As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly popular, the technology world is debating whether traditional applications will be replaced by AI agents or not?
However, ahead of Apple's WWDC 2026 Global Developers Conference (held from June 8 to 12, 2026 in the US), many iOS developers believe that AI is not a threat but a new opportunity for the application ecosystem.
According to Indian Express at Apple Development Center in Bengaluru (India), developers are focusing on integrating AI into applications instead of completely replacing the traditional software interface.
Nikhil Nigade, developer of the personal finance management application Pockity, believes that AI will help users discover the application more easily and expand revenue opportunities for developers.
Pockity is built with Swift UI developed by Apple, allowing users to record financial transactions in just a few seconds with a minimalist and friendly interface.
According to Nikhil Nigade, the goal of the application is not to keep users as long as possible but to help them complete work quickly to return to normal life.
Mr. Nikhil Nigade also stated that AI agents in the future will significantly accelerate what users can do on personal devices.
Another example is Peak - a health tracking application developed by developer Harshil Shah in Mumbai. The application utilizes Apple's HealthKit to aggregate health data and allows users to create dashboards according to their own needs.
Mr. Harshil Shah said that the idea of the Peak application appeared during the COVID-19 blockade, when he wanted to monitor health more flexibly than the default targets on Apple Watch.
This application uses Widget Kit (Apple's tool that helps programmers create widgets to display information quickly on the iPhone, iPad or Mac main screen) for users to track the training process directly on the screen without opening the application.
Although appreciating the programming support capabilities of AI, Harshil Shah emphasized that large language models can still produce inaccurate results, especially with sensitive health data. Therefore, the factor of verifying and understanding the actual needs of users is still very important.
Contrary to predictions that AI will make applications disappear, a report by a company specializing in tracking and analyzing mobile application market data such as App Store and Google Play - Appfigures, shows that the number of new applications on the App Store in Q1/2026 increased by 80% compared to the same period last year.
Many developers currently see AI as a "silent engine" behind the application. Zoho Notebook, a multi-platform note-taking platform with more than 8 million downloads, has integrated Apple Intelligence to support writing, notes and smart search.
Meanwhile, the game Letter Flow utilizes an AI model running directly on the device to reduce cloud computing costs.
Accessibility has also become a major priority in AI application development. Guitar Wiz (a toolkit for guitar players) is designed with a user-friendly interface for colorblinds and voice support for the visually impaired.
The application also uses Apple's Vision Framework to scan handwritten music and create audio previews.
These examples show that AI is changing the way applications work, but cannot completely replace the role of software built on actual needs and human experience.
