From Idea to App in Two Months. (Part II.) Leveraging AI While Building True Understanding

By approaching AI as an enhancement to traditional learning methods, I maintained ownership of my development process while significantly accelerating my learning curve. (Image generated by DALL-E.)

In the first part of this series, I detailed my decision-making process for selecting the right technical stack for my iOS project. Now, I’d like to share how I strategically used artificial intelligence to accelerate my development while ensuring I built genuine understanding rather than simply copying code I didn’t quite understand.

Bridging from Web to Native Development

With over two decades of web development experience primarily focused on front-end experiences, UX, as well as full-stack applications with PHP backends, I approached iOS development with humility. My previous encounters with mobile development using hybrid frameworks like Ionic and React Native had always left me wanting more. Despite their convenience, these solutions lacked the polished, responsive feel only truly native applications can deliver.

This time, I was committed to creating an authentic iOS experience, which meant embracing SwiftUI as my main driver. However, being quite an impatient learner, I strived to find ways to leverage my existing knowledge while quickly climbing the steep learning curve of native development.

Strategic AI Implementation: A Co-pilot, Not an Autopilot