Signals.
Short, frequent takes on what's happening in AI, mobile and software development — written as it happens. Some of these grow into full posts later.
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WWDC 2026: Apple now gives developers free on-device AI — what it means for iOS apps you commission
24 June 2026Apple announced at WWDC 2026 that developers with under 2 million App Store downloads get free access to Apple Foundation Models running on Private Cloud Compute. A native Swift AI API ships with iOS 27 this autumn, making on-device intelligence a baseline feature rather than a premium add-on.
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Kotlin Multiplatform jumped from 7% to 23% adoption in 18 months. It's now a real cross-platform option.
24 June 2026Kotlin Multiplatform's adoption tripled from 7% to 23% in 18 months, making it a credible third option alongside Flutter and React Native for cross-platform mobile development. For projects with existing Kotlin or Java backends, the shared-logic approach changes the cost calculation.
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Cursor reached $2B annualised revenue. The enterprise AI coding market has picked its tools.
24 June 2026Cursor hit $2B annualised run-rate with 1 million paying customers and 64% of Fortune 500 companies as users. The AI coding tool market has consolidated faster than anyone predicted, with Claude Code, Cursor, and a handful of others now defining how professional software gets built.
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NHS launches £900m healthcare AI framework — the first structured national procurement route for health tech
23 June 2026NHS Shared Business Services launched a £900m Healthcare AI Solutions framework in May 2026, covering diagnostics, predictive analytics, robotics, and consultancy. It's the first national procurement route of its kind, and it signals where NHS AI spending is heading.
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Lovable hit $200M ARR. Founders are now arriving with prototypes — the commissioning conversation has changed.
23 June 2026Lovable reached $200M ARR and a $6.6B valuation. Bolt.new hit $40M ARR in six months. AI app builders have crossed from experiment to standard practice — and they're changing how founders brief professional development teams.
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55% of developers now use AI agents regularly — the copilot era is already over
23 June 2026AI coding tools have crossed from assistant to agent: 55% of developers regularly use AI agents in 2026, and 51% of all code committed to GitHub is AI-generated or AI-assisted. The question for CTOs and founders is what that actually changes.
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"Vibe coding" searches are surging — but what actually ships?
16 June 2026Searches for 'vibe coding', 'build an app with AI' and 'AI app builder' have broken out in 2025-26. The hype is real. So is the gap between what gets generated and what actually reaches production.
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SwiftUI is now in 78% of new iOS app submissions — but UIKit isn't going anywhere
16 June 202678% of App Store submissions in 2025 included SwiftUI code, up from around 40% in 2023. But 80% of enterprise and legacy apps still run UIKit — making hybrid development the new norm for iOS teams.
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Low-code is a $30B+ market — and it's raising the bar for custom software
16 June 2026Gartner forecasts 70% of new apps will be built on low-code or no-code platforms by 2025, up from under 25% in 2020. That doesn't eliminate custom development — it changes what custom development needs to justify.
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Flutter vs React Native in 2026 — the honest answer is "it depends"
16 June 2026Flutter leads Stack Overflow's most-used cross-platform framework rankings, but React Native is closing the gap on job listings. In 2026, framework choice is more about your team than technical superiority.
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Apple's EU App Store changes — what UK app builders actually need to know
16 June 2026The EU's Digital Markets Act forced Apple to allow third-party iOS marketplaces and alternative payment systems from 2024. Most users still go to the App Store — but the rules around distribution, commission, and pricing have shifted in ways worth understanding.
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"React vs React Native" searches up 70% — teams are weighing up cross-platform options
11 June 2026Searches comparing React and React Native are up around 70% year-on-year, alongside a 150% rise in 'what is React Native' — a sign teams are evaluating cross-platform frameworks before committing.
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No-code app builders are trending — but so is interest in dedicated Android development companies
11 June 2026Search interest in no-code app builders is rising alongside a breakout in 'Android app development companies' — suggesting many no-code projects eventually need a dedicated dev team.
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iOS app development UK searches up 450% — and bespoke software development London is breaking out
11 June 2026UK search interest in iOS app development has jumped sharply, alongside breakout demand for bespoke software development in London and AI software development generally.
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"Custom mobile app development" searches are declining — but that doesn't mean the demand is
11 June 2026Searches for 'custom mobile app development services' and 'custom mobile app development company' are down 20-100% year-on-year, even as related terms like 'custom software development' and 'AI app development' are growing.
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Claude Code searches up 3,050% as AI development tooling goes mainstream
11 June 2026Claude Code searches are up over 3,000% year-on-year, alongside breakout interest in tools like OpenClaw and Docker — AI-assisted development tooling is now a mainstream search topic.
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Claude Code overtakes Copilot as developers' favourite AI coding tool
11 June 2026Recent surveys show Claude Code has the highest developer satisfaction of any AI coding assistant, less than a year after launch.
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"Best [niche] apps" searches up 3,000-4,500% — niche categories are where attention is going
11 June 2026Searches for 'best travel apps for planning', 'best sleep tracking apps', 'best language exchange apps' and similar are up thousands of percent year-on-year, pointing to growing demand in specific app categories.
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"Bespoke software development London" is a breakout search term
11 June 2026Alongside general software development queries, two specific terms are breaking out: bespoke software development London, and custom software development firms.
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"AI software development" searches up 190%, software development news up over 1000%
11 June 2026Search interest in AI software development is climbing fast, and interest in software development news has spiked over 1000% year-on-year.