Meta is rolling out its experimental vibe-coding gaming app, Pocket, to users across the United States. The platform first launched quietly last month in Brazil as a test market. Users can generate small, interactive games through artificial intelligence prompts. These creations are then published directly to a scrollable feed.
The app originates from Meta's acqui-hire of the team behind Gizmo earlier this year. Meta refers to these interactive experiences as gizmos. The games respond to touch and phone tilts, include sound effects, and incorporate favorite song clips. They can also access the camera roll and the camera itself.
Finished games can be shared on user profiles. Other people can save them, remix them into new creations, or simply repost them. Pocket represents Meta's latest push to make artificial intelligence creation tools mainstream. Previous efforts include AI image generation in the Meta AI app and experimental AI video creation through an app called Vibes.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently credited AI-enabled software development for faster idea testing and shipping. During July's earnings call, he told analysts that building new ideas and scaling them with recommendation systems is becoming much easier. Meta recently shipped Instagram Instants, a stand-alone Groups app called Forum, and a Marketplace app called Seller.
Meta has also released an experiment for AI bedtime stories and a Meta AI app for Mac. Alongside the Pocket launch in the United States, Meta is shutting down the original Gizmo app, which was acquired from Atma Sciences.
The team behind Gizmo acknowledged the closure as bittersweet. The next known step is the ongoing rollout of Pocket to all users in the United States.
