App design is now a communication problem

Here’s what it’s come down to when it comes to designing apps as of the 1st of November 2026: the quality of your app comes down to your ability to communicate your vision to the agent using words. It’s actually now a communication problem.

Opus 5.5 can do literally anything, and it can do it so quickly now (this will probably be out of date in about 2 weeks).

What I’m finding with the development of ShellDrop, my iOS terminal app, is that all of my time is spent working out effective ways of describing what I want, my vision, in detail, in English, in a way that’s full and complete. That way the agent can get as much done as possible, as quickly as possible, but also as complete as possible.

When it comes to design and animation, right now I’m working on ShellDrop for the iPhone Duo, and you begin to understand that literally anything is possible. You can do anything you want to do with an app. It’s just a matter of time that you want to put into creating, refining, and maintaining that app.

What I’m finding with iPhone Duo app development in iOS 27 is that, obviously, everything had to be upgraded: all operating systems, iOS 27, the latest Xcode, every single thing. The Duo requires a lot of testing because there are so many different positions:

• Open, closed, landscape, and portrait
• Open landscape and portrait
• Split screen landscape and portrait
• The half-closed state

It requires a huge amount of testing to get the design right in multiple positions. The thing about having multiple positions like this for a device is that it really allows you to bring the app to life.