We had the pleasure of working with John on magicwork. His dedication, passion for results, and ability to iterate swiftly make him an exceptional asset to any team fortunate enough to work with him.
Khrystyna Svarychevska
Most app ideas don’t fail.
They just never ship.
Hi, I’m John. I help you take your mobile app out of the idea stage and into the App Stores.
App Store Google Play
Sound familiar?
AI tools feel powerful, but overwhelming — you don't know where to start
You have app ideas, but lack the structure and architecture knowledge to build them
You need a guide, not just another tutorial that leaves you stuck
You're not behind — you just need the right path forward.
A quick question
Where is your app right now?
Pick the closest one and I'll tell you what usually happens next.
Perfect — no bad habits
That first step can feel more like a leap.
Chances are you haven't got past a few YouTube videos and a little research, because where to start is still buried under the thousands of choices you're apparently meant to have already made: which tools, what stack, which services, what's foundational and what's fluff.
I've been through that journey. I can just tell you the answer.
Version one
- The one thing it's for
- User profiles
- Settings screen
- Onboarding carousel
- Dark mode
- Admin dashboard
It's just more vendor lock
Yeah, I tried them too. They were disappointing.
Lovable, Replit, Bolt, Emergent, Rork, Manus… eesh, there are a lot. If you've built something with one of them, it probably seemed like magic on day one. And a total nightmare by week three.
There's only one thing these platforms really sell: they hide the code and make the architecture decisions for you. In exchange you burn credits, live inside their ecosystem, and pay them forever because ejecting is too daunting.
There's a better, cheaper, more flexible way. First we get your web app standing on its own two feet — then we'll talk mobile.
The gap you're looking at
Getting it onto a phone is a different job.
Developer accounts, signing, real-device builds, permissions, a privacy policy, and a review process with opinions.
None of it is hard. All of it is unfamiliar.
And unfamiliar is what turns two days into five weeks.
In the store Someone you've never met installs it
- Review
- Permissions & privacy
- Signing & a real build
- A developer account
You are here It runs, on your machine
The last ten percent
Congratulations, you're a meme.
I'm kidding. Kind of. It's just that I've heard “I'm 90% done, I just need it on the stores” too many times, and 90% is almost always nearer half.
Never because what's left is hard — because six unfamiliar things in a row each cost three days of reading instead of an hour of knowing.
You know what you're building and you have momentum. I know how to take you the rest of the way.
The hard part isn't the tools
The code sits on your machine, and an agent drives it.
That's the whole setup: a folder that belongs to you, with something like Claude Code — which I use all day — working inside it. Nothing hidden, nothing off-limits.
Which is where people stall. Every decision is suddenly yours — sign-in, where the data lives, how it gets onto a phone, what's in v1 — and each one is a week of reading.
That's what Kealy Studio is: those decisions, already made. Expo and Supabase, every account in your name, the awkward parts solved once.
When you see me build an app in an afternoon on YouTube, that isn't speed. It's that I'm not deciding anything.
If Kealy Studio disappeared tomorrow, your app wouldn't notice. Every account is yours and the code is a standard Expo project any developer could pick up.
Who's behind this
Why Kealy Studio?
I'm John. You might know me from my YouTube channel, where I talk about building apps with AI.
Over a decade of software engineering, pointed at one problem: getting half-built apps finished and into the stores. I've done it enough times that the parts which cost you three days of reading cost me an hour of knowing.
I'm also not precious about your idea. My job is to diagnose it, cut it down, and get a version of it live — which usually means telling you what isn't v1.
What people say
By following the lessons I went from an idea, to actually having a working mobile app with paying users in both the App Store and Play Store.
MB
Matt BKealy Studio Member
I got more done in 2 days using your recommended stack than the past 2 weeks playing in FlutterFlow. Thank you!
CH
Chris HKealy Studio Member
I was consistently impressed by John’s deep knowledge of security, app architecture, and development best practices. I learned a tremendous amount from him, and his insights often come to mind during our ongoing development.
Matthew Weiner, MD
Your approach is different. The way you teach is calm, objective, and incredibly valuable, while never feeling dry or boring. You bring clarity and calm into what often feels like complete chaos around AI.
