You can build an iOS app that makes money without writing code, managing certificates, or spending $40,000 on developers. The builders shipping fastest are not learning Swift, they're actually using tools that handle infrastructure automatically so they can focus on their actual product.
A medical student recently built a CPR training app that charges $85 per month per user. A finance professional in Japan generated $34,000 from AI tools. A real estate agent earns $85 per month from an AI-powered property portal. None of them knew how to code when they started.
Most iOS development guides focus on Xcode setup, Swift syntax, and framework comparisons. That advice assumes you want to become a developer. If you want to build an app that makes money, you need a different approach. One that eliminates the infrastructure complexity that blocks most builders before they ship anything.
This guide covers what actually matters: the fastest path from idea to App Store, the real costs involved, and how to avoid the technical walls that stop most non-technical builders.
The two paths to iOS development
iOS development offers two fundamentally different approaches. Your choice determines whether you spend months learning technical skills or weeks building your actual product.
The traditional path: learn to code
Apple requires all apps to be built with Xcode using specific SDKs. Traditionally, this meant buying a Mac ($599-$1,100 minimum), paying $99 per year for the Apple Developer Program, learning Swift or SwiftUI, and managing certificates and provisioning profiles for App Store submission.
This path makes sense if you want to become a professional iOS developer. The learning curve is steep. You can expect 6-12 months before you're comfortable building production apps. But you gain complete control over every technical decision.
The challenge for most builders isn't the learning itself. It's that you can't validate whether anyone will pay for your app until after you've invested months acquiring skills you may never use again.
The faster path: let AI handle infrastructure
Tools like Anything eliminate the traditional requirements entirely. You describe what you want to build in plain English, and the AI handles code generation, database setup, authentication, payments, and App Store submission automatically.
William Sayer, a professional mountaineer who climbed Everest, built TakeawaysApp.io in two months with no development experience. He described the shift: "It's so empowering now that creativity is the limiting factor, rather than tech knowledge."
This path makes sense if you want to ship an app that makes money without becoming a developer. You trade some technical control for speed. for most builders, that trade-off is exactly right.
Why most builders get stuck
Understanding where traditional iOS development breaks down helps you avoid the same traps, whether you choose to learn coding or use AI tools.
The infrastructure tax
Every iOS app needs the same foundational pieces: user authentication, data storage, payment processing, hosting, and App Store submission. None of these are unique to your product, but each one can consume weeks of setup time.
The problem isn't that any single piece is impossible. The problem is that each has its own documentation, failure modes, and learning curve. You're not just learning one system, you're learning five or six simultaneously, and they all need to work together correctly.
The doom loop
This creates what builders call the doom loop: your app breaks at 2 a.m., the documentation doesn't address your specific error, Stack Overflow threads reference deprecated APIs, and support is silent. You can spend an entire weekend making no progress on a problem that blocks everything else.
One builder spent years blocked by technical complexity with traditional no-code tools, managing only marketing landing pages. After switching to tools with integrated infrastructure, he built four complete apps in a single month including a founder-matching platform, encrypted chat, and payment processing. The difference wasn't sudden technical skill. The difference was that infrastructure stopped being his problem.
The App Store wall
Even after building a working app, App Store submission creates another barrier. According to industry data, roughly 40% of submissions get rejected on the first attempt. Most rejections happen not because of quality but because of configuration : missing privacy descriptions, incorrect entitlements, certificate problems, or metadata issues.
Cloud-signed submission, which Anything provides, eliminates the certificate management that blocks most builders. Instead of downloading Xcode, generating certificates, creating provisioning profiles, and configuring bundle identifiers, you click a button.
What makes iOS apps worth building
Before diving deeper into development approaches, consider why iOS specifically matters for builders focused on revenue.
iOS users spend significantly more per download than Android users. This revenue premium makes iOS the preferred starting platform for solopreneurs and bootstrapped entrepreneurs who need strong monetization from a smaller user base.
The App Store also provides built-in distribution and trust. Users expect to find and pay for apps there. An app in the App Store feels legitimate in a way that a web link doesn't. Which matters when you're asking strangers to give you money.
