Apple is seeing a surge in new app submissions to the App Store, with “vibe coding” tools like Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex contributing to the growth. These tools allow non-programmers to create workable apps using written prompts, while also giving programmers more code than they can produce manually.
The number of new apps in the App Store has increased by 30% over the past year, reaching nearly 600,000 globally. Apple is taking notice, but is pushing back against certain iOS-based “vibe coding” apps that break App Review Guidelines. The company has pulled or blocked updates to apps like Anything and Replit, forcing developers to change their code generation methods.
While some critics have raised concerns about the impact of AI on app development, vibe coding tools offer real value for building small projects or even simple business ideas. Apple’s recent update to Xcode supports coding models and agents, but still leans towards technical users. As AI coding continues to gain traction, it will be interesting to see if Apple updates its App Store rules to accommodate the new development patterns.
Source: https://9to5mac.com/2026/04/06/app-store-sees-84-surge-in-new-apps-as-ai-coding-tools-take-off