SwiftUI app examples: 12 kinds of apps you can build

By Sigsten Gustavii· 26 October 2026· 8 min read

SwiftUI is the framework Apple introduced for building app screens in Swift. You describe what a screen shows, and SwiftUI takes care of drawing it, animating changes, adapting to dark mode, larger text and different screen sizes. It is what Apple recommends for new apps on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.

If you are wondering what you could actually build with it, or with an AI that writes it for you, this post is a catalogue. It starts with four real apps Borel built in SwiftUI, with their numbers, then goes through twelve kinds of apps, the iPhone features each one uses, and a prompt you can start from.

Four real SwiftUI apps, built from one sentence each

On 17 October 2026, Borel built these four apps, each from a one-sentence prompt. Times are from the prompt to the app running in the iOS Simulator, with the Mac's compile and start-up check included.

Each one opened with tabs, every screen filled with example content, and its data kept on the phone with Apple's SwiftData. The build pages show their real screens. All real builds are listed together.

12 kinds of apps SwiftUI does well

1. Habit and routine trackers

Daily checklists, streaks and a week grid. SwiftUI's lists and animations make ticking something off feel good, and reminders scheduled on the phone bring people back.

2. Money and budget apps

Category limits, spending by day, what is left this month. Numbers formatted in the phone's own currency, bars that change colour near a limit, and charts of where the money went. A Face ID lock keeps it private. See the real budget app build.

3. Workout and fitness logs

Sets, reps and weights, personal records and charts of progress. Steps can come from the iPhone's pedometer through motion and steps, and haptics make a rest timer felt in the hand. See the real workout log build.

4. Recipe books and meal planners

Recipes with ingredients and steps, favourites, a shopping list filled from a recipe. The real recipe build above is this kind. Add photos of dishes from the photo library.

5. Journals and diaries

Daily entries with a mood, a photo and a place. Voice notes through voice and speech, a Face ID lock, and an AI summary of the month through Borel AI.

6. Collections and catalogues

Wines tasted, books read, plants owned, records collected. A photo, a few fields and a search. The camera and scanning can read a barcode to fill in details.

7. Planners and to-do lists

Tasks, projects and due dates, with events added to your calendar and reminders on time. SwiftUI's drag-to-reorder and swipe actions are built for lists like these.

8. Content and project trackers

Ideas moving through stages, like the content idea tracker above: idea, scripted, filmed, posted. Boards, filters and counts per stage.

9. Small games

Word puzzles, quizzes, card games, tap and idle games. SwiftUI handles grids, cards and animation well; fast 3D action games need a game engine instead.

10. AI helpers

A chat assistant for a hobby, a tool that reads a photo of a menu, an app that rewrites text or makes pictures. Built-in AI gives a Borel app these with no API key.

11. Local guides and maps

Favourite places, a city walk, good spots for a hobby, pinned on Apple Maps with maps and location. Add your own notes and photos to each pin.

12. Small community and social apps

A feed for a club, a family photo board, a neighbourhood swap list. Accounts, shared posts and photo uploads come from the app's own cloud.

The native features behind these apps

What makes these apps feel native is that they use the iPhone directly, not through a web page. Here is which features each kind tends to use:

Every app also gets Apple's own design for free: dark mode, larger text sizes and the newer Liquid Glass look, because SwiftUI's standard controls adapt on their own. The full list is on native iOS features.

Why SwiftUI suits an app written by AI

SwiftUI is declarative: the code describes what a screen should show for a given state, and SwiftUI works out how to draw it and how to animate between states. That style happens to fit the way an AI writes apps from a description. "A list of habits with a tick and a streak" maps closely onto a few lines of SwiftUI, and so does a change like "move the streak to the right".

It also means less of the app is custom code that could go wrong. Lists, navigation, tabs, sheets, forms, pickers and text fields are Apple's own, so they behave the way iPhone owners expect: swiping back, scrolling, the keyboard, accessibility and right-to-left languages work as they do in Apple's apps.

Because the result is ordinary Swift, it is also code a developer can read. With Borel you can download the SwiftUI project and open it in Xcode at any time, so an app that starts as an AI build can later be taken further by hand.

There are limits to keep in mind. SwiftUI is for apps made of screens, not for games that need a physics engine or 3D scenes, and some Apple features sit outside what a Borel app can use today. For the kinds of apps in this list, though, it is the most direct way to build something that looks and behaves like it belongs on an iPhone.

How to turn an example into your own app

Step 1: Pick the closest example

Choose the kind above that is nearest to your idea. A wine log is a collection; a study planner is a planner with reminders.

Step 2: Say what makes yours different

Your app is worth making because of its details. Write what is special: the fields you track, the way you sort things, the one screen you open every day.

Step 3: Write one sentence, then add screens

The four real builds above started from a single sentence. Start the same way, then list screens if you know them. Here is a template:

Make an iPhone app: [one sentence like the real prompts above].
Tabs: [tab 1], [tab 2], Settings.
Use: [the iPhone features you want, e.g. reminders, Face ID, the camera].
Keep data [on my phone / in the cloud with accounts].
Look: [mood and colours].

Step 4: Try it and change it

The app opens in the iPhone simulator in your browser. Tap through it, then ask for changes one at a time.

Common mistakes when picking an app to build

• Starting with the biggest idea. A small app you finish teaches more than a large one you abandon.
• Planning around missing features. If the idea depends on a widget or Apple Health, it is not the right one to start with today.
• Copying an existing app exactly. Apple turns down copies. Make your own version with your own name and details.
• Forgetting where data lives. Personal apps keep data on the phone; shared apps need accounts and the cloud.
• Ignoring small screens. Check every example on a small iPhone in the simulator.

From example to App Store

Any of these can stay on your own iPhone with a free Apple ID, or go to the App Store with Borel Pro and Apple's $99 a year Developer Program. Start with how to make an iPhone app with AI, and if you are weighing tools, read AI app builders for iPhone, compared.

I think small, specific apps are the most useful kind. Pick the example closest to your idea and change one thing about it.

– Sigsten

Make your iPhone app in Borel

Describe the app you want and see its first screens before you pay anything.