Paper ID: 2405.00229

Aptly: Making Mobile Apps from Natural Language

Evan W. Patton, David Y. J. Kim, Ashley Granquist, Robin Liu, Arianna Scott, Jennet Zamanova, Harold Abelson

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.

Submitted: Apr 30, 2024