Apple removed vibe coding app Anything from the App Store on March 26, co-founder Dhruv Amin confirmed to The Information. The app, which let iPhone users build functional software through natural language prompts, had been blocked from releasing updates since December. Amin tried submitting a modified version that previewed generated apps in a browser instead of natively. Apple rejected it anyway, then pulled the whole thing.
The removal is the sharpest move yet in a month-long campaign against apps that generate and execute code on iOS. Replit and Vibecode were both blocked from pushing updates in mid-March, though their existing versions remain downloadable. Anything got worse treatment: full removal, no negotiation window.
What rule, exactly?
Apple cites Guideline 2.5.2, which requires apps to be self-contained and prohibits downloading or executing code that changes functionality after installation. The rule has existed for years, originally written to prevent malware from sneaking features past App Review. Applying it to AI code generation tools is a creative interpretation, and Apple knows it. A spokesperson told 9to5Mac that the company has no rules targeting vibe coding specifically.
That framing lets Apple maintain plausible deniability while making it functionally impossible for these apps to exist on iOS in their current form. An app whose entire purpose is generating other apps will always run afoul of a rule that says apps can't introduce new functionality after review.
The $100 million startup that lasted four months
Anything had raised $11 million at a $100 million valuation in September, according to TechCrunch. Footwork led the round, with Bessemer and M13 participating. Co-founded by former Google colleagues Amin and Marcus Lowe, the company hit $2 million in annualized recurring revenue within two weeks of launch. Amin claims thousands of apps built through the platform are live on the App Store right now, including tools for managing emergency workers and tracking gig economy expenses.
Those apps apparently remain available. Apple pulled the tool that made them, not the things it made. Which raises an odd question: if vibe-coded apps pass App Review individually, what exactly is the platform-level threat?
Enforcement that picks favorites
Here is where Apple's position gets uncomfortable. Reports from the same week Anything was removed show that Apple approved an update for Emergent, an Indian vibe coding app with what appears to be an identical workflow. By April 1, Emergent ranked number one in Developer Tools on the App Store.
Apple has not explained the difference. Enforcing Guideline 2.5.2 against one app while approving another with the same architecture is the kind of inconsistency that regulators notice. The EU's Digital Markets Act already forced Apple to allow third-party app stores. Selective enforcement of vaguely worded rules against AI startups is not a great look while those proceedings continue.
So who gets to do vibe coding on Apple devices?
Apple, apparently. The company added AI-assisted coding to Xcode in February, powered by Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's Codex, as Boing Boing noted. Xcode's AI agents can review code, edit files, and help non-programmers build apps from scratch. The output still goes through App Review before reaching users, which is technically the distinction Apple draws. But the optics are rough: Apple ships its own vibe coding features the same month it bans third-party ones.
"I just think vibe coding is going to be so much bigger than Apple even realizes," Amin told The Information, which is the kind of thing a founder says when their app just got killed. He might be right, but the size of the opportunity doesn't change the fact that Apple controls the distribution channel.
Developers building in this space now face a binary choice. Move execution to the web, where Apple's guidelines don't reach, or negotiate directly with Apple and hope for Emergent-style treatment rather than Anything-style removal. WWDC 2026 is the next likely venue for updated guidance on AI-generated code. Apple reports Q2 financials on April 30.
