A few months ago I got laid off from my developer job.
Part of the reason (not the only one, but definitely part of it) was AI. The company started experimenting with AI tools and reducing the need for additional developers.
After that happened I kept thinking about one question:
Is AI actually replacing developers, or just changing how we work?
So I decided to test it myself.
I challenged myself to build and ship an iOS app using AI as a development assistant.
Nothing extreme - just evenings after work, usually about 1–2 hours a day.
It took about 8 weeks to finish.
The app I ended up building is called Lumio.
It’s basically a small daily routine app with affirmations, horoscope, and sleep sounds.
Nothing groundbreaking. I just wanted something people might open every day.
AI helped a lot with certain parts of development:
• setting up project structure
• generating repetitive Swift code patterns
• organizing content categories
• drafting some App Store copy
In terms of raw development time, it probably saved 20–30%.
But the interesting thing is that the hardest parts had nothing to do with code.
The real challenges were things like:
• figuring out what the product should actually be
• designing onboarding that people won’t instantly skip
• deciding when notifications should appear to build a habit instead of annoying users
• fixing edge cases in AI-generated code
AI made development faster.
But it didn’t replace product thinking.
And honestly, most of the difficult decisions were still human ones.
The app launched recently, so it’s way too early to say if it will succeed or fail.
Right now I’m mostly curious about what happens next - downloads, retention, marketing experiments, all of it.
If people are interested, I can share updates about what works and what doesn’t.
Top comments (1)
If anyone is curious, the app is called Lumio.
here link - apps.apple.com/app/id6758666723