From Prototype to App Store: A Real-World SwiftUI App Timeline (2025 Edition)
We often see flashy demo apps or WWDC showcases, but what does it really take to ship a SwiftUI app from scratch—today, in 2025?
This week, we’re breaking down the actual timeline and developer decisions behind a recently shipped SwiftUI app, built by a solo developer over five weeks. We’re not talking unicorns—we’re talking Git commits, redesigns, SwiftData headaches, and that one testflight crash report you thought you’d never fix.
The Setup: 5 Weeks. One iOS App. Solo Dev.
Goal: Build a habit tracker with rich widgets, SwiftData sync, and visionOS readout support
Constraints:
20–25 hours/week alongside client work
Release on iOS and visionOS
Minimal use of third-party dependencies
Week-by-Week Breakdown
Week 1: Sketches + SwiftUI Prototyping
Using Apple’s native SF Symbols and SwiftUI previews, early views came to life fast. By the end of the week:
✅ Navigation stack working
✅ Core views blocked out
❌ No persistence yet
Week 2: SwiftData & Edge Cases
We jumped into SwiftData—and hit a few bumps:
Migrations needed extra care
Custom date filtering logic broke with live updates
✅ Eventually built a custom observable wrapper to fix it
Week 3: WidgetKit + App Intents
Widgets added huge friction (hello, timeline confusion). But App Intents brought clarity:
“Log Habit” shortcut worked by Friday
Used AppStorage to sync lightweight state
Week 4: QA, TestFlight, User Feedback
First build: 9 crash reports. Mostly minor, but one visionOS rendering bug nearly derailed the week.
✅ Testers loved the haptics
✅ Discovered text size accessibility bugs
Week 5: Polish + App Store Submission
Final touches:
Launch screen tweak
Screenshot automation with Xcode UI tests
Sent to App Store (approved in 36 hours!)
Lessons We’re Carrying Forward 💡
SwiftUI is production-ready—if you plan carefully.
Don’t underestimate how long “polish” takes.
SwiftData is powerful but still maturing. Add tests.
visionOS support? Worth it for future visibility—but adds testing overhead.
Developer Quote to Leave You With:
Let’s Hear From You
Have you shipped a SwiftUI app this year?
What did your real timeline look like vs what you expected?
👉 Share your build journey—we’re compiling timelines for a future feature!
