I can’t believe how fast Google vibe coded my first Android app

Yesterday, I built my first Android app. Then, I made two more — three in one afternoon.

I can’t believe how fast Google vibe coded my first Android app

Google AI Studio does what it says on the tin: prompt to phone, in minutes flat.

Google AI Studio does what it says on the tin: prompt to phone, in minutes flat.

For one, I literally typed 148 words into my web browser and walked away. Ten minutes later, I had an entire new app on my actual Android phone. I did have to prep that phone by enabling a USB debugging mode and plugging it into my PC, but as advertised, Google’s AI Studio did literally everything else for me.

I typed in words, I hit install, and voilà: an entire working program. I was nearly ready to agree with David, Allison, and Jen: The personal software revolution is here, it’s coming to your phone, there’s a future where the average person can make complicated smart home gadget messes work even with no programming skills.

Then, I tried actually using my three apps: a calorie counter and two games. They were kind of bad. And just when I started to enjoy iterating on them, trying to make them better, AI Studio informed me I’d reached my daily limit. I’d have to pay or wait for more.

So yes, there’s still friction, but it’s impressive how much you can do. In one morning, my colleague Stevie Bonifield made a personal workout tracker they found good enough to actually use. Confronted with Gemini’s upsell, my first reaction was: “What if I try paying for a couple months?” I didn’t expect that from Google.

How Google’s AI Studio builds an Android app

On Tuesday, when Google showed off AI coding on a Doom-like game, we joked that I should make MOOD. It would be a Doom-like text adventure game: Modern Online Oratory Dungeon.

That was all Google needed to start. When I typed “Make me a Doom-like text adventure game called MOOD, where MOOD stands for Modern Online Oratory Dungeon” into AI Studio, Gemini began typing additional ideas itself, attempting to autocomplete my thought. To start, it typed the phrase “It should feature procedural generation of levels and challenging, turn based combat.”

I didn’t want randomized levels that all feel different — I wanted a classic text adventure where you’re exploring a curated place with a real map. But sure, turn-based combat, and maybe the game could auto-generate the map for me too? Then Gemini suggested it should have “secrets hidden in its rooms,” and “a satisfying progress"