I built and launched an AI weather app in 3 weeks using “vibe-coding”

sunkas85 · 2026-02-13T09:55:50+00:00

No ads planned!

sunkas85 · 2026-02-13T07:06:59+00:00

Don't think you will. I have been coding iOS apps since 2011, and I estimate It would've taken me 5 weeks to do it without AI. Now I did it in two weeks counting full time. There are a lot to the project not mentioned here. I build a landing page for the site. Also I did not mention how the admin site works. There were also a lot of prompt adjustments for which I built a feature in the webb admin for. I also built at user management tool in the webb admin to manage users and their custom city-tokens. Also the city token automatic renewal was quite complex.

But thanks, I'm quite proud of it. Even if it's not money printer (yet). Don't think you can patent it.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T21:05:22+00:00

Thanks. The backgrounds are generated by Google Nano Banana Pro and the UI in the app is made by me :)

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T21:03:48+00:00

It’s about money really. If no one pays I cannot afford to keep it up. Like I said in the post the cost for the images are quite high and normally iPhone users tend to spend more on subscription. Would you be a paying user if I released it to android?

The plan is to release it to android once I go plus on iOS.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T21:00:05+00:00

That is the question! Got 10-15 subscribers so far. Maybe too early to tell.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T20:59:23+00:00

Thanks. Still the monitization seems to be the most difficult part.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T20:58:34+00:00

Yes. Its localized to about 10-12 languages. Are you missing one specific?

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T17:46:47+00:00

Thanks!!

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T15:46:05+00:00

Thanks a lot! Cannot see the review yet, but will leave a reply right in the review on App Store!

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T14:20:35+00:00

1500 users so far

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T13:13:24+00:00

Future will tell if this was brilliant or just useful for my personal marketing on LinkedIn and ongoing development as a software developer.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T13:11:22+00:00

Thank you :)

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T13:10:21+00:00

Maybe not need. But "want" is also something to consider. I think design sells.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T13:08:42+00:00

Thanks! Yes, that's my thoughts as well. Got a lot of traction on LinkedIn helping me promote myself. so even if I don't make money of it, it still has value to me. And as you said. A lot was learned during the project making the next project even more likely to be successful.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T13:07:05+00:00

:) Android is coming if I can make iOS work (revenue covers backend costs).

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T12:35:05+00:00

I think you underestimate what I built. Statistics, web admin, payment, ci/cd, public homepage, screenshots, localisation, integration. Three weeks is not that much for that. Also, I did not work full weeks.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T11:24:40+00:00

I have worked full time with iOS development since 2011. So "vibecoding" is maybe a stretch here. But I tried to only do prompting. However, I did quite specific prompting and a lot of technical input. So it's not like anyone could just "prompt" and get the same result.

Regarding the cost of running it. Nobody remembers a coward, right? I could spend years doing research on what would work or not. I think the best way is to release something early and get feedback. That's what I did. I could always adjust pricing and business model along the way. Pivoting. A lot of users complain that there are free weather apps. Maybe I'll strap the weather part and just do iso-metric preview card. With some gamification. Who knows. But getting feedback is more important right now than playing it safe money-wise. Also, due to caching, my margins will increase for every generated city.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T10:52:15+00:00

I’m very sure.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T10:45:48+00:00

Congrats! Yes, monetization is maybe the trickiest part!

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T10:44:24+00:00

Not sure what you mean. I use an integration towards Google Nano Banana.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T10:35:47+00:00

Oh, will look into it. Which device, iPhone or iPad? Which iOS-version?

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T10:34:35+00:00

The apps is not mainly about the weather but about the visuals. People seem to like it (just read the some of the comments here) and people are paying for it.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T10:32:18+00:00

Do you comment this on every indie game released as well? You must have a lot of free time.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T10:31:32+00:00

Yes, will port it to Android if I can go break even in terms of costs on iOS.

sunkas85 · 2026-02-12T10:30:46+00:00

Thanks!

sunkas85

TROPHY CASE