Build a Netflix Clone in Swift with AI
By the Vibecode teamUpdated 5 min read
Short answer
A Netflix clone is a streaming interface: profiles, a hero billboard, horizontal rows of titles, a detail sheet with a trailer and episodes, and a full-screen player. It is for content you own or license, such as courses, a church's sermons or an indie film catalog. Vibecode's template, Reelhouse, builds that whole interface around original fictional titles and stock trailers, as a native iPhone app written in Swift. Remix it and swap in your own catalog by chatting.
See it running

Template
ReelhouseiOS
Netflix clone · Swift and SwiftUI
Profile picker, hero billboard, Top 10 rows, title pages with trailers, full-screen player and My List.
Remix copies the working Swift app into your Vibecode account for free. Or open a new iOS app with the prompt below to build a fresh copy.
Open the template pageThe prompt we used
This is the prompt that built Reelhouse in Vibecode. Paste it into a new iOS app project to build your own copy from scratch, or change the details first.
Prompt · 824 words
Build a polished, fully working native iOS app in SwiftUI named Reelhouse: an original movie and TV streaming app that recreates the core experience of Netflix, but with its own name, its own original logo and its own color palette. Do NOT use the Netflix name, logo, wordmark, app icon or any trademarked asset anywhere in the app. Design an original Reelhouse logo mark, drawn with SwiftUI shapes (Path/Canvas) or made as a generated image asset, and use it in the header.
Screens and flows (pure black theme, bold display type, your own accent color instead of red; bottom bar: Home, New & Hot, My Reelhouse):
1. Profile picker on launch: "Who's watching?" with 4 colorful original avatar tiles (Ansh, Maya, Leo, Kids) and Edit; tapping one zooms it and fades into Home.
2. Home: header with the Reelhouse logo, cast and search icons, and pills (TV Shows, Movies, Categories ▾) that turns from transparent to solid black as you scroll. A large hero billboard: artwork, a title treatment for the fictional film "Night Shift", tags "Gritty · Heist · Thriller", "#2 in TV Shows Today", and "Play" (white) + "My List" buttons. Then horizontally scrolling rows: "Continue Watching for Ansh" (wide cards with accent progress bars and an info icon), "Trending Now", "Top 10 Shows in the U.S. Today" (huge outlined rank numbers beside each poster), "New Releases", "Only on Reelhouse", "Award-winning Dramas". At least 24 original fictional titles with posters.
3. Posters and art: generate original poster artwork with the OpenAI images API (gpt-image-1, run env to find the project's proxied OPENAI_API_KEY and call https://api.openai.com/v1/images/generations), save them into the asset catalog, and typeset each title on it in a display font. If image generation fails, use verified moody cinematic images.unsplash.com photos with the title typeset over them.
4. Title detail: tapping a poster opens a modal sheet: a trailer area that plays a verified stock clip with AVPlayer (an AVPlayerLayer in a UIViewRepresentable, aspect-fill, no system controls) (https://assets.mixkit.co/videos/<ID>/<ID>-720.mp4 for IDs 101416, 4308, 52427, 35540, 41576, 39912; curl-check), mute toggle, the title, "98% Match 2025 TV-MA 2 Seasons HD", a big white Play and a Download button, synopsis, "Starring:" and "Creators:" lines, a row of My List (toggles to a check) / Rate (thumbs) / Share, then tabs "Episodes | More Like This". Episodes has a season picker sheet and episode rows with thumbnails, durations and descriptions; More Like This is a 3-column poster grid that opens other titles. Every series has its own episode titles, synopses and stills; movies have no Episodes tab. No image may show a real celebrity, a famous film character or a logo.
5. Player: Play opens a full-screen player playing the clip with tap-to-show controls: back, title "S1:E1 The Vault", 10 s back / play-pause / 10 s forward, a scrubber with remaining time, and Episodes / Next Episode buttons.
6. My List: adding from the billboard or a detail sheet updates "My List" (a row on Home and a grid in My Reelhouse).
7. New & Hot: tabs "Coming Soon" and "Everyone's Watching" with large cards, release dates, and "Remind Me" bells that toggle. Search: input with "Top Searches" list; typing filters titles. My Reelhouse: profile avatar, Notifications, Downloads, My List, "Trailers You've Watched".
