How I Coded a Mobile App in 48 Hours SOLO (step by step guide / beginner friendly / with AI)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibtlam1vFGI
[00:04] If you've ever wanted to ship a mobile app but didn't know where to start, I just built mine from scratch in less than 48 hours with zero experience.
[00:12] In this video, I'll walk you through my step-by-step process from coming up with the app idea to building the app and finally getting it published onto the Apple App Store quickly.
[00:21] And if you stick around until the end, I'll also share the current meta in marketing for consumer mobile apps so you can get your first batch of users fast.
[00:30] So recently I launched another startup called create skills which is a browser extension that allows you to capture anything on the web as clean markdown so that you can feed it to AI agents as context.
[00:41] Naturally I thought about building a mobile app to pair with it since I'm not always at my desk and I often come across useful content and resources while scrolling on my phone that I might want to reference later.
[00:53] So my app idea is simple. build a companion app for the browser extension, allowing me to capture anything useful I come across when I'm on my phone and sync everything to my browser extension for easy access later.
[01:03] And that brings me to my biggest
[01:05] later.
[01:07] And that brings me to my biggest piece of advice for deciding on which app ideas are actually worth building or not.
[01:11] And that is to scratch your own itch.
[01:13] Build something that you would actually use yourself.
[01:15] It's that simple and has been said many times because if you're not your own user, you'll lose interest the moment you face a challenge.
[01:22] But when you genuinely want to use the thing you're building, you'll stay motivated to keep improving it and make it work the way you need it to.
[01:29] A second piece of advice is to avoid what people call target ideas.
[01:33] The stuff that sounds exciting on paper, but is actually brutally hard to execute as a solo founder.
[01:39] I think the most common one in 2026 is the classic AI rappers that only do one specific thing like image generation or text summarization.
[01:48] The problem is there's zero mo with these type of apps.
[01:50] pretty much anyone can build it in a weekend.
[01:52] And the second OpenAI or Anthropic ships the same feature natively on their platforms with millions of users, your startup is dead.
[02:00] And the final piece of advice, before you commit to an idea, check if people are already paying for something similar.
[02:04] If yes, then the demand is
[02:06] If yes, then the demand is validated.
[02:08] You just need to win them over with better UX, improved features, or fairer pricing.
[02:13] All right, now that I have a clear idea of what I want to build, let me walk you through how I did it.
[02:18] Since I've never built a mobile app before, I'm using a tool called Ror to help me scaffold and build out my prototype.
[02:23] Then once I have something working, I can bring in external coding agents like Claude Code or Codeex to help me with more complex work like testing my API or wiring up the authentication.
[02:34] Rock is a noode app builder that lets you describe what you want to build in natural language and it generates a working app in minutes.
[02:39] The cool thing that sets them apart is they are able to build your apps in the Swift language, which is the native language for iOS development.
[02:47] This means you can build a much wider range of apps than you could with standard React Native.
[02:50] Things like widgets, live activities, augmented reality apps, Siri integrations, and much more.
[02:57] It's a great way to get started if you're a beginner, but also if you come from a coding background, it just lets you prototype the first version of your app even faster.
[03:06] So, the first thing I did was toggle plan mode and select the
[03:08] was toggle plan mode and select the model for the agent.
[03:10] I suggest choosing the highest quality model you can afford as it will give you the best results right from the start.
[03:15] And currently it seems like GBT 5.5 is winning the model wars.
[03:20] So I recommend using that to get started.
[03:21] A quick tip for your initial prompt and this is where a lot of people make a common mistake.
[03:25] They paste a long and detailed prompt that covers everything they want to build in one go.
[03:30] This just isn't the right approach when using no code app builders.
[03:33] Instead, try to focus on prompting the core one to two features of your app and then iterate on it as you go along.
[03:38] Because the more complex you make the initial prompt, the harder it's going to be for you to iterate afterwards since the AI will try to implement too many things at once and you could end up with untested features, hidden bugs, or results you just didn't want.
[03:51] But one thing that really helped was attaching a design language document to the initial prompt.
[03:55] It specified the colors and the styling of the UI since I already had a specific color palette and look in mind for the app.
[04:02] And the results of this was that I got a polished looking app right from the start without having to do very much tweaking.
[04:07] I have to say the first build wasn't perfect as I had some issues with
[04:09] wasn't perfect as I had some issues with the authentication flow.
[04:11] But it was a good starting point.
[04:13] So afterwards I decided it was time to connect it to my GitHub account to create a new repo for this project and try to fix the OR issue locally with claude code.
[04:17] And a nice feature is whenever I push a change to the repo, it automatically updates the web app and runs the latest build which just makes the whole development process much faster and smoother.
[04:30] Now, when it comes to testing your mobile app, there are really only two methods, and that's through an emulator or on a real device.
[04:36] Emulators are great for iterating quickly and getting a fast feedback loop when developing.
