The Deno team has launched Dactyl, allowing users to describe requirements in natural language in the browser, with AI generating SwiftUI code and building native iOS and Android apps in real-time.

The core of Dactyl is a SwiftUI renderer implemented in WebAssembly, running applications in a low-latency Canvas simulator in the browser; developers can click, input, and debug the interface directly without needing to prepare iPhone, Android devices, Mac, or Xcode first.

The browser simulator can handle some real device capability validations: the OAuth login process is completed within the browser; if the app calls the camera, Dactyl connects the live feed to the simulator via the browser's camera API. However, capabilities like GPS, push notifications, background tasks, Bluetooth, sensors, and app store review environments still need to be tested on real devices and during the actual release process.

Dactyl claims to use the same SwiftUI code generated by the agent to compile and run native components for Android, rather than wrapping them in a WebView as hybrid apps. The official details on the SwiftUI-Android mapping layer, supported component range, performance boundaries, and compatibility with complex third-party SDKs have not been fully disclosed.

After development, users can scan a QR code to install the app on iPhone, iPad, or Android devices; Dactyl supports publishing to TestFlight and the App Store. Google Play publishing support is still in future plans and should not be interpreted as currently having complete dual-platform store distribution capabilities.

Dactyl allows users to connect existing ChatGPT subscriptions to run AI agents, avoiding the need to purchase tokens through the platform at a markup; paid plans also provide models like Claude Opus and Fable. The free tier offers 100 credits per month and browser iOS previews, while Builder costs $20 per month and Standard costs $100 per month.

The project is deployed on Cloudflare Durable Objects, developed by members of the Deno team. Durable Objects are used to maintain user projects, agent tasks, and the stateful cloud execution environment required for real-time collaboration; the choice of infrastructure does not imply that all generated code or applications run on Cloudflare.

In terms of market mechanisms, Dactyl compresses the initial barriers of mobile development from device, IDE configuration, and native code frameworks into a link of "requirement description—browser preview—real device validation," potentially shifting funding from outsourced prototype development and low-code WebView tools to AI agents, cross-platform compilation, cloud building, app signing, and testing distribution services. Beneficiaries include product managers, independent developers, and small teams; those under pressure are tool vendors relying solely on templated UI, manual prototyping, or basic cross-end packaging fees, but complex performance optimization, compliance, native SDK integration, and long-term maintenance still require professional engineering capabilities.

Source: Public Information