Build Your Card App Start free

Step 1 of 10 · about 20 minutes, plus a download that runs on its ownMac only

Get your Mac ready

By the endYou have a paid Claude plan, an up-to-date Mac with room to spare, and Xcode downloading in the background if you build for iPhone.

Your app is for:
Your computer:

Three quick checks before the real work starts. Two of them you did in earlier parts; this is where you make sure they stuck. The third is a big download that should start now, so it is done by the time you need it. From here to your first screen on your phone takes about a day, often less.

1. A Claude plan with Claude Code

The Code tab only works on a paid plan: Pro and Max (and the Team and Enterprise plans for companies). If you stayed on Free, the step "Choose a Claude plan" in Part 2 shows how to upgrade. Pay month by month. Expect $20 a month when you pay month by month for as long as you are building.

To check: open the Claude app, click your initials at the bottom left, then Settings. The plan name is next to your account.

2. An up-to-date Mac with free space

The step "Keep your Mac updated and with free space" in Part 1 showed how to update your Mac and free space. Check again now: Apple menu, System Settings, General, Storage. You want at least 50 GB free. If an update is waiting under Software Update, run it now and come back.

3. Xcode, if you build for iPhone

On iPhone

Xcode is Apple's building tool. Claude uses it later to make the real version of your app for your iPhone. You do not need it for the first screen in Part 5, which uses a lighter way. But it is about 3 GB to download and takes roughly 30 to 40 GB once installed, so start it now.

  1. Open the App Store app on your Mac (Spotlight: Command + Space, type App Store, press Return).
  2. Click the search box at the top left and type Xcode, then press Return.
  3. Find Xcode made by Apple and click Get, then Install. If asked, sign in with your Apple Account.
  4. A progress circle appears. Leave the App Store open or close it; the download continues either way.

The newest Xcode, Xcode 27.1, needs macOS 26.6 (Tahoe) or newer, on a Mac with an Apple chip (M1 or newer). When the download finishes, open Xcode once from the Applications folder. It asks you to agree to Apple's terms and to install extra parts. Click Agree and Install, and type your Mac password when asked. Then quit it with Command + Q. You won't open it again until Part 12.

On Android

Nothing extra to download now. Part 5 shows your app on your Android phone through a free app on the phone. Android's own building tool, Android Studio, is not needed until Part 12, and the guide tells you when.

If your Mac has an Intel chip

Parts 4 and 5 work on an Intel Mac. The building tools and the phone test don't care which chip you have. What an Intel Mac cannot do is run the newest Xcode, which the real iPhone builds in Part 12 need. Part 0, step 2 explains the options. You can keep going for now.

Last checked October 28, 2026