I'll be honest: my first instinct was that I didn't need to rebuild them at all.
My wallpaper and wellness apps have been running since 2014. Combined, they've crossed 50 million downloads. AdMob revenue comes in every month without me touching much. Why fix what isn't broken?
Then I read a user review. Nothing aggressive — just a quiet "the UI feels dated compared to newer apps." The kind of comment that wouldn't have registered a few years ago. But after spending time building with Rork, it landed differently. I knew I could do better. That was enough to get me started.
What Building a Wallpaper App in Rork Actually Looks Like
The short version: what used to take a month took a few days.
Image gallery rendering, category filtering, favorites, download functionality, home screen setup guidance — Rork handled the core implementation scaffolding at a pace I didn't expect. What genuinely surprised me was performance. Wallpaper apps live or die by scroll performance. When I described what I needed — FlashList for list rendering, expo-image for cache management — Rork produced code that held up under real-world conditions. The kind of optimization I used to spend days tuning.
That said, the experience made the boundaries between "what Rork does well" and "what humans still need to own" very clear.
Where AI Excels, and Where It Doesn't
Rork is genuinely excellent at the how of building. Component structure, API integration, state management patterns — it handles these with a fluency that used to take years to develop. That part is real.
What it can't replace is the why and the what.
Category architecture for a wallpaper app, for instance, isn't a sorting exercise. The difference between "Calm" and "Nature," the order in which genres appear, which moods map to which visual languages — that's judgment built from watching millions of users navigate the app over a decade. Rork will suggest structures. But the decision belongs to the person who has seen the data.
The same is true for monetization. AdMob placement isn't a technical problem. It's a behavioral one. Timing, frequency, position — every variable affects how users feel about the app, not just how many ads they see. After running this at scale for years (AdMob revenue peaked at over ¥1.5M per month at my highest point), I've built instincts that aren't in any documentation. Rork can implement what I specify. It can't tell me what to specify.
What Actually Changed After the Rebuild
It's been a few weeks since I relaunched. Session duration is up. Review scores improved. But the more meaningful shift has been in where I'm putting my energy.
Before, implementation consumed most of my working hours. Now, with that burden significantly reduced, I find myself spending more time on user research, content quality, and distribution strategy — the parts of app development that I believe actually drive long-term results. The phrase that keeps coming back to me is one my grandfathers — both traditional master carpenters — lived by: the act of making carefully is itself a form of devotion. The craft is the same. The surface where I apply it has shifted.
My grandfather didn't question whether to use better tools. He questioned what deserved his best attention. I'm asking myself the same question now.
AI tools don't mean doing less. They mean doing what matters more.
If you're interested in the implementation side of what I built, Building a Wallpaper App with Rork from Zero to App Store covers the technical steps in detail.
For the broader picture of monetization from 10+ years of running apps at scale, The Real Economics of Living Off AdMob Revenue as an Indie Developer is where I put that story.
If you're on the fence about rebuilding an existing app with Rork — or starting fresh — my honest advice is to just try it. "Build something first, then decide" will get you to clarity faster than any amount of planning.