Glowbom
Glowbom turns a rough sketch and a written prompt into a playable prototype, then into native iOS, Android and web code that lives on your own machine. Built for indie makers shipping real apps without writing code.
What is Glowbom?
Glowbom is a sketch-to-software platform published by Glowbom, Inc., a San Francisco company. The pitch is deliberately literal: "One sketch. Real native apps on every platform." You doodle an idea on a canvas the product calls the Magic Window, describe it in a prompt, press Build, and Glowbom returns a prototype you can play with in the browser, images and code included, then translates it into native source.
Four export targets are listed as available: Native iOS (SwiftUI, iPadOS, visionOS), Native Android (Kotlin with Jetpack Compose), Web Apps (React, TypeScript, Next.js) and AI Apps & Agents. Two more, Custom Stack (Python, Go, Flutter) and Godot for casual 2D and 3D games, are announced as coming soon. The documentation highlights one unusual behaviour: the agent keeps the three codebases in sync, so a follow-up change updates iOS, Android and web at the same time.
The platform comes in three pieces. Glowbom Web is the canvas itself. Glowby OSS is an open-source command-line tool, powered by OpenCode, that runs the production stage entirely on the user's machine; it supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, local models through Ollama, Fireworks, OpenRouter and free models via OpenCode Zen, with three ways to connect: a ChatGPT login, your own API key, or an existing OpenCode configuration. Glowbom Desktop, a macOS app promising offline models and multi-AI orchestration, is still early access behind an email waitlist.
Ownership is the recurring claim: all code lives on your machine and cloud services are optional. Glowby OSS backs it with sober local defaults, binding its backend to 127.0.0.1 only, generating a fresh random auth token at each start and keeping credentials in memory rather than on disk.
The documentation says the tool suits websites, mobile apps, simple games, prototypes and MVPs. It expects Go, Bun and OpenCode installed before the local stage, and the community lives on the glowbom/glowby GitHub repository and a Discord server.
What it does
- Turn a rough sketch plus a written prompt into a playable browser prototype
- Translate that prototype into native iOS SwiftUI, Android Jetpack Compose or web Next.js code
- Update the iOS, Android and web codebases together when a follow-up change is requested
- Export the generated code without limits on the paid plans
- Finish a project in production with local coding agents through the open-source Glowby OSS CLI
- Open the generated results directly in Xcode, Android Studio, VS Code or Finder
- Attach local files of up to 40 MB each as context for a build
When to use Glowbom / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Glowbom is the right fit.
When to use Glowbom
- Indie builders shipping real apps, the audience the Creator plan is explicitly written for, with unlimited projects and unlimited code exports.
- Non-coders who want a genuinely native app: the homepage promise is creating apps without knowing how to code.
- Product teams doing fast prototyping, since the documentation lists prototypes and MVPs among the things the tool is meant to build.
- Cross-platform makers who need iOS, Android and web from one source of truth, as the agent updates all three codebases at the same time.
- Developers who want to keep control, because all code stays on their machine and the production-side Glowby OSS CLI is open source.
When not to use Glowbom
- Anyone under 13 years of age: the terms prohibit their use of Glowbom outright.
- Teams that need a public API to automate generation, as none is documented anywhere on the site.
- Developers committed to another stack: only SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose and Next.js are available, while Custom Stack (Python, Go, Flutter) and Godot are still marked coming soon.
- Users who refuse a local setup, since taking a project to production runs through Glowby OSS and requires Go, Bun and OpenCode installed, plus WSL on Windows.
- Buyers who need a signed Data Processing Agreement or an EU Article 27 representative, neither of which is published.
How to use Glowbom
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Go to glowbom.com and press Draw, which opens the Magic Window canvas.
- Doodle roughly what you want to build; the documentation insists it does not need to look good.
- Add a written brief in the "Describe your creation" field.
- Press Build and follow the generation progress on screen.
- Try the resulting prototype in the browser, where Glowby has generated the images, the code and the idea.
- Translate the prototype into iOS (SwiftUI), Android (Jetpack Compose) or web (Next.js) code.
- Sign in through Apple or Google to keep an account, and move to a paid plan for unlimited exports.
- Install Go, Bun and OpenCode, then the Glowby OSS CLI with its curl install script, and check the setup with glowby doctor.
- Run glowby code to launch the local backend and web UI, or glowby code /path/to/project to target a specific folder; manual startup uses the Go backend on port 4569 and the web UI on port 4572.
- In the local UI, load the project, pick a connection mode, add instructions, attach files of up to 40 MB, run the build, answer the agent's questions and open the results in Xcode, Android Studio, VS Code or Finder.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Pricing is fully public, with three numbered tiers and no "contact us" gate.
