The fourth quarter of 2025 was Adalo’s most ambitious yet. We are nearing completion of an AI Assistant that fundamentally changes how apps are built, enabled use of Google Sheets as a database with your app, upgraded our entire platform foundation, and made hundreds of improvements that make building faster, more reliable, and more enjoyable. Here’s everything that arrived in Q4.
The AI Assistant Is Nearing an Alpha Release
Adalo’s visual app Builder has long set the standard for no-code products. We think there is an opportunity to make it even better by providing Makers with an AI-based chat interface which can help build apps faster and more effectively. We call our AI Ada, and she’ll help you design screen layouts, create Collections, and build screen connections and transitions using best practices.
We expect to unveil Ada in early Q1 and can’t wait to receive your early feedback! Here’s a breakdown of what our team did to build this feature:
- Built AI-powered assistant for helping makers add, update, and configure components via natural language
- Evolved from Playwright-based headless browser approach to direct JSON/database manipulation for better performance
- Implemented LangChain framework with MCP-style architecture using specialized AI “tools” for different operations
- Tested multiple LLM models (GPT-OSS-120B, GPT-5) with excellent layout generation results
- Created frontend chat widget with real-time status updates and prompt sending
- Implemented component support for: Button, Text Field, Image, Side/Bottom Navigation, Custom List, Simple List, Form, Card List
- Added database/collection creation from user prompts with optional dummy data population
- Implemented component actions (Link, Navigate Back, Navigate to Screen)
- Built database structure design agent for automatic schema generation
- Added tool separation for improved AI agent performance and accuracy
- Implemented screen locking during AI operations with WebSocket communication for real-time updates
- Created database table for storing user AI requests for future analysis
- Deployed working chat interface to staging environments with ability to start AI Assistant at any point
Google Sheets Integration via Adalo Sheetbridge
Our new Google Sheets integration, called Adalo Sheetbridge, is being internally tested and will be the very first feature we release in 2026. With Adalo Sheetbridge you can connect spreadsheets directly to your apps as external data sources with full create, read, update, and delete capabilities. The integration underwent massive performance optimization throughout the quarter, evolving from supporting a handful of concurrent users to handling 40-50 or more simultaneously. Intelligent request batching allows 100-150+ requests per minute—a 10-30x improvement. For power users and agencies, Service Account support provides access to Google’s higher rate limits, while bearer token authentication keeps your data secure. If you manage data in spreadsheets, you can now build fully functional apps around it without migration.
Improvement summary:
- Built complete SheetBridge service for using Google Sheets as external database
- Migrated from NextJS to Laravel framework, then refactored to Domain-Driven Design
- Implemented OAuth authentication with automatic token refresh
- Added Service Account authentication as alternative to OAuth for better quota management
- Built bearer token authentication for securing bridge endpoints
- Implemented comprehensive batch request optimization reducing API calls
- Built queue-based async write system returning 202 Accepted immediately
- Implemented Redis-based caching with configurable TTL for metadata
- Added rate limiting per bridge and bridge limits per user
- Changed bridge IDs from integers to UUIDs
- Created privacy policy page for Google Cloud OAuth verification
- Started migration from MariaDB to PostgreSQL
- Tested with 200 simultaneous write requests from multiple users
- Created comprehensive Postman testing guide and API documentation
Massive Architecture and Infrastructure Upgrades
In Q4 we completed a major upgrade to the latest React Native architecture. Your apps now benefit from improved performance, better stability, and access to the newest mobile capabilities. We thoroughly tested every component to ensure a smooth transition, and along the way the YouTube component, charts, card lists, and dozens of other components have all been optimized to use the upgraded architecture. Additionally, we’ve made significant improvements to code-specific performance which has among other things resulted in a significant reduction to overall app bundle size.
We also migrated the Android build environment to upgraded infrastructure, and dramatically improved our internal monitoring and alerting tools to help us catch problems before they affect your work. But the biggest highlight of Q4 in terms of infrastructure improvements is unquestionably a change we made to how database connections are managed for all apps, resulting in a significant drop in system loads for high traffic apps.
Here is a list of tasks we completed related to architecture and infrastructure upgrades:
- Set up new logger for centralized logging and log transformation
- Added metrics collection to all major services
- Created comprehensive dashboards for HTTP requests, Redis connections, database connections, WebSocket metrics
- Implemented Alertmanager with 20+ alerts for service monitoring
- Added alerts for service downtime with Slack and email notifications
- Created shared @adalo/metrics library for standardized metrics collection across JS and PHP services
- Deployed WebSocket connection metrics tracking with fixed counting algorithm
- Set up metrics infrastructure for staging environment
- Created documentation for Grafana and alert systems
- Disabled legacy EC2 instances for Android builds
- Updated X-Ray, Database, Backend, Notifications, Packager, Component Registry services
- Completed attachments migration - all services now use environment variables for database hosts
- Implemented database rate limiter for apps with Slack integration for notifications
- Created backend endpoints to handle rate limiting
- Added environment variable control for blocking vs tracking mode
- Deployed rate limiter to production
- Deployed updates for Analytics, Geocoder, Stripe Server, Notifications, and Public-API services
- Investigated frontend update challenges with react-scripts compatibility
- Fixed Redis connection issues and NPM token issues
An Improved Maker Experience
Building apps became significantly more intuitive throughout Q4. The canvas now automatically zooms out when creating new mobile apps, showing your entire screen layout immediately. We brought back the “All Connections” view for managing data flow at a glance, and added collapsible component lists for complex apps with many screens. Collections are now properly sortable throughout the interface, and fly-out menus display alphabetically, helping you find options faster.
