Vibe-Coding: Pressure on Apple over App Store rejections
Develop your own programs quickly with the iPhone: That's what Vibe-Coding apps promise. However, Apple only allows them under certain circumstances.
Vibe-Coding (symbolic image): Demand is growing – including on mobile.
(Image: daily_creativity / Shutterstock.com)
AI companies and their investors are annoyed because Apple apparently does not have a clear policy for Vibe-Coding applications in the App Store. In the past, the company has repeatedly blocked entire apps or their updates because, in its view, they violated the rules of the software store. Developers consider this approach “erratic,” as some told the British financial newspaper Financial Times. According to the FT, criticism came from, among others, Replit, a Vibe-Coding specialist now valued at nine billion US dollars, supported by well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz.
Apps distributable through other channels
Replit has reportedly been repeatedly confronted with the blocking of updates for its iPhone app. This has “surprised and disappointed” the company, as it has been “adhering to [Apple's] rules on the platform for years.” Discussions with the iPhone manufacturer are now underway. Vibecode, another provider of Vibe-Coding apps, experienced something similar; here too, updates were not immediately approved. Apple's main problem seems to be that Vibe-Coding apps allow users to develop entire programs with a few prompts, which can then be executed and distributed as web apps – the latter bypassing the App Store.
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Apparently, it is less problematic if the Vibe-Coding takes place within the app itself, without the result being exportable. The start-up Anything is also in conflict with Apple, whose VibeCoding app, according to its statements, has been repeatedly blocked in the App Store and even subsequently banned. Other providers like Lovable or Cursor are currently still cautious and do not offer an iOS app at all.
Many more iOS apps thanks to Vibe-Coding
In addition to Vibe-Coding apps for iOS itself, there is an even greater hype around creating entire iOS apps using Vibe-Coding tools on Mac and PC. The number of iOS applications itself increased by 30 percent in the past year alone, which is likely also due to this. Apple itself now offers Vibe-Coding capabilities for Xcode, in addition to various other SDKs. Anthropic Claude Code or OpenAI Codex also generate iOS apps if desired.
The Vibe-Coding companies and their financiers hope that Apple will find clearer rules in the App Store. The issue of security is not a good reason, said David George of Andreessen Horowitz, for example. It is also conceivable that regulators will get involved – the EU, for example, is forcing an App Store opening via the Digital Markets Act.
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