How to build a tarot app for iOS

What a tarot app needs

• The full 78-card deck with art and upright and reversed meanings
• Spreads: a daily single card, a three-card past, present, and future, and larger layouts
• A draw flow with a shuffle and a short reveal animation
• Card detail pages with keywords and the meaning in plain language
• A journal that saves each reading with the date and your notes
• Optional daily card notification and a Home Screen widget
• An atmospheric visual style, since this category is design-led

The deck and meanings are the same in every tarot app. What differs is the art, the writing, and how personal a reading feels, which is where AI generation can add value.

How to build it with AppFlight

Describe it in plain English, for example: "A tarot app with the full 78-card deck, each card with art and upright and reversed meanings. Let me draw a daily card or a three-card spread with a shuffle and reveal, read a plain-language interpretation, and save each reading to a journal with my notes. Send a daily card notification and show it in a widget." AppFlight plans the screens, generates native SwiftUI, and launches it in a live simulator so you can draw a spread immediately. To make readings personal, AppFlight can connect OpenAI: the app sends the drawn cards and the question to your backend, the model returns a reading, and your OpenAI key stays server-side in your own Supabase. You iterate in plain language, for example adding a new spread or a second deck. You supply or license the card art.

Monetization for a tarot app

Tarot apps monetize well because the content is personal and renews daily. The common model is a free daily card with a subscription that unlocks the full set of spreads, AI-written readings, the saved journal, and extra decks. Add a RevenueCat paywall to manage subscriptions, and use Superwall to test paywall designs and onboarding offers without shipping an update. Prices in this category often run five to ten dollars a month, with a discounted annual plan. Keep the framing as entertainment and self-reflection rather than fact or prediction.

Shipping it to the App Store

When the app is ready, AppFlight signs the build, uploads to TestFlight so you can do a few readings on your own device, then submits to the App Store with metadata and screenshots from the simulator. If Apple rejects the build, AppFlight reads the reason, works on the fix, and resubmits. Present tarot as entertainment, avoid promises of real outcomes, and make sure you hold the rights to the card art you ship. Apple reviews every app, so a submission is not the same as an approval, but the whole pipeline runs without you opening Xcode.