Text editing in the builder received particular attention. Adjusting font sizes is now responsive and intuitive, text selection works properly, and we added helpful documentation links directly within setup flows. These refinements eliminate friction and let you focus on creating.
Here’s a list of notable bugs we fixed this quarter:
- Fixed YouTube component not working on iOS with new architecture
- Resolved WebView issues caused by new architecture incompatibility
- Fixed Card List image display issues on iOS
- Fixed Line Graph and Pie Chart disappearing on iOS with new architecture
- Resolved QR code scanner compatibility issues with new RN
- Fixed memory leak in List component by replacing context bindings with props
- Fixed App Bar and Top Navigation layout issues for Dynamic Island on iPhone 17 Pro Max
- Fixed List behind Modal not rendering on NRN
- Updated various components to support new React Native version]
- Added custom icon support to Material Components, Navigation, IAP, Audio Player, and Image Slider libraries
- Fixed icon color rendering to work across all devices
- Fixed Many-to-Many relationship creation errors in Adalo API
- Resolved Stripe subscription double payment issues and incorrect currency display
- Fixed Xano integration issues (collections not updating, missing primary keys)
- Fixed text component font size editing and text selection bugs in builder
- Fixed Calendar component version issue
- Fixed Date/Time Picker not showing time on iOS native
- Fixed Image Component errors in setup section
- Fixed Map markers missing on Android NRN
- Fixed scheduled notification bugs
- Fixed malformed component version issue (1.0.05 vs 1.0.5)
- Fixed Video component not loading on native iOS and Android
- Fixed IAP Start component not discoverable in search section
- Fixed IAPHub iOS build error by updating pod specs
- Fixed text input field inside custom list issue
- Fixed pagination transition issue on iOS native
- Fixed layout overflow in in-app browser
- Split File Picker, Image Picker, and Video components into separate packages
- Implemented backward compatibility in backend, packager, and X-Ray
- Deployed File and Image picker splitting to production
- Completed Video component splitting for iOS, Android, and Web (both NRN and old RN versions)
- Fixed NRN compatibility issues and crash issues during testing
Here is a list of quality-of-life improvements we made to the Builder:
- Deployed “Ease of Interface Change for New App Setup” with zoom-out behavior for new blank mobile apps
- Implemented “Bring Back All Connections” feature
- Deployed Manual Pagination Tweaks with loading states
- Implemented Collapse/Expand Screen Component List
- Deployed Collection sorting/organizing feature
- Started work on Alphabetize fly-outs feature
- Fixed Images not loading from URL issue
- Created SQL script for quick component version releases
Reliable Data Management
Data handling improved dramatically this quarter. Databases that hibernate now wake up more reliably with better automatic retry mechanisms. Large CSV exports that previously failed at around 500MB now complete successfully. You can delete corrupted database fields that were previously stuck. Scheduled notifications, which had a critical bug preventing reliable delivery, now fire exactly when expected.
File handling became smarter too. The system properly recognizes when uploads should be treated as images, and we separated file picker and image picker into distinct components for precise control. Lists and input fields now work together correctly, with text inputs inside custom lists maintaining their data properly and lists behind modals rendering correctly.
Here is a list of data-related improvements we made this quarter:
- Implemented paid/free tier database migration during plan changes
- Added retry mechanism for failed database restores after hibernation
- Added comprehensive logging to database relocation function
- Fixed MetaDB pool connection issues and connection pool sizing
- Fixed auto-hibernate cron job not running for paid/free databases
- Fixed cluster usage counting after host migration
Your Apps on Every Device
On iOS, we resolved layout issues where app bars were covered by the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro, 15 Pro, and newer models. The Date and Time picker works correctly on iOS 14 and later. On Android, map markers were optimized for SVG rendering. Manual pagination now provides proper loading indicators and accurate page counts across all platforms.
Access to All Features Following Signup
New users now start their free trial automatically upon email verification—no extra steps, no waiting. Enhanced onboarding questions help us understand what you’re building so we can customize your experience from day one. You can dive straight into creating and experience everything Adalo has to offer from the very first moment.
Better External Integrations
Beyond Google Sheets, we improved reliability across external integrations. Xano collections now sync properly with many-to-many relationships working correctly when creating records. We are also working on sending Makers clearer notifications when things go wrong, and expect to release some exciting updates along these lines in Q1 2026.
Components
Just a small note here. We’re needing a lot more components, and thanks to AI we’re shortly going to be able to drastically increase how fast we can build these. Our goal is to ship these components for free, and work on key areas such as payment integrations first, and the components will be free.
In other news, we’re going to be bringing feature request tracking to the forum, instead of using canny. We think that will be much better for tracking everyone’s needs and make it easier to align. Dilon will be heading up that initiative!
We’ve got lots to look forward to in 2026, and will soon be the one place where you can use AI to build the app you want, bring any data from anywhere, and easily ship one app version to any device.
