I've always had a decent grasp of building for the web, but iOS felt like a wall.
The blocker was Swift. I could design the experience, but translating it into native code was slow, and I'd lose momentum fast.
Using Codex and Claude Code has been insanely helpful in closing that gap. I can now move from idea to working app without getting stuck for days on language details. As a designer, that feels liberating.
AI didn't remove the need for taste or product thinking. It removed the friction between "I know what this should be" and "I can actually build this."
Process that worked for me
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Stay native-first on iOS. I try to stick to native iOS patterns as much as possible. You can build custom components, but the more custom you go, the more deeply you need to understand iOS APIs. The best results came when I prompted with specific API context instead of vague visual requests.
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Reduce AI assumptions. I stopped asking AI to build the whole app in one shot. I map the full app visually, break it into small screens/features, and get each piece correct before moving on. Git is my safety net here: if the output is off, revert, re-prompt, and try again.
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Get comfortable with the language. The more I learned Swift and iOS fundamentals, the better AI output became. My outcome quality went up because I now understand more of the iOS API surface and the props/configuration I can actually use.
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Fine-tune everything. AI can get 98% of a feature right, but the last 2% is where design quality lives. Spacing, font scale, color, timing, visual balance. That polish is what separates good from great, and you still need to get into code to do it.
#1 Step Counter app
I never found a step counter app I truly loved.
Some were badly designed. Some were filled with ads. Some did too much and still felt bad to use.
So I built one that focuses on the basics: clear progress, clean UI, and no noise.
#2 Session Tracker App
A friend told me she was struggling to track sessions for gym and physio.
Most apps in this space felt bloated, overloaded with features, and not designed very well for quick daily use.
So I built a simple session tracker: log sessions fast, see history clearly, and get out.
Building apps used to feel like permission I didn't have yet.
Now it feels like a muscle I can train every day.
If you're sitting on an idea, build it. Keep building, keep learning, and bring your ideas to life.