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Parkland Mom Uses AI to Build Gift-Giving App Now Available Worldwide 5

Ali Rogove {courtesy}

A Parkland mother with no software development experience has used artificial intelligence to turn her holiday shopping frustrations into a gift-planning app now available in 175 countries.

After more than 20 years working in public relations, Parkland resident Ali Rogove never imagined she would develop her own iPhone app. But years of juggling holiday shopping lists, birthday gifts, and family wishlists inspired her to create a solution, with artificial intelligence helping turn her idea into reality.

The result is GivWrap, a free gift-planning app that organizes gift ideas, tracks purchases, and manages budgets in one place.

Rogove, who moved to Parkland from Long Island seven years ago with her husband and two children, says she built the app without a traditional software development background.

“GivWrap is honestly the app I’ve wished existed for years,” Rogove told Parkland Talk. “I’m a pretty organized person, but I’ve never had a great system for managing all the gift shopping I do throughout the year.”

She said her frustration grew as gift ideas accumulated across different platforms.

“I had lists in my Notes app, screenshots, texts to myself, my daughter’s handwritten wishlists, Amazon lists for nieces and nephews, you name it,” she said.

“Last year, I finally got frustrated enough to do something about it. I was losing track of ideas, forgetting what I’d already purchased, and jumping between different apps and lists.”

Despite having no formal technology background, Rogove turned to AI-powered development tools to bring her vision to life.

She initially experimented with website-building platforms Base44 and Lovable before transitioning to native iPhone development using Rork, Claude Code, and Codex.

“I had a very clear vision for what I wanted GivWrap to look like and how I wanted it to function, but I never would have been able to bring that vision to life without the incredible advancements in AI we’ve seen in the last few years,” Rogove said.

The process wasn’t without challenges.

“One of the most interesting things I’ve learned is that working with AI is actually a lot like managing people,” she said. “Different tools have different strengths, and you have to learn which ones are best suited for particular jobs and how to coordinate between them.”

While AI helped with the technical development, Rogove said human decision-making remained essential.

“AI has made it possible for me to build something I never could have built on my own, but it certainly doesn’t do all the thinking for you!”

Unlike traditional wishlist apps, GivWrap focuses on the gift-giver rather than the recipient.

“The biggest difference is that GivWrap is designed for the person doing the giving, not the person receiving,” Rogove said.

Users can paste product links from nearly any retailer and automatically save photos, prices, and product details. Users can organize gifts by recipient or occasion, with features that track purchases, wrapping status, budgets, and gift-giving history.

GivWrap launched on Apple’s App Store in June and is available in 175 countries. According to Rogove, users have downloaded the app in 32 states and six countries, even before the company’s recent public marketing launch.

With holiday shopping approaching, Rogove hopes the app reduces the mental workload of organizing gifts, particularly for busy parents.

“My hope is that GivWrap gives people a sense of control over all of that,” she said. “Ultimately, I want people to spend less time stressing about their shopping lists and more time actually enjoying the season.”

Rogove plans to expand GivWrap to Android while continuing to develop additional features.

“I spent more than 20 years working in public relations, and I never imagined I’d be building and launching my own software product,” she said, adding that it’s been an incredible learning experience.

GivWrap is available for free on the Apple App Store

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Ryan Yousefi

Ryan Yousefi has lived in Coral Springs for over 30 years. He has worked as a writer for multiples outlets over the years, including the Miami New Times where he has covered sports and culture since 2013. He holds a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Business Healthcare Management from Western Governors University.