Rules for the whole app:
- Native SwiftUI for iOS 26, the deployment target the Vibecode iOS template already uses (do not change it). iPhone-first layout. SF Symbols are fine for UI icons (never for the Netflix logo or any brand mark).
- Everything runs on-device from realistic, deterministic fixture data in one Swift file (e.g. Fixtures.swift: real-sounding names, handles, numbers, timestamps, captions). No backend (leave the backend/ folder alone and make no network calls except loading images and media), no login, no permissions (no camera, photos, location, contacts, notifications, microphone). Do not persist state (no UserDefaults, @AppStorage, SwiftData or files): every launch starts from the same fixture state, so the demo is repeatable.
- Remote images: load images.unsplash.com photo URLs (with ?w=800&q=80 style params) with AsyncImage (or a small cached image view) and a tasteful placeholder. Verify every image and media URL with `curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" <url>` before you use it and replace any that do not return 200. No broken or blank images anywhere.
- Polish: native-feeling spacing and typography, safe areas, smooth spring animations (.spring/.snappy, most under 350 ms), matchedGeometryEffect for hero and expand/collapse transitions where it helps, .sensoryFeedback haptics on key taps, pressed states, and loading/empty states. Simulated waits stay short (under 3 s). Every button visible on screen does something sensible; nothing is a dead end.
- Keep the compiler happy: small files (under ~300 lines each), big view bodies split into subviews, and no long chained expressions, so nothing hits "unable to type-check this expression in reasonable time".
- It must build with zero errors and run in the iOS simulator with no crash. Walk through every flow above and fix anything broken.Netflix clone features
What Reelhouse includes today, and what you add next. Everything in the template runs on sample data, with no login and no backend, so it works the moment you open it.
In the template
Profile picker
'Who's watching?' with avatar tiles that zoom into Home.
Hero billboard
Featured title with tags, a Top 10 badge, Play and My List, under a header that turns solid on scroll.
Content rows
Continue Watching with progress bars, Trending, Top 10 with outlined rank numbers and New Releases.
Title detail
Trailer with mute toggle, match score, rating, seasons, synopsis, cast, My List, Rate and Share.
Episodes
Season picker and episode rows with thumbnails, runtimes and descriptions, plus More Like This.
Video player
Full-screen playback with 10-second skips, scrubber, remaining time and next episode.
My List
Saved titles appear as a row on Home and a grid under your profile.
New & Hot and search
Coming Soon with Remind Me bells, Everyone's Watching and live title search.
Add with a prompt
Your own catalog
Upload videos or connect a video host and a metadata source.
Subscriptions
Paid plans that unlock the catalog.
DRM and downloads
Protected streams and offline viewing.
How to build a Netflix clone with Vibecode
- 1
Remix the template
Open the Reelhouse share page and press Remix. Vibecode copies the whole Swift project into your account, so you start from a working app instead of an empty screen. Remixing is free.
- 2
Make it yours by chatting
Tell the agent what to change in plain English, for example: “Rename the app to Yogaflix, turn the catalog into yoga classes grouped by level, and add a 'Continue your program' row.” Each change rebuilds the app and runs it in Vibecode's cloud iOS simulator, right in your browser.
- 3
Publish to the App Store
Click Publish, choose Publish to App Store and sign in with your Apple ID. Vibecode builds, signs and uploads the app to Apple, with no Mac and no Xcode. You need an Apple Developer account ($99/year) and the Plus plan or higher.
The hard parts of a real Netflix clone
Screens are the quick part. These are what take the time once real people use it.
Content rights come first
Netflix's real cost is licensing, not code. You can only stream what you own or have licensed. Apple's Guideline 5.2.3 also rules out pulling video from other services without permission, which is why the template uses original artwork and free stock trailers.
Adaptive streaming
Long videos need HLS: each title transcoded into several bitrates so the player can step down on a weak connection instead of buffering. Hosted video services handle transcoding and delivery, and charge by minutes stored and watched.
Resume everywhere
Continue Watching needs playback position saved every few seconds per profile, synced across devices, and a rule for when a title counts as finished. Profiles also need separate lists and history, which shapes the data model.
