technology. You can subscribe above, watch those new episodes every Thursday, and you can listen in your podcast players. Links to that below. And if you want to get into more ChatGPT work, I actually have a custom ChatGPT that I've built for iPhone shortcuts, specifically for API usage and matching text. Over 1,700 people are in that community, and you can support me and this channel by becoming a paying member of that community where you get access to my Shortcuts GPT, Shortcut of Week, and my entire Shortcuts database.
All right, back to the App Saga. So I sent ChatGPT the screenshots from App Store Review saying this was the error, what's happening? And I basically just asked, can we fix this? And ChatGPT went and gave me some more code. It added a country parameter and also be able to handle alphanumeric postcodes. I once again asked, just give me all the code so I can copy and paste. I don't want to try and replace individual lines. And so ChatGPT did that. I tested in the simulator and still got an error. So sent that screenshot. It gave me some more code. And I would say in about... 20 minutes, I was able to resubmit it to the App Store. That was Tuesday morning. And by Wednesday morning, I got official approval. My app is in the App Store available for anyone to download.
So a couple of thoughts on this. One, when I first posted that I was vibe coding and submitted an iPhone app, the post on threads got a lot of activity. And there were some very unhappy developers along with some people genuinely interested in. Some of the concerns were, you don't know if ChatGPT is making code that's going to collect people's data and things like that. I tried to create an app that was only asking for locations and even then you can deny it and still use the app. There's no login, no account info, anything like that. Do I know what every line of code means when I pasted it into Xcode? No. And if you guys want, let me know in the comments. Maybe I'll put a link to my full ChatGPT conversation and you actual developers can let me know. If I do end up sharing this whole conversation, which I have to look through and make sure there's no sensitive info, but yes, I do have one message with all caps. I was getting really frustrated with the whole iPad app icon. I was not yelling at ChatGPT. I just accidentally hit caps lock and didn't turn it off for that message.
Number two, having an app in the app store, I would not consider myself a developer, not even close. I don't know anything about code or Swift. And this whole process was a challenge, even with ChatGPT, which also gives me an entirely renewed respect for app developers. Thank you all for the work you do. Just getting that app submitted to the app store was quite a chore. And even though this is an incredibly simple app and basically you can do the same functionality in Maps, this was more of a proof of concept. I wanted to know, is it even possible if you have knowledge and never used Xcode before, can you use ChatGPT to actually make an app all the way to the end and get it in the App Store? It turns out you can.
Now, I don't plan on improving this app or keeping it up long-term, but the fact that this worked and it's actually out there for people to download has got me thinking, what can I make? And can I push ChatGPT5 to really make a complex app that I would be proud of and really wanna share with everyone that provides value? So get subscribed because I think I'm gonna try a more ambitious project next. In a little while, we'll see how fast ChatGPT can help me do it, but the fact that it can give me all the code, generate app icons, give me text and verbiage that I might need for a privacy policy, that is pretty incredible.
So let me know in the comments, whether you're a developer or someone who's been interested in getting into it, and now that you can see ChatGPT5 and other AI tools can really assist. As a developer, does this feel threatening or do you know that AI is still nowhere near the capabilities of human developers? And for those who have never coded before, but have wanted to make an app, Does this feel empowering? use this. Frankly, there have been many times in the past where I've wanted to make an app or had an idea for an app. I've tried to start reading Swift documentation and I just couldn't devote the time to really learn it. And it's a steep learning curve. Again, even more respect to all the developers out there. Kudos, because that is a tough gig. But if I can make an app, albeit simple, just with ChatGPT and the ideas I have, that feels pretty empowering to me. And I think I'm going to try it again. So let me know down in the comments what you think. Get subscribed because I'm going to try more projects with this in the future. I'd appreciate it if you hit that like button and also join my community, create.beard.fm if you're into shortcuts and automation. And if you want to hear even more in-depth and hear Jason Aten, my co-host, grill me on this whole process, tune into Primary Technology. I'll link my podcast channel right up here. You can also listen in all your podcast apps of choice. And if you want to see what I did with Perplexity's AI browser, which is another powerful tool, and I found 10 use cases for that, check out my video on that right up here. Thanks for watching. I'll catch