From shoulder pain to App Store in 5 weeks using vibe coding
How this founder spent 2-3 hours daily on AI assistance and built FitDaily without any coding experience
Hey everyone 👋
Today, I wanted to publish a special featured interview on a vibe coder Mayank Yadav who I accidentally met on X a few days ago. His project and the story behind it instantly stood to me because he literally built an iOS app and published it in App Store using AI (mainly Claude). Not Bolt, not Lovable or Bubble. I’ve never even thought it was possible to simply ship an app this way with using just Claude (and whatever it recommends).
Mayank’s the founder of FitDaily — a habit tracker that started as a personal solution for his shoulder pain and evolved into a full-featured wellness app with workout timers and Apple Health integration.
What makes his story incredible is that he built the entire thing using just Claude and Xcode with zero professional coding experience.
After a decade as a Product Manager at companies like Zomato and Grab, Mayank went from idea to App Store approval in just 5 weeks while working a full-time job. His approach to "vibe coding" proves that the barriers to building software have never been lower.
I was genuinely curious about how someone with no development background ships a polished iOS app in five weeks, the tool stack he used and what lessons other aspiring builders can learn from his journey, so I sent him some questions that turned into this interview.
Anyway, here's the transcript of my interview with Mayank. Enjoy!
1. What’s your name and what’s your background?
I’m Mayank Yadav. I’ve been a PM for over a decade. Worked previously with Zomato (India) and Grab (Singapore), among others. I’m now a full-time indie developer having tons of fun doing what I always wanted to do (build cool software just the way I want to!).
2. What’s your app idea? Why did you choose this problem?
I’ve been struggling with some shoulder pain and wanted to get into the habit of doing shoulder strengthening exercises daily. The top result on the App Store for a habit tracker just didn’t look good to me, so I decided to build one myself (I also wanted to learn AI coding). The app has since evolved and now also has workout timers and Apple Health tracking (both based on my own needs).
3. How did you vibe code your app? What was your stack?
My stack was and still is only Claude and Xcode. I basically have Claude generate the code for what I want to build, and paste the code into Xcode. With time, I’ve gotten better at doing this so there’s less rework.
4. What was your technical background before you got started? Did you know how to code?
I’m an Electronics and Communications engineer by education. Yes, it’s a technical degree and gave me an introduction to coding, but I’ve never actually been a software developer in my professional life. My roles have largely been on the business and product side.
This is also why vibe-coding is SO exciting because now that I can build exactly what I want and have fun doing it! For instance, a feature in my app that gradually reduces the volume of background audio in sleep timers is called “Insanely Smart Audio”! I don’t think any of my previous employers would’ve let me name a feature like this 🙂
5. Why did you choose to build with that stack?
I just started working with Claude and it worked fine, so I stuck to it. I sometimes talk to ChatGPT or Gemini as well, but that’s rare.
6. What were some obstacles you came across and how did you overcome them?
One of the early obstacles was to understand the basics of development such as branches, commits, gits, etc. I had to spend time understanding these well. Without these basics one is bound to end up making mistakes that will be tough or impossible to recover from.
I had a few panic situations where I thought I'd messed up my code and lost days of work (Claude came to the rescue and I was able to undo my mistakes).
7. What were the major milestones in your journey from idea to App Store? How long did each step take roughly?
The first major milestone was definitely having the app approved by Apple and going live on the App Store (20th Feb 2025). It was super exciting. Of course there were smaller milestones along the way, such as the first local build that succeeded, first TestFlight build, and so on.
It took about 5 weeks from when I started to when the app was live in the App Store. I had a full-time job then so I was working on the app 2-3 hours a day, 4-5 times a week. After that I’ve pushed an app update every 1-2 weeks.
8. What’s your advice to newbies who are thinking of vibe coding but are on the fence?
JUST START!
I can see no reason to not give this a shot if you’re even considering it partially. When I first thought about doing this, I imagined the worst case scenario. My worst case scenario was - the app doesn’t become popular, never makes any money, but it adds reasonable value to my resume (instead of telling future employers what I can do, I can SHOW them what I can do). This worst case scenario was very much acceptable to me, and so I went all in.
Think about your worst case scenario, and see if it’s acceptable (it likely will be).
9. What are some of the specific resources that helped you (AI tutorials etc) that you’d like to share with others?
Honestly, I didn’t watch any videos or find any special resources to learn AI coding. It was just me and Claude. But tools/products I would recommend everyone to explore to make their app better:
Firebase Analytics: understand how users are using your app
Firebase Remote Config: try different features for different users, disable/hide a buggy feature, etc
UXCam: get session recordings of users using the app (very useful)
10. Where can people find your app? Where can they follow you on social media?
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6741093322?pt=127576361&ct=intv&mt=8
X/Twitter: https://x.com/ringsosaturn
Email: mayankyadav@icloud.com
Any feedback/thoughts on the app will be greatly appreciated!
So, that's a wrap on this week's featured interview — hope Mayank's journey from shoulder pain to App Store success inspired you to stop overthinking and start building.
What can we learn from this story? The biggest barrier to building software isn't technical anymore — it's psychological. Mayank's "worst case scenario" thinking is brilliant: he defined success so broadly that failure became nearly impossible. His approach shows that personal problems often make the best products, and that constraints (like working 2-3 hours after a full-time job) can actually force you to ship faster. The lesson? Start with your own pain point, keep your stack simple, and remember that done is better than perfect.