At a glance
| Developer | ieb (@CyberHono on X) |
|---|---|
| Apps in this story | Mithka, CardBal, Uniboard, Miniscan |
| Moved development to AirBuild | Started October 23, 2026 |
| Updates shipped with AirBuild | Mithka (Nov 2 and Nov 5), CardBal 2.5.2 (Nov 2), Uniboard 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 (Oct 25 to Nov 11) |
| Ratings | Mithka: 18 ratings, 4.6 average across all regions (November 13, 2026) |
| App Review | Miniscan approved in 4 hours after a guideline 4.3 reply and an expedited review request |
ieb makes iPhone apps, including the four below. On October 23, 2026, he started moving his development to AirBuild. A week later he called his latest build “probably the last version I develop locally.”
“This morning I started moving development to AirBuild. So far the experience is very good, and it has taken a lot of pressure off my Mac Studio’s storage.”
— ieb, October 23, 2026 (translated from Chinese)
The four apps
| App | What it does | App Store |
|---|---|---|
| Mithka | An independent messaging client powered by TDLib, with chat folders, topics, stickers, voice notes and polls | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mithka/id6783830742 |
| CardBal | Reads transit and stored-value cards over NFC: balance, ride history, card details and raw data | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cardbal-transit-card-reader/id6760978958 |
| Uniboard | A Unicode keyboard with editable keys, symbol pages and Japanese, Mandarin and Korean input | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/uniboard-unicode-keyboard/id6818750518 |
| Miniscan | Reads every code in view at once, across 13 formats | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/miniscan/id6799707039 |
Updates shipped with AirBuild
- Mithka: November 2 and November 5
- CardBal 2.5.2: November 2
- Uniboard 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5: October 25 to November 11
Three Uniboard releases in under three weeks is the kind of pace that’s hard to keep when every release means building, writing notes and another round of App Review by hand.
Miniscan: 82 days stuck in review, approved in 4 hours
Miniscan, a QR and barcode scanner, was an old project of ieb’s. Before AirBuild, it had been stuck in App Review for 82 days and rejected several times. With AirBuild, a two-sentence reply addressed guideline 4.3, AirBuild also requested an expedited review, and the app was approved four hours later. Miniscan went live on November 12, 2026.
“This time it replied to guideline 4.3 for me in two sentences and requested an expedited review. It was approved in four hours (I was shocked).”
— ieb, November 13, 2026 (translated from Chinese)
Debugging NFC through TestFlight
CardBal reads cards over NFC, and NFC can’t be debugged directly the way other code can. ieb’s approach was to send a TestFlight build and upload the logs:
“I can’t debug NFC directly, but sending a TestFlight build and uploading the logs got the problem fixed quickly.”
— ieb, November 10, 2026 (translated from Chinese)
AirBuild manages tester groups, sends TestFlight invites and tracks build distribution, so a test build for a hardware feature like NFC is one request away.
More user stories
- How one developer made an iPhone game with AI and shipped it to the App Store
- Sink: a native iOS app for a self-hosted link shortener, built with AirBuild
- How Vincent made an iPhone app on his phone, from idea to App Store review
- ClipFlow: shipping an update to an established iOS app with AirBuild
- Jizhi and Yan: using AirBuild on apps that already have users
- Apps built with AI: AirBuild user stories
FAQ
Can I move an existing iOS app’s development to AirBuild?
ieb started moving his development to AirBuild on October 23, 2026, and has shipped updates to Mithka, CardBal and Uniboard with it since.
How do you debug an NFC feature built with AI?
On a real iPhone. ieb sends a TestFlight build and uploads the logs, and the issue gets fixed from there.
Do I need a powerful Mac?
ieb moved to AirBuild partly to relieve the storage on his Mac Studio. AirBuild can run your agent team in the cloud or on your Mac.
Can AirBuild help with an app that keeps getting rejected?
It did for Miniscan. After 82 days in review and several rejections, AirBuild replied to guideline 4.3 in two sentences and requested an expedited review, and the app was approved four hours later.