Why Apple Temporarily Blocked Popular Vibe Coding Apps

An anonymous reader shared this report from the tech-news blog Neowin: Apple appears to have temporarily prevented apps, including Replit and Vibecode, from pushing new updates. Apple seems bothered by how apps like Replit present vibe-coded apps in a web view within the original app. This process virtually allows the app to become something else. And the new app isn't distributed via the App Store, but it still runs on the user's device... [S]uch apps would also bypass the App Store Review process that ensures that apps are safe to use and meet Apple's design and performance standards...

According to the publication (via MacRumors), Apple was close to approving pending updates for such apps if they changed how they work. For instance, Replit would get the green light if its developers configure the app to open vibe-coded apps in an external browser rather than the in-app web view.

Vibecode is also close to being approved if it removes features, such as the ability to develop apps specifically for the App Store.

Evolve or die

[Kernel Kurtz]

Should simply generating your own apps become cheap and effective it is going to break the entire central app store model. I don't know if this will happen or not, but if these people believe their own AI hype they are right to be afraid.

Re: Evolve or die

[topham]

Already broken. Time to move forwarded.

I was asking for a proof of concept yesterday and accidentally got a functional implementation of asteroids.

Yeah, welcome to the future.

Re: Evolve or die

[tiananmen tank man]

a functional game but I doubt it was easy to maintain/alter to add new features

"ensure apps are safe to use"

[will4]

"App Store Review process that ensures that apps are safe to use "

Some of the most widely used apps....

Link between excessive social media use and psychiatric disorders
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/a... [nih.gov]

Re: Evolve or die

[dhrabarchuk]

Wait you donâ(TM)t review the assembler your python script ends up running? /shock

Re:

[Kernel Kurtz]

I suspect the idea is that nobody would ever have to read the code for it... if you wish to update/maintain it, you just ask the AI to create you a fresh new one from scratch.

Also, from a security perspective, even though these apps may have exploitable bugs, if everyone's app is somewhat unique that changes the overall attack surface considerably. A million people running a single identical app is a huge score if you find a bug. A million people running a million slightly different apps is a totally different problem, and while they may be even more insecure individually the collective security may actually improve.

Re:

[topham]

It's not friendly, but then, I didn't ask for it to be.

quite seriously, it's rather functional for a vibe coded / accidental development.

https://mdtopham.github.io/Vibecoded/asteroids.html

do what you want with it.

If they could, they would

[Somervillain]

Should simply generating your own apps become cheap and effective it is going to break the entire central app store model. I don't know if this will happen or not, but if these people believe their own AI hype they are right to be afraid.

Well...if it could, it would....so it's safe to conclude the technology just isn't there yet. Otherwise, instead of the news stories about endless pick and shovel vendors, it would be about how pioneering companies are relying on AI to move everything in-house, overhaul their legacy systems, etc....and consumers would see it as well. If AI really lived up to a fraction of the hype, you'd see a flood of amazing indie titles and mind-blowing remakes of classics...like Duke Nukem 3D and similar games rendere

Re:

[Kernel Kurtz]

Well...if it could, it would....so it's safe to conclude the technology just isn't there yet.

No it's not. But if it improves as fast in the next 5 years as it has in the last 5 years it may well be then.

Re:

[what2123]

This is already happening. The 'SaaS-pocolyspe" ia trendy right now. Will that work for every small biz, probably if thsy have the slightiest intelligence. Medium and Large? Many yes. In 2 years? Most. 5? All unless the REAL price to run and/or operate an AI is actualized. The subsidized rates make it a no brainer to leverage for anything code/automation related. Once that ends then i think it'll be a stalemate flr a while with human capital labor winning in the near term. This of course ia as long as the

So, kind of like web apps?

[Tony Isaac]

Web apps run on your device. They can be updated without Apple's knowledge or review.

Also, a large percentage of apps use the WebView component to show some content that changes without Apple's knowledge or review. You know, like apps that contain ads. Nobody reviews the individual ads to see if they are "harmful" and very many of them actually are.

The Apple (and Google) review process is a farce.

Re:

[crunchy_one]

If I had points handy, I'd mod you up.

Web views opens up a window from inside an app through which very bad things can happen, whether driven by an AI app generator or not.

Yep, Replit suggested this

[Robert Goatse]

I was vibe coding a legit game that I want to put on the App/Play stores. Replit actually recommended to use web view to circumvent the developer yearly cost and user's can still play my game. I may go the App store route just to learn the process, so we'll see if I can get through the walled garden.

It's not like they need to justify their choices

[Casandro]

I mean, it's been clear for many years now that app stores do not care about malware. You can find many kinds of software that, even by the definitions of the 1990s, would be classified as malware. App stores contain anything from adware via DRM, and third party tracking to software dedicated to stealing your attention.

I agree with Apple.

[Vitriol+Angst]

Being able to create a run time app in another app is a huge security hole.

I remember back in the day when Flash was not designed for object oriented coding I could interpret text as code objects. So basically, I could do anything. And due to the nature of browsers at the time, I had to learn to check for a variable in a browser window to make sure I wasnâ(TM)t running code after a window was closed. Meaning; I had access to every window of a browser until the app itself was exited.

I did not abuse my p

Apps are already doing this

[forrie]

There are apps in the App Store that already do a lot of this--there is a core "app" but much UI/content is fed from a website.