We'd best get the bad news out of the way first: If ChatGPT thinks he's going to make $1 million by writing an iPhone app with in-app purchases, he's out of luck.
I get ahead of this expectation because every time I talk about how to build a product, several people ask me to (a) write them a million-dollar app, (b) point them to a class or book that can teach them how to write a million-dollar app, (c) share with them the one secret tool or program that billionaire programmers keep hidden from the general public, or (d) introduce them to their fellow programmers, because surely one of them would be willing to speculate and write a million-dollar app for me, a complete stranger.
Also: How to use ChatGPT: What you need to know
The software business isn't like that. Software is very big and complex. Many apps depend on connections to vast networks of other resources that need to tie it all together. Essentially, many apps are just a front end for a huge computing infrastructure that does work behind the scenes.
For other apps, such as games, developing an app typically requires a team of people with a wide range of skills working together over a period of years.
Also: Yes, ChatGPT debugged my code. Really.
How ChatGPT can help you build your app
Now I know that ChatGPT help We'll help you build your app, but we won't do most of the work – that's up to you and your team – but we can potentially save you time and a lot of effort – and that alone is a big win.
Now, let’s see how ChatGPT can help you build your app.
There are roughly 2 million iPhone apps and 3.5 million Android apps in the wild. Finding a unique app can be hard, but creating one that already has a ton of competitors is probably not a good idea.
Don’t limit your research here to ChatGPT: Get involved with ChatGPT by asking questions like, “Is there an iPhone app that counts the days until I retire?”
Also: How to write code using ChatGPT
Keep in mind that ChatGPT's training data will end in 2023. So, for example, if you were building an app to help you create ChatGPT prompts, ChatGPT initially wouldn't know what was in the app store. However, ChatGPT can now perform web searches to layer on top of the knowledge in its training data. You may need to prompt yourself to search within the prompts to get more up-to-date information.
Also: How to browse the web for free with ChatGPT
But planning an app requires more than basic market research. You need to plan functions and features and create mockups of the user interface. For an app that helps you create ChatGPT prompts, you can ask questions like:
I want to build an iPhone app that will help me create ChatGPT prompts. What would be the major and minor features of such an app?
Try it for yourself – the answers you get after typing this into ChatGPT are surprisingly complete and might actually help you build your app.
Next is the user interface. I wondered if DALL-E 3 in ChatGPT, especially GPT-4o, could generate example screens for me, but ChatGPT replied that it couldn't. This will probably be improved. ChatGPT can't draw wireframes (yet), but you can ask ChatGPT to create the main screens for you.
Can you describe the screens and user interface elements this app will require?
Again, we recommend working through this prompt, as the AI tool's answers are surprisingly well thought out.
Also: I'm using ChatGPT to fix my code faster, but how much does it cost?
Once you have an idea for your app and have some of its elements planned, you need to think about development and deployment. Try these prompts:
I want to build this app, but what do I need to do to start development and get it ready for deployment?
I thought this answer was too general, but it might be useful for beginners exploring the process. Then I tried the following:
Help me set up and configure my Xcode development environment to write this app
This got us a little closer, but it was still too rough, so we dug one more layer deeper.
How do I choose a template and configure the Xcode settings for my project? Also, how do I configure Interface Builder?
This was actually pretty helpful. Keep researching and asking questions, keep adding elements to your project, and feel free to ask ChatGTP questions along the way, but remember that there's a wealth of information out there to help you with app development outside of the new world of AI. Don't be afraid to poke around using a good old fashioned web search for examples and guides; this is a big project and you'll need to use all the resources available to you.
This is where the practice happens – where your code meets your development systems – where you actually build your product. And this is where ChatGPT can offer some very interesting, yet very concrete help.
Let's be clear again: we're not yet at the stage where we can tell an AI tool to write an app for us. Apps often consist of hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of lines of code, spread across hundreds or thousands of files. ChatGPT is not currently up to that scope.
In terms of scope, think of your app as a book or a set of books (up to an entire library). Think of functions, methods or subroutines (which are basically different terms for small functional units of code) as paragraphs or small articles or even chapters in a book. ChatGPT helps you at the paragraph level; it helps with structuring chapters; but it doesn't know how to handle an entire book.
Also: We asked ChatGPT to create the necessary WordPress plugin, which took less than 5 minutes.
But that doesn't mean it can't be a big help. Earlier, we talked about a method that can help you define your user interface elements. With ChatGPT, you can get specific instructions on how to put them together. For example, it might look something like this:
Learn how to set up an outlet and action to initiate a search for a prompt within an existing set of saved prompts.
