AI Weekly
I Handed My App Studio to AI #3 ·
"How many AI tools do you really need?" — Outgo 1.4, the AI-built app we pulled from review once
The owner asked "What's the point of this app?" The AI answered "Right now, a spreadsheet does the same job." Then it narrowed the audience to heavy AI subscribers, got pulled from review once, added design and stripped it back, and fixed an Apple rejection over "ChatGPT" in 7 minutes.
In version 1.4, hiio's iOS app Outgo changed from an app that shows how much you spend into one that tells you whether each recurring charge is worth it. You pick how often you use each subscription once, and it shows overlapping subscriptions and how much you could cut per month. Apple rejected the resubmitted build under App Review Guideline 5 (Legal) because "ChatGPT" appeared in its metadata, citing China's rules on generative AI; the AI removed only mainland China availability and resubmitted 7 minutes later.
Outgo 1.4 is now an app for people who pay for several AI and developer subscriptions: it shows which ones overlap and how much you could cut each month. Getting there took one withdrawn review, two design reversals and one Apple rejection. AI (Claude) built it; the owner only gave short verdicts.
"What's the point of this app?"
In the previous part we published the three-week report card: 14,500 views on Threads, 3 downloads, 0 purchases. Then the owner asked: "What's the point of this app?"
The AI's answer: right now Outgo gives you exactly one thing, seeing how much goes out, and a spreadsheet can do that. Convenience alone wasn't a strong enough reason to install it.
So it redefined the benefit. Not convenience: money. But "check your subscriptions every month" is just another chore. So it changed the question to: are you using what you pay for?
Who first: heavy AI subscribers
On October 23 we introduced the app on GeekNews, a Korean Hacker News–style site for developers, and the app's landing page got 77 visitors that day. That was the biggest response so far. So the AI narrowed the first users to people paying for several AI and developer subscriptions billed in foreign currency: people paying for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Cursor at the same time and quietly wondering whether they need all of them.
First, 37 similar apps
The AI searched the Korean App Store for "subscription management," "recurring payments," "cancel subscription," "subscription tracker" and similar terms, then read the descriptions of the top 37 apps.
| Feature | Among the 37 | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Totaling foreign-currency subscriptions in won | Several apps do it | Not a differentiator |
| Usage tracking, cancel suggestions, savings | Some apps already do it | Basics only |
| Free-trial and cancellation deadline alerts | Several apps do it | Not a differentiator |
| Sharing your subscriptions like a receipt | Not found in any description | Differentiator |
So 1.4 was built around overlapping subscriptions and one shareable receipt.
First submission, then withdrawn
The first 1.4 sent a notification on the 1st of each month and asked, for every subscription, "Did you use this last month?" with a yes/no answer. It passed its tests and went into review.
The owner pulled it. "UI doesn't fit the target user." It was an app that gave busy developers homework every month. The homework came out. Now you pick how often you use each item just once (daily, a few times a week, sometimes, almost never). If that changes, you edit it.
Added, then stripped
The next verdict was "Too AI-looking. More visual." Score rings, overlap bubbles and motion went onto the screens, and the AI set up seven AI staff with separate roles (designer, UI/UX, Apple platform optimization, motion, marketer, social media, copywriter) to review it. By the end of the review, coins and badges had been added too.
The verdict after that: "Messy." So it all came back out. The home screen kept one hero number, two lines on overlaps, and the next five upcoming charges. One rule: one big number per screen.
Rejected, fixed in 7 minutes
The stripped-down version (build 8) was resubmitted on October 24 at 12:31. At 14:14, Apple rejected it under App Review Guideline 5 (Legal). The gist of the message: China requires a license for deep synthesis and generative AI services, and the app's metadata (keywords, description, screenshots and so on) contains "ChatGPT." Remove all ChatGPT-related content from the China storefront, or don't distribute in China.
But Outgo has no generative AI features. ChatGPT is a subscription name a user can add, one quick-pick chip, same as Netflix. An app built by AI got rejected for being mistaken for an AI app.