- The free tier is permanent rather than a countdown trial, and it already includes AI credits.
- Code is exported and executed on the user's own machine, and the documentation states plainly that you own everything.
- The production component, Glowby OSS, is free, open source and published on GitHub.
- No provider lock-in: bring your own API key, reuse an existing OpenCode configuration, or run local models through Ollama, including free ones.
- Three target platforms from a single sketch, kept in sync when changes are requested.
- Sensible local security defaults, with the backend bound to 127.0.0.1, a fresh token per session and credentials never written to disk, alongside short command-level documentation, a public GitHub repository and a Discord community.
Cons
- The privacy policy that actually governs the site is a third-party iubenda template last updated on 18/07/2022, almost four years behind terms revised in April 2026.
- Two policies coexist and contradict each other: the Glowby Genius app policy announces no data collection, while the site policy lists a dozen third-party services that do collect.
- Nothing is said about training models on customer content, neither a commitment nor a denial.
- Half the announced targets are still unavailable, with Custom Stack and Godot marked coming soon, and Glowbom Desktop offering a waitlist rather than a download.
- No public API is documented, and there is no Data Processing Agreement, no EU Article 27 representative and no data protection officer.
- Reaching production requires a non-trivial local environment (Go, Bun and OpenCode) and, on Windows, WSL.
- Institutional transparency is thin: no About page, no named team, no founding date, a single obfuscated address covering support, legal and GDPR requests, and no robots.txt, sitemap.xml or llms.txt, those URLs simply returning the homepage.
Pricing & Plans
Glowbom operates on a freemium model. A permanent Free plan is offered at 0 USD, including free AI credits, builds for Apple, Android, web and more, and the basic sketch-to-software workflow; it is a free tier, not a time-limited trial. The lowest paid entry point is the Creator plan at 20.00 USD per month, which adds unlimited projects, unlimited code exports and 10 USD of monthly AI credits. The Pro plan is 40.00 USD per month and adds early access to features, priority support and 20 USD of monthly AI credits. Billing is monthly by default, with annual billing available at checkout at 40% off Creator and Pro. Paddle is the primary billing provider for web subscriptions, while native subscriptions are handled by the relevant app store. Charges from optional third-party AI providers are set by those providers and remain the user's responsibility.
- 0 USD
- free AI credits included
- builds for Apple
- Android
- web and more
- basic sketch-to-software workflow
- 20 USD per month
- marked "Most popular"
- unlimited projects
- unlimited code exports
- 10 USD of monthly AI credits
- 40 USD per month
- early access to features
- priority support
- 20 USD of monthly AI credits
- 40% off Creator and Pro
- subscribed at checkout
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Glowbom handles your data.
GDPR overview
The terms carry an explicit section stating that "Glowbom, Inc. is committed to being GDPR compliant." The procedure announced is to write to support with the account email address and a proof of identity, using the subject line "Access request", "Rectification of personal data" or "Erasure of personal data"; the terms note these requests and timeframes may change. The privacy policy adds the standard EU rights: withdrawing consent, objecting to processing, access, rectification, restriction, erasure, portability and lodging a complaint with a supervisory authority, with a reply promised within one month at the latest. What is missing is just as concrete: no Article 27 EU representative, no named data protection officer, no Data Processing Agreement, and transfers outside the user's own country are expressly contemplated. The policy was last updated on 18/07/2022, the terms in April 2026.
Who owns the data?
The privacy policy names Glowbom, Inc., 268 Bush St #4045, San Francisco, CA 94104, as owner and data controller, reachable at support@glowbom.com. On the product side the documentation is blunt: "You own everything. All code lives on your machine. Cloud services are optional." The terms add one exception. For signed-in users, Glowbom may store a single current generation in its cloud services so work can be continued, progress restored, or projects imported and exported across related Glowbom experiences; that copy is replaced or removed when the user clears or overwrites it. Part of the experience also relies on local or device storage. The separate policy for the Glowby Genius app claims no personal data collection at all.
