Bitrig: iPhone app develops apps directly on the device

It is celebrated by some as if there had never been anything like this before: the app Bitrig The iPhone is currently making headlines. It makes it possible to have an app developed on the iPhone via text. This is done in Apple’s programming language Swift-i.e. without the trick of a web app in the browser window, but in the language for native apps. And if you pay almost 23 euros per month, you can not only work more intensively with the app, but also even make your products ready for app via the test flight.

Bitrig himself gives the user suggestions what is possible with the app after the first start: a logbook can be created with just a few instructions or an app that is reminiscent of regular water drinking. If you don’t find a suitable solution for you in the App Store, just make it yourself, according to the thought. The app is so simple and simply designed that everyone should quickly get first success.

Nevertheless: At first glance, the excitement is amazed on the net. Vibe coding, programming with the help of artificial intelligence and often without (great) knowledge of the operator, is nothing new and instead is even one of the most common applications in AI. However, “bringing this to the iPhone and the code generated with it directly on the device is something that has not existed before.

Why Apple allows the app

Apple largely locks itself against releasing the iPhone and iPad for app development. A few years ago, it was considered a large opening when it was suddenly possible to not only learn the development with Swift, but even to develop a complete app that can be brought to the app store from there to the app store. However, Apple seized possibilities that third -party developers are not available for security reasons: compiling and executing programs on the device.

The developers of Bitrig, who worked earlier at Apple and were involved in the development of the Swiftui frameworks, therefore used a trick: they only interpret the code generated on the device, which is permitted. The compiling for the test flight distribution, which is included in the Pro subscription, takes place on the server. Conveniently, as you explain in a blog post, there is already a parser called Swiftyntax in Swift, with which you did not have to go forbidden in the form of private APIs – the big exclusion criterion Apple when it comes to publishing your app in the App Store.

But the trick alone is not enough. They still had to transfer Apple’s extensive toolbox to their app. Not all Apple frameworks are currently available. With Mapkit and Widgetkit, the AI ​​can already use a lot of current tools. However, much in the list has not yet been ticked off and still has to be prepared and provided by the Bitrig developers.

You have this service package paid well. In free mode, five messages are included in the AI ​​every day. After 30 prompt per month, the end. If you subscribe to the 23 euro pro tariff, you can only send five daily messages, but at least up to 150 per month and then get another 100.

Only five prompt a day

Experienced vibrations are surprised: With five news a day, elaborate ideas should be difficult to realize. In initial tests, the app shows itself more specifically than a general language model such as chatt or Claude. This is because the Bitrig developers expand the input of the user in such a way that it is promptly formulated better and that many details are considered that the layperson does not immediately think of.