[HN Gopher] Launch HN: ASim (YC S21) - Mobile app that generates...
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Launch HN: ASim (YC S21) - Mobile app that generates mobile apps
Hey HN, we're Daniel and Daniel (the Daniels) from aSim
(https://asim.sh/). aSim is a mobile app that can generate
immediately usable and shareable mobile apps from your phone.
Tools like bolt.new and v0 have made it easier to build websites by
just chatting with an LLM, but things have been lagging on the
mobile side. We've always been suckers for well-made mobile apps,
but today, it is still extremely difficult to build mobile apps
with LLMs on your computer, and nearly impossible to do it from
your phone. We built aSim to make it easy to build prototypes,
"trinket" apps, or just random fun things all async from your
phone. You can check our landing page (https://asim.sh/) for some
ideas of different types of apps. Hopefully we can bring some life
to your side project graveyard, or at least make the graveyard even
more numerous. Here's a demo video of the generation process:
https://youtu.be/_3VCl13oMGc And here are the actual one-shotted
apps I made in that video: - https://asim.sh/@dli/s/157003/make-
an-app-where-i-can-upload... - https://asim.sh/@dli/s/157014/make-
me-an-app-that-is-a-clone... - https://asim.sh/@dli/s/157006/make-
me-a-chess-timer-app-for-... All of our app generations also get
access to a set of APIs that help get the ball rolling on some
basic functionality. These APIs range from LLM usage and image
generation to having shared state with your friends, and globally
among all users. We're always on the lookout for new API
integrations (i.e. Spotify and Maps) so please let us know if you
need any! We've had a small cohort of beta users that have been
making what we think are some pretty cool apps. Here's some of our
favorites: - Pokemon-style Gacha Game -
https://asim.sh/@evan/s/126948/elves-vs-monsters - OpenStreetMap
stats: https://asim.sh/@lake/s/104102/osm-stats - Star wars idle
game: https://asim.sh/@jojaspero/s/29102 - Find your Meyers Briggs
- https://asim.sh/@typewhisperer/s/135964/jung-mirror (<-- just for
fun, you don't have to believe in MB :)) - AI Tic Tac Toe -
https://asim.sh/@hashmelons/s/105561/ai-tic-tac Behind the scenes,
we're generating a modified version of Typescript React Native that
can be parsed and compiled into simpler instructions that can be
sent to mobile devices on the fly. We've ripped out some parts of
the TSC library, as well as lean heavily on AcornJS to massage the
(mostly usable) LLM code into something that can actually be run.
We have a bunch of static analyzers, as well as leaning on web
runtimes to catch runtime errors (as well as take screenshots),
though at the very end of the day, we lean the most on our users to
play around with their creations and remix them into something
great. It's currently completely free to use, so we hope you check
out aSim at https://asim.sh/ and enjoy it as much as we have while
building it! Let us know what features you'd like to see and any
problems you have with your generations.
Author : dli123
Score : 40 points
Date : 2025-04-01 15:06 UTC (7 hours ago)
| lukaskf wrote:
| This is so wild. Definitely one of the cooler uses of AI I have
| seen, especially for a consumer/app/game.
| dli123 wrote:
| thank you! we've definitely had a blast building it, hope you
| enjoy it!
| 999900000999 wrote:
| Have to provide a number just to try someone else's app, hard
| pass.
| dli123 wrote:
| Thx for the feedback - didnt have a chance to implement email
| otps (will start that now!) and even less didn't want to figure
| out sign in with google/apple
| 999900000999 wrote:
| Why do I need to sign in at all to view ?
| dli123 wrote:
| unfortunately we've already been targeted by a small scale
| DOS attack (or wallet attack?), and account creation on our
| most expensive model was the only way we could solve the
| problem for now :/
| OsrsNeedsf2P wrote:
| I've worked in the anti-bot space for a while. Friction
| to real users is a huge cost. I strongly recommend a
| better solution.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| We need an AI app that generates and manages throwaway
| sign-ups with a single click so we can use AI apps that
| generate mobile apps.
| realprimoh wrote:
| Looks awesome! How do you plan to monetize down the road?
| dli123 wrote:
| we're currently planning on adding the ability for app creators
| to charge users, similar to Roblox/Robux if you're familiar,
| and that revenue will be shared between us and the app creator
| dostick wrote:
| [flagged]
| dli123 wrote:
| haha no (at least not to my knowledge)! just following in
| gmail's footsteps of launching on april fools
| asim wrote:
| Ironic that I end up competing with an AI app generator for
| work...
| dli123 wrote:
| haha i think it's been a great namesake!
| zkid18 wrote:
| love it. but that makes me think that development is no longer
| the bottleneck --distribution and positioning are. and my bet
| that the ASim fucntionality will find it place in the current
| media platfrom.
|
| say, if tiktok launches an ai app store, it won't be for complex
| software--it'll start with low-friction, high-retention apps: ai-
| powered video enhancements (think face-swaps, lip sync, object
| replacement) or micro-utilities, something like ASim does.
