Bubble Group Inc., a startup that allows people who aren’t coders to design and create web apps visually, today unveiled an upcoming generative artificial intelligence tool that will make it simple to design web layouts with just text prompts, and previewed support for native mobile application development.

Using Bubble’s platform, people with little or no coding knowledge can use a visual engine to develop logical flows to design and develop apps. It allows for the easy development of mobile-friendly layouts and dynamic content automatically and handles the scripting behind the scenes for any software.

Today at its first-ever user conference BubbleCon 2023, the company unveiled Bubble AI, a new tool that uses a large language model, the same type of technology that underlies popular chatbots such as OpenAI LP’s ChatGPT, to let builders quickly create web layouts automatically using a simple text prompt. It can be used to create an initial starting point that includes all of the complex underlying logic and design components, so builders can then refine it to match the app experience they want for their users.

These layouts can include dashboards, profile pages, galleries, social feeds and more. For example, a user could tell the AI, “Make a home screen that has a search bar, featured games and upcoming events for an esports app.”

From there the AI will generate a fully fleshed-out page layout, including the underlying code and logic that would match the given requirements in seconds. Having this tool on hand will take a lot of the burden of building that first layout or searching through existing template libraries out of the hands of creators, giving them a jumpstart.

“Generative AI will play a large part in getting apps to market faster and giving creators more time to work on the sophisticated workflows and UI that makes their app special,” said co-founder and Chief Executive Josh Haas. “If building with Bubble is 10 times faster than coding, Bubble supercharged with AI could be 100 times faster.”

Bubble plans to bring its new AI tool online in the first half of 2024. After its launch, the company will focus on allowing the AI to redesign what is already there and change existing logic and layouts. According to Vice President of Product Allen Yang, this is currently on the roadmap but it’s a much more complex ask than generating the initial page because it requires an LLM to ingest the logic and concept of an existing page and modify it based on user input.

The company also previewed the upcoming ability to build mobile native apps on the platform, which will give users the capability to build once and deploy across web, Android and iOS. Apps built using Bubble will share the same databases, back-end application programming interfaces and logic and will integrate with existing web apps.

That’s because Bubble web apps, which will run the same on mobile as web apps, are hosted on Bubble’s own cloud hosting. The new service will provide true cross-platform for web, iOS and Android with React Native, providing mobile and desktop web apps the ability to be built within one workflow.

Native gestures and transitions can also be built into existing workflows and visual elements can also be built into the visual editor. System connections have also been added that take advantage of native hardware for mobile applications. Users will also have a better experience when developing for mobile with on-device preview, which will allow them to see how their app will work natively as they build.

Once the user has finished their mobile native application and is ready to go, the platform can even submit it to the app stores of their choice.

Native mobile capabilities will be coming sometime in 2024. A waitlist is available for users who want to get in as early as possible.

Photo: Karolina Grabowska/Pixabay