AI Features in Your iPhone and Android App, With No Setup

Short answer: when you build with Orchard's iPhone + Android option, AI is already part of the app. It can answer questions, hold a conversation, look at a photo from the camera, generate images and make short videos, all through Orchard, with no API keys to buy and no backend to run. You describe the feature, and you try it on your own phone by scanning a QR code in the free Expo Go app.

Most app ideas people have in 2026 have some AI in them. Snap a photo and get an answer. Ask a question in plain English. Turn a picture into something new. The idea is the easy part. The usual way to build it means signing up with an AI provider, hiding an API key on a server so nobody can steal it, and paying attention to usage so one person cannot run up your bill. This guide covers what AI can do inside an app you build from a description, how the costs are kept in check, and what it looks like on your phone.

What the AI can do inside your app

Every app built with the iPhone + Android option can use these, with nothing to configure:

• Questions and chat: a single answer to a single question, or a full conversation with a persona you describe, such as a patient maths tutor or a blunt running coach.
• Vision on photos: the app takes a photo with the camera, or the user picks one from their library, and the AI describes it, identifies what is in it, reads it, or answers a question about it.
• Image generation: the app draws a new picture from a description, or restyles a photo the user has taken, for example turning a selfie into a watercolour.
• Video generation: the app makes a short video from a description, or animates a still photo. A video takes about a minute to make, and the app can show progress while it works.
• Questions about a video clip: the app takes a few key frames from a clip on the phone and asks the AI what happens in it.

These work in the real app on the phone, not as a mock-up. Photos are shrunk on the phone before they are sent, so a full-size camera shot does not have to travel over a slow connection.

An example: Plantwise

Plantwise is a good picture of how this fits together. You point your camera at a plant and take a photo. The AI identifies the plant and gives you advice on caring for it. It is a small app with one clear job, and the AI is what makes that job possible.

Other ideas in the same shape:

• A fridge app that suggests a recipe from a photo of what you have.
• A language practice app where you chat with a tutor who corrects you gently.
• A wardrobe app that photographs an outfit and suggests what to pair with it.
• A party app that turns a group photo into a cartoon poster.

Each of these is one sentence of description and one clear action from the user: take a photo, ask a question, tap a button.

Why there are no API keys

An AI provider's key cannot safely sit inside an app, because anyone can pull it out and spend your money with it. That is why adding AI normally means building a backend to hide the key.

With Orchard, the AI calls go through Orchard, and the app never carries a provider key. You do not sign up with AI providers, you do not store secrets, and you do not run a server. AI usage comes out of your Orchard allowance, the same account you build with.

How your AI budget is protected

The worry with AI in a public app is simple: what happens when one person uses it a thousand times? Two things keep that in check.

Each phone gets a fixed AI allowance for each app. The allowance covers text, photos, images and video together. When a call would take a phone past its allowance, the call is refused before it starts, rather than charged and then stopped halfway. The app then shows a calm message saying its AI credits need topping up, instead of crashing or spinning forever. One very keen user cannot work through your whole budget on their own.

AI calls happen on clear actions. Orchard's agent wires AI features to a deliberate action, like taking a photo or pressing "Identify", rather than firing on every keystroke. That keeps usage, and cost, close to what your users actually ask for.

One honest note on video: it is the most expensive AI call an app can make, by a wide margin, and a single video can use more than a phone's whole allowance. Like any other call, a video that would go past what is left is refused before it starts, and videos are never cut short to fit. Text, photo questions and image generation cost far less, so they are the features to build an app around.

Trying it on your phone

The iPhone + Android option builds a real React Native app that runs on both kinds of phone. To try it, install the free Expo Go app, then scan the QR code on Orchard's Phone app tab. The app opens in seconds with the real camera and photo library, so you can take an actual photo of an actual plant and see the answer.

When you ask for a change, the QR code stays the same; reload the app in Expo Go to get the new version. Orchard also shows the app in a phone frame in your browser, though camera features ask you to open the app on your phone instead. The preview needs an internet connection, and so does the AI itself.

When it is ready, paid plans can send the app to TestFlight and the App Store, and build Android for testing and Google Play's internal testing track.

What this option does not do

AI covers a lot, but the iPhone + Android option has edges. AR, LiDAR, face tracking and home screen widgets are not available in it. If your idea needs those, choose the iPhone app option, which builds native Swift and supports them. In-app purchases and subscriptions are not available in the iPhone + Android option today either.

FAQ

Do I need an API key to add AI to my app? Not with Orchard. AI calls go through Orchard, so there is no provider key to buy, hide or manage, and no backend to build.

Can the app recognise what is in a photo? Yes. The app can send a photo from the camera or the photo library to the AI with a question, such as "what plant is this?", and show the answer.

What stops someone using up all my AI? Each phone gets a fixed AI allowance for each app. A call that would go past it is refused before it starts, and the app tells the user its AI credits need topping up.

Does it work on Android too? Yes. The iPhone + Android option builds one app for both, and AI works the same way on each.

Have an idea that starts with a photo or a question? Describe it at Orchard, choose iPhone + Android, and try the AI on your own phone.