|
| for platforms, it's obvious--more engagement, higher
| monetization, and a new vertical.
|
| for creators, it's a no-brainer--why funnel traffic to some app
| store when you can keep users inside tiktok, get them to install,
| and even monetize directly?
|
| even the infamous 30% app store cut could be creatively
| sidestepped--imagine launching your own meme coin for in-app
| purchases instead.
| dli123 wrote:
| thanks for the kind words! yep, this is exactly how we're
| thinking about this space as well! we think as software dev
| costs compress, it'll become a new modality of expression,
| similar to how we've seen images and video platforms take off
| as creation costs start to really compress.
| zkid18 wrote:
| cool! happy to connect with you folks! my twitter: kidrulit
| qoez wrote:
| This reply would be a lot easier to read with some
| capitalization after punctuation.
| kridsdale1 wrote:
| There at least 2 capital letters in that post.
| deadbabe wrote:
| Development hasn't been the bottleneck for a long time people
| are just lazy
| gtr32x wrote:
| The embedded mini-app ecosystem is a real model in China.
| Wechat being the most popular platform. Douyin also has a good
| share of it. You even see such ecosystem in payment apps like
| Alipay. I'm also certain there are special deals with Apple
| structured around this concept.
| dli123 wrote:
| ya - i think the replication of the wechat super-app has been
| attempted so many times in the west at this point, but maybe
| agi coding solves this...?
| leonhard wrote:
| Would like to try it out but I'm not receiving the verification
| code on my UK number.
| dli123 wrote:
| we're definitely under heavy load right now - might be hitting
| some rate limits. can you try again now? if it still doesn't
| work, hit me up at dli@asim.sh or on our discord
| https://www.asim.sh/discord and i'll get you sorted!
| purple-leafy wrote:
| While that's interesting, what I'm _really_ after these days is a
| Mobile App that generates Mobile Apps that generate Mobile Apps
|
| You can never have too many mobile app generators
| dli123 wrote:
| will be taking a note of this and putting into consideration
| for our next venture!
| Rendello wrote:
| Perhaps you could loop it back and make a quine, too.
| dli123 wrote:
| hmm, kinda like a... y combinator?
| aaurelions wrote:
| Cool, aSim - it's a0.dev + Expo?
| dli123 wrote:
| yep, you could describe it like that!
| pzo wrote:
| Looks like many of those mobile app generators these days:
|
| https://asim.sh/
|
| https://bolt.new/
|
| https://replit.com/
|
| https://a0.dev/
|
| https://www.create.xyz/
|
| https://www.tempo.new/
|
| Seems like most (all?) are making react native apps using expo.
| dli123 wrote:
| We're a bit different than these since our apps are instantly
| deployed, not deployed through expo. So right after generation,
| you tap on your app and it loads and is usable, kinda like a
| webpage.
|
| React native definitely seems to work the best! I think the
| current generation LLMs have just seen so much js/ts they can
| just about do anything in those languages.
| kridsdale1 wrote:
| This all feels like Dreamweaver + 25 years, to me.
| dli123 wrote:
| wow I haven't heard someone bring up dreamweaver in
| probably a decade. brings back memories of coding on my cow
| colored gateway laptop :')
| Apocryphon wrote:
| We need a generator for mobile app generators.
| dli123 wrote:
| i think i've seen this prompt at least 5 times today in the
| logs lol
| ddxv wrote:
| I think you're missing some too. I've been vaguely following
| and have seen very few that actually seem to have any apps on
| the app store and those that I found were basic examples.
| Apocryphon wrote:
| There's at least one that generates Flutter now.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43342101
|
| Also Lovable, which the above is inspired by!
| dli123 wrote:
| yea there's a ton now that i've stopped trying to keep tabs
| on them. i agree that most 'vibe-coded' apps are still
| really, really basic, so we try to lean into that. give some
| cool apis that make certain things easy, and make it easy to
| create kinda dumb, but fun apps. the sweet spot is usually
| some kind of meme, or something with your friends, like
| https://asim.sh/@rish/s/157178/create-a-cute-gamified-app-
| ca...
| ddxv wrote:
| So where do the 'apps' you generate live? On my Google Play
| account or just inside of Asim?
| dli123 wrote:
| currently they only live inside of aSim, but we are playing
| around with the idea of being able to export apps. the Android
| APK export is definitely doable, but the iOS side is definitely
| more challenging, so unsure if we will commit to it.
| swyx wrote:
| congrats on launching. how are you handling backend needs?
| firebase? supabse? whats good/whats missing?
| dli123 wrote:
| thanks! we just use good old fashioned postgres running on
| azure, paired with a node server and blob storage in r2. i like
| how simple it is, and logs show up in places i'd expect without
| having to remember how to navigate some ui. queuing was
| something that took a bit to figure out correctly, but pg-boss
| ended up being the most straighfoward/easy to deploy on our
| infra.
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(page generated 2025-04-01 23:00 UTC)