Vibe-coding app Anything was kicked out of the App Store twice — now it's building a desktop version

Startup Anything, which builds mobile apps through a conversation with AI, has been removed from the App Store twice. The team did not fold. It announced a desktop companion for Mac and Windows that will keep helping users create iOS products without needing to know programming.

When vibe coding meets Apple

"Vibe coding" is a term for development in which a person explains a task in words and AI writes the code. Cursor, Bolt, Lovable and dozens of other tools have already made this the norm for web development: anyone can create a website or web app in a few minutes without a single line of code.

Anything targeted a much more closed niche: native iOS apps. That is a different scale of problem. Mobile development for Apple requires compliance with strict technical rules, and the App Store ecosystem is controlled far more tightly than the open internet.

Apple built the App Store rules with security and malware prevention in mind. Nobody drafting these Guidelines anticipated generative AI tools that can create full apps in real time. That is what produced the conflict between new technology and outdated rules.

Expelled from the App Store twice

Guideline 2.5.2 explicitly prohibits apps from downloading and executing code that has not passed Apple's review. The rule has existed for a long time and effectively blocks any attempt to dynamically generate executable code on the user's side. Anything ended up on the wrong side of this ban twice:

• First removal — the product violated the requirements on runtime code
• Architecture rework — the team changed the mechanics to comply with the rules
• Second removal — Apple again ruled that the version violated the Guidelines
• Current status — the app is unavailable in the App Store

Two consecutive removals are no longer a misunderstanding but a systemic incompatibility. Anything is not the first to face this conflict: several other AI development tools have already run into similar restrictions from platforms.

The desktop as a workable solution

The desktop companion operates outside the App Store's perimeter: Mac and Windows apps are not subject to Apple's rules on what is allowed inside the iOS ecosystem. On a computer, Anything will be able to freely generate code, compile projects and prepare them for publication, and the finished app will go through standard Apple review as an ordinary binary.

This is how all traditional mobile development tools work: Xcode, Flutter, React Native. Anything's key difference is removing the need to understand programming from this chain. The user describes an idea, and the desktop client generates and builds the app.

The competitive context matters: other startups work in the same segment, and the question of how to build a sustainable model within App Store restrictions is relevant to the entire vibe-coding niche for mobile platforms.

What this means

Anything's story shows clearly where the line runs between AI innovation and platform control. Rules written in the pre-AI era continue to determine what is possible inside the iOS ecosystem. The desktop companion is a pragmatic way to keep working without waiting for Apple to update its Guidelines. If the model proves in demand, it may become the standard approach for the whole segment.