The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Back to feedPost
Building a native iPhone app has traditionally required years of programming knowledge, a Mac setup, Xcode, and a deep understanding of Swift. While AI coding assistants have lowered the barrier for developers, they still assume users know how to navigate complex development workflows.
Which one do you like, A or B
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Related posts
Why Modern Apps Need Both AI and Human Thinking
AI is changing the way we build software. It can speed up workflows, automate repetitive tasks, summarize data, generate content, and help users make better decisions faster. But even with all that power, AI alone is not enough to make a great product.
A modern app still needs human thinking behind it.
Good software is not just about adding AI features. It is about understanding the real problem, choosing the right flow, designing a simple user experience, and making sure the technology actually helps people. AI can support the process, but human judgment decides what matters, what should be simplified, and what should not be automated.
For example, an AI assistant inside an app can save time by answering questions or creating reports. But the product still needs clear navigation, secure data handling, reliable backend logic, and a smooth interface. Without that foundation, even the best AI feature can feel confusing or unfinished.
That is why I like building apps with both sides in mind: smart automation and practical human experience.
My approach is simple: first understand the user’s workflow, then find where AI can remove friction. Not every feature needs AI. Sometimes the best solution is a cleaner dashboard, faster loading time, better notifications, or a simpler form. The real value comes from knowing where AI adds value and where human-centered design should lead.
Modern apps need AI to become faster and smarter.
But they need human thinking to become useful, trusted, and easy to love.
I Take AI Slop and Turn It Into Product
At SanganakHQ, I've done this at least half a dozen times now. Same story every time.
Founder builds with Claude, Codex, Bolt, Replit, Lovable, v0. And it works. Real users, real payments, real data.
But under the hood? 50K, 100K+ lines of AI-generated code glued together. Functions duplicated dozens of times. Auth mixed into UI. Hardcoded secrets. No tests. Fix one bug, three more appear.
It works the way a house of cards works.
Then they message me: "We're scaling. Can you make this production-ready?"
So I audit every line. Separate what's solid (usually 20%) from what needs to be rearchitected. Build a day-by-day migration plan with exact pricing. Move it to a real stack: Next.js, Supabase, Vercel, proper auth, proper RLS, proper CI/CD.
The irony: the AI features are usually the cleanest part. The mess is everything around it. Business logic, payment flows, membership tiers. The stuff AI generated fast but never thought through.
Smart founders, solid ideas, AI got them to a working product. But "working" and "production-grade" are two very different things.
If your app runs on AI-generated code and you're about to scale, get it audited before you find out the hard way.
Memory Bank is a private family app designed to capture the small moments that usually get lost.
We take thousands of photos every year, but the little things often disappear: a note before a test, a flower picked on the way home from school, a funny photo of the family cat, or a simple “good luck” message from a parent.
Memory Bank gives families a shared space where they can add photos, notes, and emojis throughout the day. These contributions form a collaborative daily memory that lives on the home screen as a widget.
At midnight, the day’s memory is automatically captured as a Polaroid and saved to a family archive. Over time, families build a collection of memories together, one day at a time.
For this project, I wanted to experiment with a different design workflow.
Instead of starting in Figma, I used Codex and the Build-iOS-App workflow to generate a working Swift prototype first. My goal was to validate the interaction and product flow before investing time in visual design.
Once the concept felt promising, I used Figma MCP to bring the app screens into Figma, where I explored different visual directions, refined the user experience, and iterated on the overall concept.
I then used Figma Make to prototype key interactions and validate the experience before bringing those improvements back into the app.
Finally, I created the launch trailer and supporting assets using Hyperframes, Codex, and Figma MCP, allowing me to iterate on both the visual design and the story as the concept evolved.
The result was a workflow that felt much more fluid than the traditional path of Idea → Design → Prototype → Build.
Instead, the project evolved through a continuous loop of Idea → Prototype → Figma → Prototype → Launch.
Memory Bank started as a Makeathon experiment, but quickly became something I genuinely want to build for my own family.
Starting with a working Swift prototype before any Figma work is a genuinely different approach. Validating the interaction and product flow first, then using Figma MCP to pull those screens back in, flips the usual process in a useful way. The Polaroid-at-midnight archive mechanic is also a lovely UX detail.
Trending
Claude
Claude has entered the design space. How are you using Claude Design?
Contra University
Learn from expert creatives how to earn more using next-gen AI tools.
MagicPath
The canvas is infinite, and exploration is becoming the workflow. How are you using MagicPath?
creativeaiflow
Creative AI workflows are evolving. What tools do you use, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?
freelancerlife
Freelancer life is wins, pivots, and everything in between. What’s yours right now?