Protecting paid content
Studio content usually requires DRM (FairPlay Streaming on Apple devices), and offline downloads need it too. For your own courses or films, signed, expiring video URLs are often enough to start.
Take it from template to real app
Each step is one message to the Vibecode agent. Send them one at a time and test in between.
- 1
Your catalog
Store titles, seasons and episodes in Vibecode Cloud and point each episode at your video host.
Prompt
Add Vibecode Cloud. Move titles, seasons and episodes into the database with a video URL per episode, and add a simple admin screen to add titles.
- 2
Movie metadata
For a discovery or watchlist app, TMDB's API provides posters, cast and ratings. Check TMDB's terms for commercial use.
Prompt
Use TMDB to show trending movies with posters, ratings and cast, and let me add them to My List.
- 3
Subscriptions
Digital content sold in an iOS app goes through in-app purchase, which RevenueCat manages.
Prompt
Add a RevenueCat subscription with monthly and yearly plans. Show a paywall when a non-subscriber taps Play.
- 4
Resume and push
Save progress per profile and remind people about new episodes.
Prompt
Save playback progress per profile every 5 seconds, resume from it, and send a push notification when a new episode of a title in My List is added.
What a Netflix clone costs
Netflix clone scripts sell a web platform with an admin panel; you still need video hosting and the rights to everything you stream. The Vibecode template is a polished native Swift streaming interface that you own and reshape by chatting, ready for a catalog you control.
| Option | Typical cost | What you get | Still on you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clone script | $299–$5,000 one-time license | Source code for the apps, usually with an admin panel | Servers, setup, rebranding, store accounts and future updates |
| Freelancer | Hourly or a fixed bid, set by scope | Custom code built to your spec | Writing the spec, reviewing the work, hosting and store submission |
| Development agency | Custom quote per project | Design, build, testing and launch handled for you | A budget and timeline fixed by contract; every change goes through the agency |
| VibecodeThis template | Free to remix; plans from $20 a month | A native Swift Netflix-style iPhone app you change by chatting, with App Store publishing (Plus and up) and source code download (Pro and Max) | A backend for real data (one prompt with Vibecode Cloud) and an Apple Developer account ($99/year) |
Clone-script prices are the range listed by script marketplaces and vendors. Vibecode plans and what each includes are on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to build a Netflix clone?
Building the interface is legal: profiles, rows and a player are common patterns across streaming apps. Streaming movies or shows you don't have rights to is not, and neither is using Netflix's name, its N logo, its red branding or its show artwork. The template is called Reelhouse, uses original fictional titles with generated artwork, and plays free stock trailers.
Can I publish a Netflix clone to the App Store?
Yes, with content you own or license: fitness classes, courses, a church's videos, an indie film library. Apple rejects plain copies (Guideline 4.1) and apps that stream content without permission (5.2.3). Subscriptions to digital video go through in-app purchase. Vibecode publishes to the App Store on the Plus plan and up, with your Apple Developer account.
Does the Netflix clone work on Android?
No. Reelhouse is a native iPhone app written in Swift, so it runs on iPhone only. For Android, start a Mobile app project in Vibecode, which builds React Native apps for iPhone and Android, and paste the prompt from this page.
Can I add a real backend to the Netflix clone?
Yes. Reelhouse runs on sample data so it works the moment you remix it. When you need real users, Vibecode Cloud adds a database, sign-in and file storage with one prompt, enough for profiles, titles, seasons, episodes, watch progress and subscriptions. It is on the Plus plan and up. You can also connect Supabase, Firebase or your own API.
Can I use this to watch real movies?
Only movies you have the rights to stream. The template plays short free stock clips as stand-ins. For a movie discovery or watchlist app, use TMDB for posters and ratings instead of streaming the films.
Does the template support multiple profiles?
The profile picker and the Continue Watching row are there, on sample data. Separate lists and watch history per profile come with a backend: ask the agent to add Vibecode Cloud and store progress and My List per profile.
Is the Reelhouse template free?
Remixing it is free with a Vibecode account and gives you your own copy of the Swift project. Changes you ask the agent for use credits. Publishing to the App Store needs a paid plan (Plus and up) and an Apple Developer account ($99/year), and downloading the source code is on the Pro and Max plans. See the pricing page for current plans.
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