As AI agents and vibe-coding apps gain traction, a broader debate is unfolding across the tech industry over what they could mean for the future of traditional apps and software tools, with some in Silicon Valley arguing that it could eventually push users away from apps altogether.
A growing number of companies are even exploring devices built around AI agents over applications. That vision could be in contrast to the billion-dollar app economy championed by the likes of Apple, whose iPhone continues to heavily rely on third-party apps and the ecosystem of developers behind them.
This is the context in which WWDC 2026, Apple’s annual developer conference, is coming up next month (June 8-12).
To get a sense of what app developers themselves make of all this, The Indian Express spoke with a handful of iOS platform engineers and indie creators at the Apple Developer Centre in Bengaluru last week. Some of them have spent years building for the platform. And what we found was something underrated and more interesting than a crisis in waiting.
Shipping an app generated from a few prompts is distinct from understanding user needs, such as why a colour-blind guitarist might find a tick-mark more accessible than green and red tuning indicators or why someone may prefer on-device expense tracking.
Nikhil Nigade, the developer behind Pockity, a personal finance and budgeting app, talked about how his poor relationship with money growing up led him to build a platform that allows users to trace exactly how money moves between their income, savings, and expenses. “I wanted it to be a friendly thing, a calm exercise, not something you do at the end of the month, like a chore or homework that has been pending for many weeks,” he said.
Pockity is built entirely using Swift UI, Apple’s programming language for developing apps for its various platforms. It is designed with multiple entry points to help users log transactions in seconds. “While a lot of apps prioritise for the amount of time users spend in the app, I want people to spend as little time as possible because they are doing something else in life,” he said.
Story continues below this ad
Nikhil Nigade, developer of Pockity. (Image: Apple)
On the impact of AI agents on the app economy, Nigade opined, “AI agents will rapidly accelerate what users can do on their devices especially with future integrations with apps. For developers, this means visibility to a new cohort of users which previously never discovered your app organically. Directly co-related with revenue.”
Another app featured in Apple’s Developer Showcase in Bengaluru was Peak, which aggregates data from HealthKit, Apple’s developer framework for health-tracking and fitness, and streamlines it into a block-based interface, while giving users the option to create customisable dashboards based on their health priorities.
Harshil Shah, a Mumbai-based developer, said that the idea for Peak was born during the COVID-19 pandemic. “During the lockdowns, I became very sedentary. Even going outside for a walk felt dangerous because you could run into someone and get the virus. I’m a tech guy, so my first decision was not to buy running shoes or a gym membership, but to buy an Apple Watch. Over time, I found that it was not enough as it provided only three health goals,” he said.
Peak is designed to be fully user-controlled with contextual health data tracking at the centre. “My current fitness goal might be lifting, but that may not always be the case. Maybe later I decide I want to get into running, train for Hyrox, or start playing pickleball. Goals change over time, so the user, not the app, should be in charge,” he added.
Story continues below this ad
Like Pockity, Peak is built using Swift UI and also leverages Apple’s Widget Kit that lets users track their workouts without having to open an app directly from their home screen.
Harshil Shah, developer of Peak. (Image: Apple)
When asked whether AI makes it easier for others to spin up their own versions of Peak, Shah said, “It’s great that vibe-coding is letting people build things which they previously couldn’t. But at the same time, LLMs are not deterministic and their outputs aren’t guaranteed to be correct. So you need to be in a position to verify those results, especially with regards to sensitive health data.”
The AI app rebirth
Contrary to the hypotheses that AI-powered tools would replace apps, app releases worldwide in the first quarter of 2026 were up by 80 per cent year-over-year on the iOS App Store alone, according to a report by market intelligence firm Appfigures. Rather than viewing AI as a threat, the developers in Bengaluru appeared focused on deeply integrating the technology into their apps.
Take Zoho Notebook: a cross-platform, AI note-taking app that helps users capture ideas using text, checklists, audio, sketches, and photos in visually organised virtual notebooks.
Story continues below this ad
With more than eight million downloads so far, the ad-free platform is catered to the needs of students as well as working professionals. It comes with Apple Intelligence features such as Writing Tools in the Text and Checklist Cards, along with support for Apple Pencil 2, palm rejection, and 10 Indian languages.
Mohideen Sheik Sulaiman, principal iOS engineer at Zoho (left) and Ashok Ramamoorthy, senior product manager at Zoho. (Image: Apple)
On how a cross-platform app fits with Apple’s tightly controlled ecosystem, Ashok Ramamoorthy, senior product manager at Zoho, said that there is an option for users to back up their data and import it onto a new device.
Zoho Notebook also integrated Liquid Glass from the first day. On the hardest part of adapting to Apple’s unique design language aesthetic, Mohideen Sheik Sulaiman, principal iOS engineer at Zoho, said, “The app felt noticeably faster, lighter, and more responsive, while also delivering a refreshed visual experience. Users found it much easier to locate notes, whether by browsing within notebooks or using search.”
“Some early feedback highlighted a need for stronger consistency in applying Liquid Glass principles across the entire app, particularly in areas such as Settings,” he added.
Story continues below this ad
Arima and Aman Jain, developers of Letter Flow. (Image: Apple)
Alongside the debut of Liquid Glass at WWDC 2025, Apple also announced that it is opening up access to Apple Intelligence models for app developers via the Foundation Models Framework. Letter Flow, a Wordle-inspired puzzle game developed by Arima and Aman Jain, is an example of an app that has effectively leveraged Apple’s own foundational models hosted on-device while saving on cloud API costs. It also embraces Liquid Glass and uses Apple’s Metal graphics and computing API to generate background themes.
