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Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

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Re: Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

#11

Post by jacobx »

avarun wrote: post #6

Seems like a cool concept! I downloaded and entered an email address but haven't received a verification code yet after 10 minutes. It's an Apple Private Relay email if that matters. Also, side note: magic link or email-based OTP login is by far my least favorite method of login, especially for a phone app. It's cumbersome, annoying, and completely unnecessary now that passkeys exist. Barring that I'd still rather us…

That's weird, can you try hitting back and then the forward arrow again? That should resend the email. If that still doesn't work, let me know and we can investigate on the backend.

We've definitely been hearing from users who don't like OTP, we'll try to get additional login options added soon.

Re: Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

#12

Post by CharlesW »

ForceBru wrote: post #10

Are there iOS apps that let me create native Swift apps for my phone (including execution on my device, not in the cloud), on my phone, but _without_ chatting to AI? Just by writing code, the "old" way?

There's the excellent Swift Playground for iOS, requires an iPad: https://developer.apple.com/swift-playground/

Re: Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

#13

Post by jacobx »

Johnny_Bonk wrote: post #8

So I have an existing typescript project, can I still use your software to build the app part of it in a monorepo?

We don't currently have support for editing code directly within a repository, but that's something we're excited about adding.

In the meantime, one thing that's worked well for us is building a component/screen/etc as a standalone piece in bitrig, and then bringing it into a larger project from your computer later. You can easily export the code you make in bitrig for those kinds of workflows.

Re: Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

#14

Post by kylemacomber »

ForceBru wrote: post #10

Are there iOS apps that let me create native Swift apps for my phone (including execution on my device, not in the cloud), on my phone, but _without_ chatting to AI? Just by writing code, the "old" way?

You can edit the code directly in Bitrig, but we haven't optimized the experience around that.

Are you imagining you'd be editing the code with the software keyboard or a paired hardware keyboard?

Re: Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

#15

Post by jacobx »

saadn92 wrote: post #9

This is a really good idea, but I’ve noticed that, even with developer experience and using Claude code, building a complex app is extremely difficult and takes dozens of prompts to get things actually working. This is probably a great prototyping tool, but I’m curious to know how far this can go to build production level apps.

With what we've tried so far, Bitrig already works well for prototyping and making smaller apps.

Really large and complex apps will probably require improvements to both Bitrig and the underlying models. However, both those are coming :)

Re: Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

#17

Post by ForceBru »

kylemacomber wrote: post #14
ForceBru wrote: post #10

Are there iOS apps that let me create native Swift apps for my phone (including execution on my device, not in the cloud), on my phone, but _without_ chatting to AI? Just by writing code, the "old" way?

You can edit the code directly in Bitrig, but we haven't optimized the experience around that. Are you imagining you'd be editing the code with the software keyboard or a paired hardware keyboard?

I'm imagining quick prototyping (including on-device, offline execution) of small pieces of code (potentially growing into a small app) with the software keyboard, like in Pythonista or Pyto.

My workflow often goes like this: got an idea, let me quickly test it on the go, like while walking down the street, working on unrelated stuff or just chilling. Open up Pythonista, write some code, run it, tweak it, etc. If a piece of code becomes important enough, I copy it to the computer and continue working on it there.

Re: Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

#18

Post by kylemacomber »

ForceBru wrote: post #17
kylemacomber wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can edit the code directly in Bitrig, but we haven't optimized the experience around that. Are you imagining you'd be editing the code with the software keyboard or a paired hardware keyboard?

I'm imagining quick prototyping (including on-device, offline execution) of small pieces of code (potentially growing into a small app) with the software keyboard, like in Pythonista or Pyto. My workflow often goes like this: got an idea, let me quickly test it on the go, like while walking down the street, working on unrelated stuff or just chilling. Open up Pythonista, write some code, run it, tweak it, etc. If a p…

Cool, that's really helpful context. We'll take a look at the code editing experience in those apps for inspiration.

Re: Launch HN: Bitrig (YC S25) – Build Swift apps on your iPhone

#19

Post by sunnybeetroot »

avarun wrote: post #6

Seems like a cool concept! I downloaded and entered an email address but haven't received a verification code yet after 10 minutes. It's an Apple Private Relay email if that matters. Also, side note: magic link or email-based OTP login is by far my least favorite method of login, especially for a phone app. It's cumbersome, annoying, and completely unnecessary now that passkeys exist. Barring that I'd still rather us…

That’s interesting, on a desktop device I would agree. However having to create an account on 1Password for an app I just want to try is a pain compared to using Apple’s Hide my email and entering in the OTP. I get that it didn’t work for you but it did for me.
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