Development approaches compared
If you've decided to build for iOS, you have four main approaches. Each involves different trade-offs between control, speed, cost, and technical requirements.
Native development with Swift
Native Swift apps deliver the highest performance and deepest integration with iOS features. If you need advanced capabilities like HealthKit, ARKit, or complex animations, native development may be required.
The trade-off is significant: substantial programming knowledge required, iOS-only market reach, and months of learning before you ship anything. For builders whose goal is "make money from an app," this path rarely makes sense as a starting point.
Cross-platform frameworks
React Native and Flutter let you build for iOS and Android from a single codebase, reducing development costs by 25-50% compared to building separate native apps.
React Native uses JavaScript and true native UI components. Flutter uses Dart and provides pixel-perfect consistency across platforms. Both require programming knowledge, though less than native Swift development.
These frameworks make sense for technical builders who want multi-platform reach. They're overkill for most first-time app builders.
Traditional no-code platforms
Platforms like FlutterFlow provide visual development without code. You can design interfaces and deploy to app stores without programming.
The limitation is that you still need to understand app logic concepts, and advanced features often require custom code. You're learning a new tool that may not take you all the way to production.
AI-powered app builders
Anything represents a different category: you describe what you want in plain English, and AI handles everything from code generation to App Store submission.
The platform includes built-in authentication (Google login works in one prompt), Stripe payment processing, automatic database setup on Postgres, hosting with custom domains, and cloud-signed App Store submission. Anything Max, the autonomous agent mode, can test, debug, and iterate on your app for hours without supervision, handling the complex bugs that would otherwise block you at 2 a.m.
Bailey left corporate roles at Nike and Daimler to build Aura Vista, a platform for spiritual professionals. She started with AI-powered tarot pulls, then added journals, custom spreads, and reading layouts. Community features and healer storefronts are coming next, all without writing code.
For non-technical builders focused on shipping apps that make money, this approach eliminates the infrastructure complexity that blocks most projects.
Realistic costs and timelines
Development costs vary dramatically based on your approach. Understanding these ranges helps you budget appropriately.
Traditional development costs
Hiring developers or agencies for iOS apps typically costs:
- Simple MVPs: $5,000 to $40,000 with 1-3 month timelines
- Moderate apps with custom UI: $40,000 to $150,000 over 3-6 months
- Complex applications: $150,000-$250,000+ taking 6-12+ months
Freelance developers charge $25-75 per hour, small agencies $50-150 per hour, and established agencies $100-200 per hour. Beyond coding, budget 15-20% extra for testing and QA, plus 15-20% of the initial investment annually for maintenance.
These costs explain why so many app ideas never get built. A $40,000 minimum to test whether anyone will pay for your idea is a bet most people can't afford to make.
AI-powered development costs
Anything's pricing ranges from $19 to $899 per month depending on usage. For context: a medical student built a revenue-generating CPR training app for less than the cost of one hour with a traditional agency.
The cost difference is about more than money, it's also about risk. With traditional development, you invest tens of thousands before learning whether your idea works. With AI-powered tools, you can build, test, and iterate for a few hundred dollars, then scale investment once you have paying customers.
Timeline comparison
Traditional iOS development timelines:
- Learning Swift basics: 2-4 months
- Building a simple app: 1-3 months additional
- App Store submission and approval: 1-4 weeks
- Total time to first paying customer: 6-12+ months
AI-powered development timelines:
- Building core features: 1-7 days
- Adding authentication and payments: Same day
- App Store submission: 1-2 days
- Total time to first paying customer: 1-4 weeks
William Sayer went from idea to App Store in two months. Dirk Minnebo built four complete apps in one month. These timelines show what happens when infrastructure stops being a blocker.
Five things that must work before launch
Whether you use AI tools or traditional development, five infrastructure components must work reliably before your app can generate revenue.
Authentication
Users expect Google and Apple login. They expect it to work immediately. A failed login is probably a lost customer who won't come back.
With traditional development, implementing Google OAuth requires setting up a Google Cloud project, configuring consent screens, handling redirect URIs across environments, managing tokens, and testing across devices. With Anything, you describe "add Google login" and it works in minutes.
