--- title: These App Store hidden gems prove there’s still room for... description: New app launches on the Apple App Store and Google Play are booming, with worldwide releases up 60% year-over-year in Q1 2026, partly driven by AI-assisted... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/these-app-store-hidden-gems-prove-there-s-still-room-for-great-software-in-the-ai-era-dhve0m6bt twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: These App Store hidden gems prove there’s still room for great software in the AI era | daily.dev og:description: New app launches on the Apple App Store and Google Play are booming, with worldwide releases up 60% year-over-year in Q1 2026, partly driven by AI-assisted... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/these-app-store-hidden-gems-prove-there-s-still-room-for-great-software-in-the-ai-era-dhve0m6bt og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/dHve0m6Bt.png og:image:alt: These App Store hidden gems prove there’s still room for great software in the AI era og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # These App Store hidden gems prove there’s still room for great software in the AI era **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary New app launches on the Apple App Store and Google Play are booming, with worldwide releases up 60% year-over-year in Q1 2026, partly driven by AI-assisted coding tools enabling faster development. A curated list of notable indie and small-studio apps includes Albo (smart bookmarking from social media), Coop (neighborhood marketplace for local goods), PI.FYI (friend-driven recommendations), Lettre (digital pen pals), Sofa Time (TV/movie tracker), ThingsBook (personal journaling and collections), Pressed Petals (botanical nature journal), Moods Faster (two-tap mood logging for Apple Health), and Activate Fitness (screen-time-earning fitness app). Many of these apps use AI under the hood without prominently advertising it. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [AI finds its way into Apple's top apps of the year](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-finds-its-way-into-apple-s-top-apps-of-the-year-voivn1qtw) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Making sense of too much code](https://daily.dev/posts/making-sense-of-too-much-code-dl38jlw0t) · InfoWorld · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [These 4 AI apps save me 20 hours every week on my Android phone](https://daily.dev/posts/these-4-ai-apps-save-me-20-hours-every-week-on-my-android-phone-b3jrkfm9f) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Top AI app builders](https://daily.dev/posts/top-ai-app-builders-kp7rnr3pa) · Serokell · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#mobile](https://daily.dev/tags/mobile), [#app-store](https://daily.dev/tags/app-store), [#google-play](https://daily.dev/tags/google-play), [#vibe-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/vibe-coding) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/these-app-store-hidden-gems-prove-there-s-still-room-for-great-software-in-the-ai-era-dhve0m6bt) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"These App Store hidden gems prove there’s still room for great software in the AI era","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/these-app-store-hidden-gems-prove-there-s-still-room-for-great-software-in-the-ai-era-dhve0m6bt","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/these-app-store-hidden-gems-prove-there-s-still-room-for-great-software-in-the-ai-era-dhve0m6bt"},"datePublished":"2026-08-02T15:25:40.295Z","dateModified":"2026-08-02T15:26:06.378Z","description":"New app launches on the Apple App Store and Google Play are booming, with worldwide releases up 60% year-over-year in Q1 2026, partly driven by AI-assisted...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f112bd9a992691493cf088e76bc78820?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f112bd9a992691493cf088e76bc78820?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCrunch","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCrunch","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tc","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/these-app-store-hidden-gems-prove-there-s-still-room-for-great-software-in-the-ai-era-dhve0m6bt","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"mobile,app-store,google-play,vibe-coding","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCrunch","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tc"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"These App Store hidden gems prove there’s still room for great software in the AI era"}]} ```