App Development Glossary
Plain-language definitions for modern app development terms. Written by Boaz, a self-taught developer who shipped 4 native apps in a month.
- AI App Builder: An AI app builder generates application code from natural language prompts. The market is projected at $2.96B and growing at 36% CAGR. Most produce web apps only. Very few ship native mobile apps to the App Store.
- AI Coding Agent: An AI coding agent autonomously writes, tests, and deploys code across multiple files — going beyond line-by-line autocomplete. Anthropic's 2026 report shows agents now execute multi-step workflows that run for minutes or hours.
- App Store Submission: App Store submission is the process of packaging, signing, uploading, and getting review approval for your app on Apple's App Store or Google Play Store. Apple reviews 90% of submissions within 48 hours. First-time submissions have a higher rejection rate.
- Build in Public: Build in public means sharing your product-building journey openly — revenue, progress, failures, decisions. It started as a Twitter hashtag (#buildinpublic) and became the default growth strategy for indie makers and bootstrapped founders.
- Claude Code: Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool. It runs in your terminal, reads your entire codebase, and executes multi-step development tasks through natural language. Not autocomplete — a full coding agent that creates files, writes code, runs tests, and handles git workflows.
- Cross-Platform Development: Cross-platform development is building one app that runs on both iOS and Android from a single codebase. Over 40% of new mobile apps now use this approach. The two dominant frameworks: React Native and Flutter.
- Expo (React Native): Expo is a framework built on React Native that handles builds, deployments, and native APIs so you can ship iOS and Android apps from TypeScript without touching Xcode. The React Native team officially recommends it for all new projects.
- Full-Stack Boilerplate: A full-stack boilerplate includes frontend, backend, database, auth, payments, and deployment — all wired together and tested. Most are for web SaaS. For native mobile apps, the category barely exists.
- Indie Hacker: An indie hacker builds and monetizes software independently — no VC, no large team, revenue from customers. In 2026, AI tools and free infrastructure let a solo developer ship what used to require a team of 5.
- Mobile App Development Cost: Traditional mobile app development costs $50,000-$500,000 through agencies. In 2026, a solo developer with AI tools and free-tier infrastructure can ship production native apps for under $500 total.
- MVP (Minimum Viable Product): An MVP is the simplest version of a product that lets you test whether real users find it valuable. Not a prototype. Not a demo. A working product that people can actually use — with just enough features to validate your core assumption.
- Native App vs Web App: A native app installs from the App Store and runs on the device. A web app runs in the browser via URL. The choice is not about technology preference — it is about which business model and distribution channel your product needs.
- Product Engineer: A product engineer is a developer who starts from the user's problem, not the technology. They decide what to build, not just how to build it. In 2026, as AI handles more implementation, the ability to define problems is becoming the scarce skill.
- React Native Boilerplate: A React Native boilerplate is a pre-configured starter project with navigation, authentication, and build configuration already wired together. A good one saves you a month of infrastructure work. A bad one saves you a day.
- React Native vs Flutter: React Native uses TypeScript and native platform UI components. Flutter uses Dart and a custom rendering engine. Both ship native apps from one codebase. Market share: Flutter ~46%, React Native ~38%. The deciding factor in 2026 is AI tooling ecosystem support.
- Supabase: Supabase is an open-source backend platform built on PostgreSQL. It provides database, auth, storage, and real-time in one dashboard. Free tier supports 50K monthly active users. No vendor lock-in — it is standard PostgreSQL underneath.
- Vibe Coding: Vibe coding is a software development approach where you describe what you want in natural language and an AI agent writes the code. Coined by Andrej Karpathy in February 2025, it became Collins Dictionary's Word of the Year that same year.