The AI laid out two options.
| Option | Give up | Keep |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Remove ChatGPT from all metadata and screenshots | The Korean search term "ChatGPT" and the core message, "Are you paying for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini at the same time?" | The China storefront |
| 2. Turn off sales in mainland China only | The China storefront (no Chinese localization, 0 downloads from China so far) | Korean search terms and the core message |
It chose option 2. The first target user pays for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini together; drop those names and the app's pitch falls apart. On the China side, there were no downloads to lose.
It got stuck twice along the way.
- Adding a reply about the rejection to the review notes pushed them past the 4,000-character limit, and they were refused. The AI rewrote the notes at 1,661 characters with the reply included.
- Resubmitting through the API was refused as "not ready." So it resubmitted directly in the App Store Connect web UI: "Update Review," then "Resubmit."
Resubmitted at 14:21, seven minutes after seeing the rejection. The only thing a human did in this process was log in to App Store Connect once. That resubmitted 1.4 passed review on the morning of October 26 and was released. It's the app this post is about.
What 1.4 shows
| On screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| Money you could cut each month | Monthly total of "almost never" subscriptions plus overlapping subscriptions, minus the one to keep |
| Overlapping subscriptions | Groups subscriptions that do the same job (AI chatbot, coding AI, streaming, music, cloud storage) and suggests the most-used one to keep |
| About ₩ per use | Rough cost per use: the monthly price divided by how often you use it |
| Subscription efficiency score | Share of your money going to subscriptions you use often (0–100) |
| Subscription receipt | Pick a scope (AI and dev / subscriptions / everything) and share it as one image (names and amounts only) |
| Saved by canceling | Sum of the charges skipped after you mark a subscription as canceled |
All amounts in the screenshots are sample data. Still no server, no sign-up, no ads, and every calculation runs on the phone.
What the human did
Four verdicts ("What's the point of this app?", "UI doesn't fit the target user," "Too AI-looking. More visual," "Messy"), checking it on a real phone, approving the release, and one App Store Connect login during the rejection. Planning, competitor research, code, design review, App Store copy, submission and handling the rejection were the AI's. The lesson this time: AI is fast at adding. Cutting by taste is still the human's call. Cutting you can decide with a number (0 downloads from China), the AI did in 7 minutes.
Numbers from two weeks after release (downloads, receipt shares, first purchase) will be in a later part.
FAQ
How does Outgo find overlapping subscriptions?
It guesses each subscription's role (AI chatbot, coding AI, streaming, music, cloud storage) from its name and groups any role that appears twice or more. If the guess is wrong, you can set the role yourself in the item editor or turn off the overlap check.
Do I have to log whether I used each subscription every month?
No. You pick how often you use each subscription once. The first version asked every month, but it felt like homework, so it was removed before release.
Does my subscription data go to a server?
No. There is no sign-up and no server; amounts and usage frequency are stored only on the device. The only outgoing request fetches an exchange-rate table, and it contains none of your items or amounts.
Why was an app with no AI features rejected?
Because the name "ChatGPT" appeared in the app's metadata (keywords, description, screenshots and so on). Citing Guideline 5 (Legal), Apple said China requires a license for deep synthesis and generative AI services, so ChatGPT-related content had to be removed from the China storefront or the app could not be distributed there. Outgo has no generative AI features and ChatGPT is just a subscription name you can add, but having the name in the metadata was enough. So only mainland China availability was turned off before resubmitting. From 1.4, Outgo isn't sold on the mainland China App Store; sales in Korea are unchanged.
Sources
- Outgo — App Store
- Outgo on GeekNews Show (Korean)
- Previous part: 14,500 views, 3 downloads
- Frankfurter — the exchange-rate API the app uses (European Central Bank reference rates)
- App Store Review Guidelines (5. Legal) — Apple
- Manage availability for your app on the App Store — App Store Connect Help
All episodes of 'I Handed My App Studio to AI'
Written with AI (Claude) and checked against the linked sources.