Aptly: Making Mobile Apps from Natural Language

We present Aptly, an extension of the MIT App Inventor platform enabling mobile app development via natural language powered by code-generating large language models (LLMs). Aptly complements App Inventor's block language with a text language designed to allow visual code generation via text-based LLMs. We detail the technical aspects of how the Aptly server integrates LLMs with a realtime collaboration function to facilitate the automated creation and editing of mobile apps given user instructions. The paper concludes with insights from a study of a pilot implementation involving high school students, which examines Aptly's practicality and user experience. The findings underscore Aptly's potential as a tool that democratizes app development and fosters technological creativity.

@article{patton2025_2405.00229,
  title={ Aptly: Making Mobile Apps from Natural Language },
  author={ Evan W. Patton and David Y.J. Kim and Ashley Granquist and Robin Liu and Arianna Scott and Jennet Zamanova and Harold Abelson },
  journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.00229},
  year={ 2025 }
}