"It’s kind of like the Garage Band of coding." – Wired
"Codea for iPad is a super slick way to write and run programs on your iPad." – Gizmodo
Codea lets you create games and simulations — or just about any visual idea you have. Turn your thoughts into interactive creations that make use of iPad features like Multi-Touch and the accelerometer.
We think Codea is the most beautiful code editor you'll use, and it's easy. Codea is designed to let you touch your code. Want to change a color, or an image? Tapping will bring up visual editors that let you choose exactly what you want.
Codea is built on the Lua programming language. A simple, elegant language that doesn't rely too much on symbols — a perfect match for iPad.
Here's how you use it: type your code. Press play to watch it run. Interact with it. Get creative.
FEATURES
• A fully featured 2D and 3D renderer
• Lots of great example projects to learn from, including games
• Touch your code: tap colors, images and sounds to adjust them
• Export your finished projects to Xcode to produce real apps
• Complete in-line reference documentation accessible from keyboard
• Intelligent syntax highlighting and auto-completing code editor
• Import your own assets from Dropbox
• Full 2D and 3D physics engines for complex motion
• Add parameters so you can tweak variables at runtime
• Interact with accelerometer and multi-touch on your device
• Generate retro-game sound effects
• GLSL Shader Language support with live shader editor
• Bluetooth keyboard support and keyboard shortcuts
• Air Code: code live from your PC using WiFi
• Much, much more
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
• Join the forums at https://talk.codea.io to ask questions, share ideas and get help when you need it
• If you need help or wish to get in contact with us, please use the support link on this page
• Privacy policy https://codea.io/privacy
• Terms https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
SUBSCRIPTION
• Codea is free to use for projects up to 500 lines, after which you can subscribe to Codea Pro for access to advanced features and unlimited project size
• Monthly and yearly plans available
• Lifetime one-time purchase also available
• Pricing may vary by region. Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings.
A-fricking-mazing like people who make this time of stuff deserve alot respect. The amount of time and effort this probably took over years. If you are hating this app consider yourself and the person who worked very hard to make this app.
Developer Response
Thank you so much! It's just two of us building this app, and we both loved reading your review.
HOLY MOLY CODEA!!
fnafisawesome1234567890
I’ve been using your guy’s app for a few years now, and boy have I enjoyed it! It’s fun to use, and the Reference helps out a lot as well! Thank you for making this app, this has changed my life!! :)
Developer Response
Thank you! Love your review ❤️
Best Ever App On The IPad
Aspiring Coder
This is an absolutely incredible development tool that is superior to anything else. As someone who is essentially learning from scratch (dabbled in a bit of the old Basic back in the day 20+ years ago) learning on this app has been a pleasure. I've flirted with other IDE's however no other's compare to Codea with it's user friendly environment, editing features, import support, forum community, Xcode export, demos/examples, sprite/sound libraries and the list goes on. They have left no stone unturned here and continue to raise the bar with great updates. This proves that the IPad can be a development tool which enables you to get creative and express your ideas. I've had fun creating a couple of cool little demo games and look forward to doing more with Codea as I expand my knowledge. ***5 STARS ALL THE WAY!!!***
Visionary
Bluesbuzzer
By creating something that encourages further creativity, in coding no less, Two Lives Left have moved into the forefront of app development for the iPad. Their creation will interest those who are learning how to program, as well as those who want to prototype game-type apps quickly. An enthusiastic community is already growing up around this product, which has a promising future ahead of it. Bugs are being squashed and new features are being developed - yet it is a solid initial offering.
Advanced Projects
• A new Advanced collection of projects shows off what the modern renderer can do:
• Mini City shows off voxel model loading and 3D rendering
• Mercury creates liquid-like particles which reflect your environment
• Portal Pool shows off a PBR rendered pool table… with portals
• And we've revived our voxel engine for the modern runtime, with more to come
iPhone Duo Support
• Codea is ready for iPhone Duo. The project browser, create screen, editor and reference all adapt to the fold and to each pose
• Your projects can respond too: read hinge.angle or define hingeChanged(current, previous) to react as the device folds, and use layout.orientation to check the current orientation
Symbols
• Create images from any SF Symbol with image.symbol("globe")
• Choose weights, rendering modes and variable values, and recolor symbols with tint()
• The code editor includes a symbol picker to browse and insert symbols, and it works on both the legacy and modern runtimes
• See the new SF Symbols example
Image Playground
• Use pick.playground("a red panda astronaut") to open Image Playground from your code and get back the image or Genmoji the user creates
• Requires a device with Apple Intelligence
Microphone in Modern Codea
• The mic API is now available in Modern Codea
• Call mic.start() and read mic.amplitude and mic.frequency to build projects that respond to sound
IMPROVEMENTS
More New APIs
• shape() now builds a single path from its drawing commands
• font.metrics() reports metrics for the current font
• image.type replaces the cubeMap and isVolume flags, and image.smooth joins image.filter
• Modern Codea can load legacy .shader bundles
• Native text rendering is now the default in Modern Codea
• Lua's warn() now prints to the output pane
• HEIC images are supported, and image loading respects EXIF orientation
FIXES
• Fixes editor issues that could cause text corruption or lost edits
• Fixes crashes in Craft projects
• The output pane now collapses repeated messages and stays responsive with lots of output
• Improves memory handling for image-heavy projects, and images too large for the GPU now raise an error instead of crashing
• Projects can now be stopped cleanly while a picker or other modal is showing
• Many stability and performance improvements across the editor and runtime
Version 3.18
The developer, Two Lives Left, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Linked to You
The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:
Purchases
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Two Lives Left
Size
241.7 MB
Category
Productivity
Compatibility
Requires iOS 18.5 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 18.5 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 18.5 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.