A native mobile app, built in one weekend and running on my own iPhone – with my kids over for most of it.
Two years before Pirate Skills, at Maple Apps, a designer and three full-time developers still needed two weeks to get from finished screen designs to the App Store – and that was a high-performing team. The industry standard is months of work and tens of thousands of euros you'll probably never make back. This time it was one founder and Claude Code, and that was fascinating to me: it's truly possible now.
You'll see the Maple Apps rule – no line of code before 1,000 people are on the waitlist – and why an app is not your business but one more door into it. There's the choice between going fully native (Swift and Kotlin) and React Native with Expo, and why that took a weekend instead of a debate. You'll see screen designs made with Claude Design, the first screens on the phone through Expo Go, and the moment the app was really installed, on an hour-long ride to a kids' birthday party.
To be honest about where we are: it's not in the App Store yet. The Apple and Google developer accounts are waiting for approval, then come the store rules and the review. Test users are planned for Vibe Coding Cologne on 7 October, with the app live in the stores by November at the latest.
The push to finally try came from a first-time builder at our hackathon who shipped her first app without any technical background. If she can do it, and I can do it, you can too.
IN THIS EPISODE
00:00:00 – A native mobile app in a weekend
00:01:05 – Maple Apps: 1,000 sign-ups before a line of code
00:03:30 – Two weeks vs. months and tens of thousands of euros
00:04:15 – The app is one door, not the business
00:06:19 – Native or React Native + Expo
00:08:36 – Friday: a protected API and new screen designs
00:11:21 – Saturday: the first screens on my phone
00:12:52 – Installed for real, on the way to a birthday party
00:14:39 – Not in the App Store yet
00:15:46 – Your weekend: the step-by-step guide
00:19:41 – Upcoming events and the Pirate Forge
DEEP DIVE LINKS
📖 Full Article + the starter prompt: https://pirateskills.com/insights/mobile-app-in-a-weekend
⚓ Pirate Forge – 30 September : learn vibe coding and vibe marketing by building a real app alongside me: https://pirateskills.com/pirate/forge
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7kFl0BJiOYih8yqQTRR9SN
🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/build-grow-repeat/id1870561487
🗓️ All upcoming events: https://pirateskills.com/events
💬 Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensufiani/
