Rork

What Is Rork

Rork is an AI-powered mobile app builder that turns a plain-text description into a working React Native app. You describe what you want, the AI generates code, and within minutes you can scan a QR code and run the app on your phone. Rork builds complete, production-ready mobile apps from your description using AI and Expo (React Native). It is squarely focused on mobile, which is a deliberate and meaningful choice: unlike tools like Bolt and Lovable that focus primarily on web applications, Rork excels in creating apps that can be published directly to app stores.

What sets Rork apart is its blend of a battle-tested component library and an AI engine trained on best-practice patterns. Every screen it generates follows React Native conventions for performance and maintainability, and a live preview lets you see your app as it builds.

Rork was founded in 2024 and is headquartered in San Francisco. It has raised $2.8M from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Chapter One.

Who It Is For

Rork is aimed at non-technical founders, designers, creators, and solopreneurs who need a quick way to validate ideas. That said, developers will also find it useful. If you need to ship a prototype fast or pitch something interactive to a client, Rork can compress days of scaffolding work into an afternoon. Rork's workflow starts with a text description. You describe your app's features, user flows, pages, and preferences. The more detailed your description, the better the results.

The tool also has a native iOS app, which is a genuinely useful touch. The platform shines with its native iOS app for building directly from your phone. For developers who want to actually own the output, Rork offers seamless integration with GitHub, allowing you to sync your code and manage version control effectively. You get the full React Native source and can take the project wherever you want from there.

Pricing

Rork's pricing is structured around message usage, where each message represents one AI interaction to build or modify your app. There is no free tier.

Rork does not offer a free trial or free plan, which means you must commit to a paid subscription before building anything. Messages reset monthly and do not roll over.

At $20 per month for 100 messages, it is affordable if you only plan to generate a few apps and test lightly. But during heavy development, you can burn through 100 messages quickly, especially if you are refining prompts multiple times. For serious iteration, budget for the Middle or Senior plan.

Where It Genuinely Helps

Speed is the main story. The single biggest draw is speed. With Rork, you can go from idea to a working prototype in less than an hour.

Users on Product Hunt highlight a surprisingly smooth creation flow, self-healing error prompts, and a productive iPad experience for tweaking and testing.

When you are ready to ship, Rork exports a production-ready codebase complete with App Store and Play Store configurations plus support for over-the-air updates. The GitHub sync means you are not locked in. If you outgrow what the AI can manage, you pull the code and hand it to an engineer.

Real Limitations to Know

The tool has some rough edges that are worth understanding before you commit.

Stability issues, lack of a free trial, and limited support remain notable barriers.

Implementing more complex features like real-time payments or push notifications will likely require engineering help.

The application crashed multiple times during testing for some users, requiring restarts or additional prompts. Integration limitations are also present: Rork currently lacks connections to critical infrastructure like Supabase, custom backends, or payment gateways.

Publishing to the App Store also requires more technical knowledge than the marketing implies. It is not one-click publishing; it is "here is code you can deploy if you follow the processes." And if something breaks, several reviews mention that the support team has been unresponsive, which is a deal-breaker for any serious project.

There is also no visual editor. You are ultimately at the mercy of the AI. There is no drag-and-drop editor for fine-tuning UI elements. If the AI cannot understand your prompt or generates something slightly off, you have very little recourse.

Bottom Line

Rork is a solid tool for getting a React Native app off the ground fast. For MVPs, client demos, and idea validation, it holds up well. The code it outputs is real Expo code you can own, modify, and extend, which is a meaningful advantage over tools that lock you into a proprietary runtime. The message-based pricing is fair at low volumes but adds up fast in active development. If your use case goes beyond a few screens and standard navigation, plan to do some manual work after the AI gets you started.