What’s behind a new wave of apps in Apple’s App Store? It’s probably two words: vibe coding.
The App Store was flooded with 235,800 new apps in the first quarter of this year—an increase of 84% over the same period last year, according to new data published by The Information—after declining by 48% between 2016 and 2024.
That builds on a trend from last year in which developers created a whopping 600,000 new apps, leaving people wondering what is behind the big push.
It turns out—perhaps not surprisingly—that with AI tools making it easier to create a mobile application more quickly, more apps are pouring into Apple’s App Store.
What’s this have to do with vibe coding?
“Vibe coding” is using generative artificial intelligence to write code, which is how developers write computer programs.
Andrej Karpathy, cofounder of OpenAI, coined the term in February of last year, explaining on X: “There’s a new kind of coding I call ‘vibe coding,’ where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It’s possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good.” Today, Anthropic’s Claude Code is an industry favorite for creating vibe-coded apps.
However, that doesn’t mean Apple is welcoming all vibe coding apps into its store. Citing security concerns, Apple has been cracking down on AI apps, even blocking Replit. And it’s removed Anything, an AI app builder that says it will “turn your words into mobile apps, sites, tools, and products—built with code.” Anything was pulled from the App Store on March 30, it returned on April 3, and now it’s gone again today, according to Apple Insider.