[04:40] But, in my opinion, you've got to test on real hardware before submitting it to the app store, as some bugs may only show up on physical devices.
[04:47] So, make sure to build and test your app on a real device when you are close to finishing the app and ready to submit.
[04:53] Because here's the thing about testing iOS apps the old way.
[04:54] You used to need to install Xcode, which usually takes a few hours to set up.
[05:00] Then register for an Apple developer account, which takes 24 to 48 hours to approve, set up Test Flight, and then handle the signing certificates.
[05:07] There was just so many steps, and it was a
[05:10] was just so many steps, and it was a pain to set up.
[05:12] But with Rock, you can download the Rock Companion app, plug your iPhone into your Mac, and your app will automatically install with your Apple ID, and when you're ready to ship, the App Store submission is just two clicks.
[05:24] So, in the end, the app I built was super simple yet effective.
[05:26] Now, whenever I come across something useful while scrolling on my phone, which could be a blog post, an article, or even an Instagram reel, I just paste the URL into my app and it processes the source and generates a clean markdown file.
[05:38] From there, I can copy and paste the markdown into any of the AI apps I have on my phone or transform the data in any way I want.
[05:47] And it's all synced with my browser extension, so I can easily access it whenever I'm on my desk.
[05:51] And now I just have a growing library of useful resources for my AI agents to reference whenever I need them.
[05:57] And one last thing to mention before we get to publishing, and that's how to monetize your app.
[06:00] For my app, I kept it free and without any inapp purchases.
[06:04] Since it's just a companion to my browser extension, I didn't see a need to over complicate things in this first build.
[06:09] But if you want to add a payw wall
[06:11] But if you want to add a paywall inside your app, you'll need to set up inside your app, you'll need to set up an account with Revenue Cat, which is an account with Revenue Cat, which is essentially Stripe, but for mobile apps, essentially Stripe, but for mobile apps, and then create your product info and and then create your product info and pricing tiers on their website.
[06:20] And to wire it all up in your app, you literally just type setup revenue cat inside of raw and it will automatically configure everything for you and prompt you for any additional details.
[06:29] Once your app is built and tested, it's time to ship it.
[06:33] And honestly, this was the part I was dreading the most, as I've seen many people get stuck for weeks trying to get their approved.
[06:39] But if you know what to take care of before submitting is actually a pretty straightforward process.
[06:44] And if your app has authentication, you'll need to provide some demo credentials in the review notes so the Apple team can actually test it.
[06:49] For example, mine uses a one-time password system.
[06:54] So, I just gave them a fake test email and a code in the review notes so that they can bypass the authentication and test my app.
[06:59] But here's the thing.
[07:01] Even after nailing all of that, you're probably going to get rejected on your first submission because I got rejected three times and got delayed by a couple days.
[07:08] The first reason was relating to account deletion because Apple requires you to
[07:12] deletion because Apple requires you to let users fully delete their account.
[07:14] let users fully delete their account inside your app.
[07:16] inside your app.
[07:18] So, make sure to implement this functionality before submitting for review.
[07:19] The second reason, my app icon didn't meet Apple's design guidelines as it had to be something that was recognizable and unique.
[07:25] And the third reason was just basic metadata.
[07:29] Apple flagged a few things in my listing description that needed to be updated.
[07:33] But honestly, none of them were a big deal.
[07:34] Apple gives you clear feedback every time.
[07:36] And after fixing everything, my app was approved within a few days.
[07:40] If you want a full presubmission checklist, I'll drop a link to Rock submission guide in the description.
[07:45] It's actually very helpful and was what I used for my first submission.
[07:49] And here's the thing, shipping the app is the easy part.
[07:50] Distribution is where most solo founders get stuck.
[07:54] A great app with zero marketing usually goes nowhere.
[07:56] A mediocre app with great marketing wins every time.
[08:00] But marketing this app will require its own strategy.
[08:02] And I'll be honest, I still haven't fully figured it out yet.
[08:06] But if you want to learn how to get started with UGC style marketing for mobile apps, which seems to be the current meta at the moment, Rock actually has a really solid guide that
[08:14] actually has a really solid guide that covers everything.
[08:15] covers everything. I'll leave some links in the description if you want to check it out.
[08:17] Or if doing short form content isn't your thing, you could also try documenting your app building journey by building in public either on YouTube, Instagram, or X.
[08:19] Kind of like what I'm doing with this channel and video.
[08:20] It's a slower process, but you will build a real audience along the way.
[08:22] So take this video as a sign to post your first piece of content and see how it goes.
[08:24] This YouTube channel is essentially part of my marketing strategy for every new startup I build and it just continues to compound into a bigger and bigger asset over time.
[08:26] If you need help building your first mobile app or advice on creating content as a solo founder, please check out my private community startup club.
[08:28] And if you want to see more videos like this where I show you the full process of building apps from scratch, click subscribe and I'll see you in the next one.
[08:30] Bye-bye.