Meta's Pocket app turns AI prompts into playable games, but locks creations in its walled garden
Meta launched Pocket, an AI app that lets users create interactive games from text prompts, after acquiring Gizmo. Ars Technica reports the app is fun but traps creations in Meta's platform.
Pocket comes from Meta's acquisition of the staff behind Gizmo, a now-defunct vibe-coding app, in March. Unlike traditional coding tools, Pocket offers no option to view or edit code lines, placing creation entirely through conversation with a large language model. This design targets people with little or no programming experience, removing the need for CLIs, IDEs, or terminal-based tinkering that often intimidate beginners.
Ars Technica's writer spent nearly a week using the app and said they became hooked on the simple process of quickly building functional, relatively feature-rich game prototypes through chatting with an LLM. However, the result of that effort is a collection of interactive toys effectively trapped inside Meta's new walled garden, with no practical way to export them into standalone projects.
The app's launch reflects a broader trend where AI-assisted coding and vibe coding are reshaping software development workflows. While Pocket lowers the barrier for casual creators, it also illustrates how tech companies are integrating AI tools into closed ecosystems, raising questions about user ownership and data portability.