Reuse rights
Whatever Glowbom generates is the user's to reuse without asking permission: the documentation states that all code lives on the user's machine and that cloud services are optional. Personal data collected by the site serves the purposes the privacy policy enumerates: analytics, contact form, displaying content from external platforms, payments, hosting and backend infrastructure, messaging, surveys, platform services, registration and authentication, social features and tag management. Depending on the service, that covers trackers, usage data, email address, first and last name, password, billing address, payment information and number of sessions, handled by Google Analytics, Google Analytics for Firebase, Google Fonts, the YouTube video widget, Stripe, the Firebase suite, Netlify, Typeform, Webflow and Google Tag Manager. The legal bases stated are consent, performance of a contract, legal obligation, public interest and legitimate interest. AI features may route through third-party providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and xAI, whose own terms and billing then apply, and the providers and models used may change over time.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
The privacy policy names no data centre; it states a place of processing for each third-party service instead. Most processing happens in the United States, covering Google Analytics, Google Analytics for Firebase, Google Fonts, the YouTube widget, the Firebase suite (Cloud Functions, Firestore, Cloud Storage, Realtime Database, Hosting, Cloud Messaging, Authentication and Invites), Netlify, Webflow, Google Tag Manager and Stripe. Ireland appears as a secondary place of processing for several Google and Firebase services, Stripe also processes in the European Union and the United Kingdom, and Typeform processes in Spain. The policy explicitly contemplates transfers to a country other than the user's own. The site itself is served through Cloudflare (IP 104.26.15.248, AS13335, anycast, node seen in San Francisco), which says nothing about where data is stored. Two components sit outside all of this: Glowby OSS runs entirely on the user's own machine, and Glowbom Desktop is announced as working offline with local models. No Data Processing Agreement and no EU representative are published.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Glowbom.
- The privacy policy governing the site dates from 18/07/2022 and is hosted by a third party, while the terms were revised in April 2026; check that it is current before any professional use.
- Two privacy policies coexist and contradict each other, one announcing no data collection for the Glowby Genius app, the other listing a dozen third-party services that do collect.
- Nothing is published about training models on user content, so you cannot assume your sketches, prompts or generated code are excluded from it.
- AI features route through third-party providers whose own terms and billing apply; read those policies separately and expect their costs to add to the subscription.
- Included AI credits are expressed in dollars of consumption, 10 and 20 USD per month, not in a guaranteed number of generations, and refunds may be reduced by fees retained by the processor or the platform.
- The terms warn that AI-generated output may be incomplete, inaccurate or unsuitable and must be reviewed, tested and validated before being relied on or distributed; a promise of building without coding makes it easy to ship software you cannot read, debug or maintain.
- No list of supported countries or regions is published, and the apps showcased on the homepage were built with the tool by other people, so they are not a measure of the output quality you will get.
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Getting started on the web is effortless: open the site, press Draw and sketch. No install, accounts through Apple or Google sign-in, and no API key needed since a ChatGPT login works. The local production stage is another level: install Go, Bun and OpenCode, then the Glowby OSS CLI through a curl script, and verify with glowby doctor. Launching is one command, glowby code, or two terminals, with the Go backend on port 4569 and the web UI on port 4572. Windows needs WSL, Linux runs natively, and knowing Xcode, Android Studio or VS Code helps afterwards.
Deployment
Apps stores
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind Glowbom
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Frequently asked questions
What does Glowbom actually do?
Do I need to know how to code?
Which platforms can I export to?
How much does Glowbom cost?
Is there a free plan or a free trial?
Who owns the code Glowbom generates?
Which AI models are used, and can I bring my own API key?
Is Glowby OSS free?
Is Glowbom Desktop available yet?
Can I get a refund?
Should you pick Glowbom?
Glowbom makes an unusual promise and states it plainly: draw once, get real native code for iOS, Android and the web, and keep that code on your own machine. The pipeline is coherent, running from canvas to playable prototype to native translation and then to local coding agents through the open-source Glowby OSS CLI, and the pricing that goes with it is refreshingly readable: 0 USD for a permanent free tier, 20 USD per month for Creator, 40 USD for Pro, with 40% off on annual billing. There is no sales gate, no "contact us" tier and no lock-in on a model provider, since you can sign in with ChatGPT, bring your own API key or run local models through Ollama.
The reservations are mostly about maturity and paperwork. The privacy policy that actually governs the site is a third-party template last touched in July 2022, while the terms were revised in April 2026, and the app-specific policy for Glowby Genius says the opposite of the site one. There is no public API, no Data Processing Agreement, no EU Article 27 representative, and nothing at all is said about whether customer content trains models. On the product side, half the announced targets, Custom Stack and Godot, are still coming soon, the macOS desktop app is a waitlist rather than a download, and the last mile to production demands Go, Bun and OpenCode locally, with WSL on Windows.
The audience this serves best is clear: indie builders, prototypers and small product teams who want to see an idea running on three platforms quickly and are comfortable finishing the job in a terminal. Buyers with procurement or compliance requirements should read the legal pages first, and everyone should treat generated output as a draft to review and test.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Opens in a new window.