Payments
Your app needs to accept money from the start. For iOS apps, this means either Stripe integration or Apple's in-app purchase system via StoreKit.
Anything includes built-in Stripe integration and RevenueCat support for in-app purchases. The real estate agent earning $85 per month from her AI portal didn't spend weeks configuring payment webhooks, payments were part of the core architecture from day one.
Database
Your database should be production-grade from the start: automatic backups, syncing across devices, and no separate configuration for development versus production environments.
Anything runs on Postgres with enterprise-grade Neon infrastructure. This way you don’t have to make trade-offs between ease of development and production reliability. And you're not spending days on data migration issues when you're ready to launch.
Hosting
Auto-scaling infrastructure should be invisible. You don't want angry customer emails because your server crashed during a traffic spike, and you don't want surprise bills from usage spikes.
Anything includes hosting with custom domain support. The decisions that create bottlenecks and emergencies with traditional infrastructure simply aren't your problem.
App Store submission
This is where most non-technical builders hit the wall. Certificate management, provisioning profiles, and App Store Connect configuration require specialized knowledge that has nothing to do with building a good app.
Anything's cloud-signed submission handles this automatically. You prepare screenshots, write your description, and click submit. No Xcode required, no certificates to manage, no provisioning profiles to configure.
Your first week building an iOS app
With the right tools, you can go from idea to testable app in days. Here's what that looks like with Anything.
Day one: define your app
Answer three questions: Who is it for? What's the one thing it does? How will they pay you?
One sentence for each question. If you can't answer these clearly, you're not ready to build. Clarity here saves weeks of wandering later.
Day two: build your core feature
Describe your core feature in plain English. The goal is something working on your phone by end of day.
This isn't the complete app. It's the single feature that makes your app worth using. For a habit tracker, it's creating a habit and marking it complete. For a training app, it's running through one scenario. Everything else can wait.
Days three and four: add authentication and payments
With built-in infrastructure, authentication and payments should work on the first try. Test the full flow: sign up, use the core feature, pay.
A working payment flow on day four means you can start charging customers within a week. A broken payment flow on day four becomes a broken payment flow on day forty if you keep building features on top of it.
Day five: test with real users
Get three people to try your app and watch them use it. Don't explain anything. Just observe where they get stuck. The feedback from watching three real users is worth more than a month of building in isolation. They'll find problems you never imagined and ignore features you thought were essential.
Days six and seven: submit to App Store
With cloud-signed submission, there's no certificate wrestling. Prepare your screenshots, write your description, and submit. You can continue improving the app while waiting for review.
Apple reviews 90% of submissions within 24 hours. If you submit on day six, you could have a live App Store app generating revenue by day eight.
Common questions
Do I need a Mac to build iOS apps?
For traditional development, yes. Apple requires Xcode, which only runs on macOS. For AI-powered development with Anything, no. You can build, test, and submit iOS apps entirely from your browser on any computer.
How much does it cost to put an app on the App Store?
Apple charges $99 per year for the Developer Program. With traditional development, add $5,000-$150,000+ for the app itself. With Anything, add $19-$899 per month depending on your usage.
How long does App Store review take?
Apple reviews 90% of submissions within 24 hours, with most completed in 24-48 hours. During iOS launch weeks, reviews can extend to 3-5 days.
What if my app gets rejected?
Most rejections stem from configuration issues, not app quality: missing privacy descriptions, metadata problems, or guideline violations. The solution is usually straightforward once you know what to fix. Anything's submission process handles most common rejection causes automatically.
Can I build both iOS and Android apps?
With Anything, yes. The same backend powers both mobile and web applications. You can build iOS first, validate with paying customers, then expand to Android without starting over.
The bottom line
Building iOS apps used to require months of learning, tens of thousands of dollars, and tolerance for technical complexity that has nothing to do with your actual product idea.
That's no longer true. The builders making real money from their apps (the medical student charging $85 per month, the finance professional who made $34,000, the real estate agent with her AI portal) didn't get there by becoming expert iOS developers. They got there by choosing tools that remove infrastructure as a blocker, then focusing on the only metric that matters: paying customers.
Your first paying customer will teach you more than any amount of preparation. Get started building your iOS app with Anything today.