NP
Necati PKealy Studio Member
I’ve worked with and alongside many developers, but John’s spirit of collaboration and eagerness to deliver high-quality stands high above anyone in my experience.
Nicholas Upton
It’s tough, but it’s completely the real deal. There are plenty of hard moments, followed by so many rewarding ones. Thank you so much, you’ve built a hell of a thing here.
AG
Alan G.Kealy Studio Member
John’s methodology has brought real precision, structure, and technical confidence to Thoughtbait. As we build business-critical apps, Kealy Studio’s approach has helped us create a clearer, more scalable development process.
AO
Antony OKealy Studio Member
My experience with John’s services was truly educational. His advice, especially concerning security vulnerabilities and potential issues I might encounter, truly guided me. Thank you, John!
Ufuk Dinçal
Getting unstuck
What kind of help do you want?
From a free course library, to hands-on instruction and accountability, to full done-for-you builds — here's roughly what they cost. Click through for more details about each.
Free
Take the prompts. Actually, take the course.
Everything I've promised in a video is on this site — no account, no email.
If you want to go a step further, join the studio, take the free course. It'll get an app running on your phone, production-ready.
If you're still stuck three weeks from now, you know where I am.
$19 a month
The whole library. Everything you need to ship, except me.
Every lesson, every prompt, and everything I add from here — the full path from an empty folder to both stores.
No calls, no messages.
Straight answer: most people don't reach the App Store on material alone. They stall on something small, and there's nobody there to unstick them.
But if you're the sort who finishes things without being chased, this is genuinely all you need — the same path I'd walk you through myself, just without me walking it.
$79 a month
Everything above, plus a direct line to me.
When it breaks at eleven at night and you can't tell whose fault it is, you send it to me and I answer.
Plus live office hours.
Right tier if you're occasionally stuck — wrong one if you're stuck every day. That's the next one down.
$249 a month — until it's live
I get your app into the store. Then I charge you less.
The day you send me a store link, this drops to $50 and stays there.
Weekly calls, me inside your codebase, and I do the parts that take me two hours and you two weeks.
At month three we look at it honestly and stop if it isn't working.
Loading John's calendar…
Frequently asked questions
Why can't I just keep prompting Claude or Cursor? +
Because an agent is excellent at the next step and terrible at the right step. It will happily build you the thing you asked for, forever, without ever telling you that the thing is three features too big or that the architecture won't survive authentication.
I'm not replacing it. I use Claude Code all day. I'm the part that decides what to point it at.
What if my code is a mess? +
It usually is, and it usually matters less than people fear. Sometimes we keep it and put structure around it. Sometimes the honest answer is that a rebuild on a proper foundation is faster than untangling it — I'll tell you which, with reasons, in the first couple of weeks.
Do I need to be technical? +
No, but you do need to be hands-on. Most people I work with aren't developers — they're founders who got surprisingly far with AI and hit a wall. If you'd rather not touch it at all, that's a build, not guidance.
What's the difference between the $79 and the $249? +
Who's driving. At $79 you're building and I'm answering — you send me what you're stuck on and I unblock it. At $249 I'm driving: we have a plan, a weekly call, and I do the parts that would cost you weeks.
If you're stuck most days, $249 works out cheaper than a year of $79.
Am I locked into anything? +
No. It's month to month, you cancel it yourself from your account, and it stops at the end of the month you've paid for — no notice period, no call to get out of, no questions from me.
And nothing you've built depends on me staying in the picture. Every account is in your name and the code is a standard Expo project — if you cancel, you keep all of it and any developer can pick it up.
What does it cost beyond what I pay you? +
A bit, and it's better you hear it now than in week six. The stores charge for the privilege of being in them: Apple is $99 a year, Google Play is $25 once, ever. You'll also want an AI coding assistant — I use Claude Code, which is around $20 a month. Everything else runs on free tiers while your app is small, and I'll tell you before anything starts costing.
Those bills are in your name, not mine, and that's the point: the accounts are yours, the app is yours, and none of it stops working if you stop paying me.
What if we don't get it shipped? +
At month three we stop and look at it honestly. If it isn't working — wrong scope, wrong moment, wrong fit — I'll say so and we'll end it. I'd rather lose the subscription than take your money while nothing moves.
Tell me where you're stuck.
I read everything that comes in and I answer honestly — including when the answer is that you don't need me.