This is quite an interesting situation. Apple is under fire again, this time for banning a bunch of startups using AI for “vibe coding.” Honestly, the move isn’t surprising, but the underlying tensions are becoming harder to ignore.

So, what’s vibe coding? Simply put, it’s writing code using natural language. For example, you tell an AI, “Make an app that auto-edits photos,” and it spits out a functional program. The tech has been exploding in popularity, but Apple straight-up removed these apps, citing concerns over “potentially unsafe code.”

Unsurprisingly, startups aren’t having it. The CEO of one banned company went off on Twitter: “Apple’s just scared we’ll disrupt their development monopoly.” Investors are fuming too, calling it “innovation-killing gatekeeping.” Sound familiar? It’s almost identical to Epic Games’ monopoly accusations years ago.

The real irony here is the review standards. Apple now requires all AI-generated code to undergo manual review before approval. But the whole point of vibe coding is that the code is constantly evolving. How are devs supposed to audit that? Hire someone to babysit the AI as it writes code? That cost alone would bankrupt small teams.

I get Apple’s concerns—what if the AI churns out code that steals user data? But their solution is way too heavy-handed. It’s like when they banned all crypto wallets outright. Now, mobile AI innovation is bottlenecked at the App Store, and it’s only a matter of time before things blow up.

Here’s a hilarious detail: many of the banned apps were built using Apple’s own Core ML framework. Awkward. It’s like a hyper-strict teacher confiscating the pencils they handed out themselves.

Independent developers are hit the hardest. Big companies can pivot to enterprise certificates, but small teams are stuck. Some have switched to web versions, but the experience is a downgrade. Reminds me of Apple killing Flash a decade ago—history just keeps looping.

What’s really spooking investors? The fear that Apple could strangle the entire AI-native app ecosystem. If even code generation has to play by Apple’s rules, what’s left for innovation? Then again, Apple users’ high spending power is too tempting for devs to walk away.

There’s no quick fix here. Apple won’t loosen its grip on reviews—they’re the gatekeepers of their ecosystem. Long-term, either Apple develops smarter review tools, or developers mass-exit—just like games flocking to Steam years ago.

Honestly, I’m most curious to see if the EU’s Digital Markets Act will step in. They just forced Apple to allow third-party app stores—maybe AI app reviews are next on the chopping block. Tim Cook’s face when that happens? Priceless.