First Appto picks a niche where apps already make money and the leaders are weak. Its agent plans a five-screen version 1, designs it, writes the SwiftUI code and checks the screens itself. Then come store screenshots and texts, purchases and App Store Connect. Appto submits the app to Apple from your account or shows what to press. You need a Mac, Xcode 26, an Apple developer account at $99 a year and an agent subscription from $20 a month.
Step 1. A niche where people already pay
The biggest mistake happens before the first line of code. An app in a topic where nobody pays won't sell, however well it's built. So Appto starts with the niche and asks five questions. Does at least one app in the topic make $100K a month. Are the leaders weak. Do newcomers break through. Could a chatbot replace the app. Is it easy to build.
Appto estimates revenue from the growth in App Store ratings. It is our estimate, not Apple data. In half of the cases the estimate is within 2x of the real figure, in four out of five within 3x, and for large apps it tends to run low. Ads, web sales and Google Play are not included.
Fifty niches that passed this check are collected in the book 50 iPhone app niches. Five of them are free.
Step 2. A five-screen version 1
Version 1 does one job. The agent writes down who the app is for, how it differs from the leaders and which five screens it has. It matters just as much to write down what version 1 leaves out. Social features, accounts and sync usually wait for version 2.
This is also where the money side is settled. One purchase or a subscription, what is free and what is paid. And the agent checks that the name is free on the App Store.
Step 3. Design
The agent draws the screens as live mockups, the whole path from first launch to purchase on one sheet. If you don't like a screen, you pin a note right on the mockup and the agent picks it up. Code starts once the screens look right to you.
Step 4. Code and self-check
The agent writes a native SwiftUI app, builds it, runs it in the simulator and walks through the screens itself. In Appto a step gets its checkmark only from a fact. No build or no check means no checkmark, even if the agent says it's done.
Step 5. Onboarding and the purchase screen
The purchase screen comes right after onboarding, as part of getting to know the app. It shows the price and period, the subscription terms, restore purchases and links to the terms. Apple requires this.
Step 6. Store screenshots and texts
The App Store page sells the app before anyone opens it. The agent makes screenshots from the real screens and writes the name, subtitle, description and keywords in the languages you need. Each language has 100 characters for keywords, and it pays to fill them all.
Step 7. App Store Connect
Then all of it has to go into App Store Connect. Texts in every language, screenshots, purchases and subscriptions, the build and the information for the review team. Appto fills in the version itself and asks for your OK before each change.
Step 8. Submitting for review
Appto checks the app against the rules before submission so there are fewer questions, then submits it to Apple from your account or shows you what to press in App Store Connect. Nobody but Apple can promise approval.
Step 9. After launch
Launch is where the second half of the work begins. Appto shows purchases and trials as they happen, without waiting for tomorrow's report, gathers reviews and drafts replies, watches the ratings and proposes a plan for the next version.
The agent and Appto run all nine steps, and you come in at three points: notes on the design, your OK before each change in App Store Connect and the submission from your account. Only Apple decides on approval. How Appto works as of October 13, 2026.
What you need and what it costs
What
Cost
A Mac
Appto runs on macOS 12 and later. Building apps needs Xcode 26, which installs on macOS Sequoia 15.6 and later
Apple developer account
$99 a year, paid to Apple
Agent subscription
Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus, from $20 a month. Appto doesn't sell it
Appto demo
Built into the app and runs on sample apps, with no sign-in or payment. There's no free trial. Niche search, the stages and work on your own app come with a subscription
Appto subscription
Solo $9.99, Studio $29.99, Pro $99.99 a month
Terms as of October 15, 2026. Apple and agent subscription prices are on their own sites.
The money goes to three places: $99 a year to Apple, from $20 a month for the agent and a subscription to Appto, which doesn't sell the agent. Terms as of October 15, 2026, Apple and agent subscription prices are on their own sites.
Apps that went this way
As of October 13, 2026, 9 apps made with Appto are on the App Store, among them BADSCAN, Pool Chemist, MoneyRewind and Wisp. Each went through the same nine steps.
Questions
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Appto picks the niche and proposes version 1, and its agent writes the code. Appto asks for your OK where it writes to App Store Connect. It helps to understand what's going on, but you don't have to write the code yourself.
How long does one app take?
It depends on the app and on Apple's review. That's why version 1 stays at five screens, to reach the App Store and the first purchases sooner.
Who owns the code and where are the Apple keys?
You do. The code and your Apple keys stay on your Mac.
Will Apple approve the app?
Only Apple decides, nobody can promise it. Appto checks the app against the App Store rules before submission.
Build your own app in Appto
Appto checks the niche on fresh App Store data, designs the screens, writes the code, builds the App Store page and submits to Apple from your account or shows you what to press in App Store Connect. Runs on your own Claude Code or Codex.