This asks the AI to explain how to configure one feature of your user interface. You can do this multiple times with different elements of your user interface. You can also ask the AI to create a specific feature or configure a data element. Let's create a storage mechanism for saved prompts. Below are two prompts that can be used consecutively.
It helps to configure the saving mechanism for saved prompts.
How can I use Core Data to save a prompt so I can access it later?
The first tool recommended three storage mechanisms, and we asked you to support the second one using Core Data, where we also wrote some basic code to help you get started with that data storage mechanism.
Also: How ChatGPT rewrites and improves existing code
First, it helped set up the storage mechanism itself.
Below, we have provided examples of how to save the prompt. You can use some of these codes as a starting point and add your own code on top of it, but with the help of ChatGPT, you will have a good starting point.
It also showed how to get a prompt that not only retrieves data, but also formats and displays the data using your own user interface style.
Overall, what we find is that ChatGPT allows you to write small, very well-defined pieces of code and get guidance. Think of it like being a very talented junior developer who understands the code but doesn't have the big picture.
Gemini Advanced also failed the simple coding test that ChatGPT passed. Let’s see what went wrong.
Finally, don't expect all of ChatGPT's code to work – as we've explained before, AI code can be perfect or it can completely fail – just like any code written by a human.
In this example, we'll assume you're building an iPhone app, but these steps are similar for apps on all platforms. Essentially, once you've built your app, it doesn't magically appear on people's devices. Instead, you need to follow steps specific to each app store to prepare and publish your app.
To get started, issue a prompt like this:
What steps do I need to take to deploy my app?
When I contacted ChatGPT, they gave me the following six steps, along with a short explanation summarizing the process:
- Sign up for an Apple Developer account.
- Configure the app settings.
- Prepare your app for distribution.
- Submit your app to the App Store.
- Please wait for your app to be reviewed.
- Release the app.
Here's another good place to get more value out of ChatGPT: you can go through each step and ask for more detailed instructions. For example:
How exactly do I configure the deployment settings for my app? How exactly do I submit my app to the App Store?
Keep digging. If there are steps that ChatGPT skips, ask for clarification. Imagine you're in a courtroom during a trial and a witness gives an incomplete answer. Keep digging and asking more targeted questions until you get the answer you want.
Also: How does ChatGPT work?
Now, if you're lucky, you're positioning your app as something unique and different from all the others, building a customer base, making a ton of money, and starting to think about which Ferrari to buy, what your next app will be, etc. But most likely you're supporting your customers, fixing bugs, adding features, and trying new marketing techniques.
Anyway, if you made it this far, congratulations! I built 40 small iPhone apps a long time ago, and ChatGPT would definitely have helped me a lot. Just think of ChatGPT as a tool like all the others, not as the only tool, and you'll be fine.
FAQ
Is it better to build an iPhone app or an Android app?
Both are huge markets. If your app is successful, you'll probably want to deploy it on both platforms. Depending on what you want to do with your app, one platform may be better than the other. For example, one of my favorite Android apps is Tasker, which lets you customize your Android experience much more than Apple's equivalent app, Shortcuts, does for iOS. If you were to build an app like Tasker, you'd probably focus on Android.
Also: 5 Best AI Art Generators
Overall, choose the platform you are most comfortable with and build your app there, then migrate it to other environments later.
How do I make sure my app shows up in search results?
If we talk about app store search results, it's a combination of keyword testing and graphics. First, make sure you have an attractive icon and include enough screenshots and videos. Don't leave these out. Second, think about SEO. You need to find the right keywords that will make your app stand out. There are many tools for that, you can ask ChatGPT for some of them and ask for help.
What programming languages does ChatGPT help with?
Almost everything. I tested ChatGPT with 12 top programming languages and it worked perfectly fine. I then added 10 lesser known or obsolete programming languages and it still worked fine. I'm sure there are some languages that ChatGPT doesn't have in its library, but I don't think there are any common mobile development languages that ChatGPT can't handle.
How long does it take to build an app?
The short answer is: from 1 week to 3 years. The long answer is: it all depends. How big is your app? What are you trying to achieve with your app? How experienced are you and your team? When I built 40 apps (mostly very similar to each other), the first one took almost a month, the others took a day or so each. Not including the 10 days or so it took for Apple to approve each app.
Also: I asked ChatGPT to write a short Star Trek episode, and it worked.
But other apps can take years. An app that saves and recalls ChatGPT prompts is very different from, say, a Facebook app. If you're trying to build a Facebook, Instacart, Uber, or any other big app, you've got a long way to go. But if you have a fun idea, prepare for the process to take a few months to a year.
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