# Codea — Creative coding > Interactive coding environment for creating games and visual projects on iPad. (iPhone/iPad app by Two Lives Left.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/codea/id439571171 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Two Lives Left](https://appshunter.io/developer/335953314) - Category: Productivity, Education - Price: Free with in-app purchases (on sale, was $29.99) - Rating: 4.50/5 from 126 App Store ratings · 308 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 18.6 · 217 MB - Languages: American English, Catalan, Dutch, French (France), German (Germany), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Chinese (Simplified, China) and 1 more - Released: 2011-10-26 - Data updated: 2026-08-18 - Monetization: freemium - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/codea/id439571171/reviews.md ## What is Codea? "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. ## Key features - 2D and 3D renderer - Touch-based visual editors - Lua programming language - Export to Xcode - Physics engines - GLSL shader editor - Import assets from Dropbox ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Codea Pro (Yearly) | $29.99 | per year | | Codea Pro (Monthly) | $4.99 | per month | **One-time purchases** | Purchase | Price | Type | | --- | --- | --- | | Codea Pro Lifetime | $99.99 | one-time | ## What do users think of Codea? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Great for making games - 👍 Lets me code when I feel the itch - 💡 Powerful, Playful Development Environment - 👍 Fantastic prototyping tool - 👍 One of the best programming apps on iPad **Cons** - 🐛 Assets don't work - 🐛 Need Pencil scrolling slider. TOO MUCH ACCIDENTAL WRITING - 🐛 Crashes frequently - 🐛 Bugs with keyboard and cursor issues **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes when switching between documents - Xcode export not working with latest version of Xcode - Keyboard and cursor issues when using Bluetooth keyboard **Most requested features** - Add ability to import sounds and 3D models - Improve documentation and provide more tutorials - Add support for more programming languages beyond Lua ## Recent user reviews (10 of 308) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/codea/id439571171/reviews.md ### 5/5 — This is amazing. *2026-05-23, version 3.17* I have learned lua from this app and my skills are better from this app. 10/10 ### 5/5 — Doesn’t work *2026-05-13, version 3.17* Doesn’t work on my new iPhone. Just a black screen. ### 5/5 — Amazing! *2026-03-18, version 3.15* Good, just don't want to pay for more than 500 lines of code. I am making a Roblox like game and I need rounded corners, modified squares take up LOTS of code and might need to use thousands of lines of code. Still, Amazing if you are looking to build your own games for friends, family, or yourself! Also add a built in rounded corner please! ### 5/5 — Great app! *2026-02-23, version 3.15* This is great app ### 1/5 — No, I won’t review you positively if that’s the first thing you ask *2026-02-13* Annoying **Developer response:** Hi, thanks for reviewing our app. We hear you that it can be annoying to see a review button for an app you have not yet used. What you saw was the "What's New" page, which shows up once every new version and lists all the features that are new (see https://codea.io/new — this is the page you saw). It shows up once, each time you update Codea. At the top of that page there is a link where you can submit a review, reviews help people find our app. Our mistake is that we show this page to new users (like you), as well as existing users. We thought the list of features might be informative, but will definitely listen to your feedback that the review button at the top felt out-of-place to you. We'll address it. Thanks again for your honest feedback. ### 4/5 — Good for making games. *2026-01-17, version 3.15* I’ve owned Codea since at least 2017 and have made a lot of personal projects on it. Back then I spent hours searching for game development done completely on the iPad all by itself. Codea was just the strongest option back then. I’ve enjoyed scripting in lua these past 9 years. The games you can make are not as free as if it was not on an iPad but it’s still free enough for it to matter and make games. One day, the music() player stopped working and nobody what iPad I’m on I’m not able to actually play music from inside the app. ### 2/5 — Deleted *2026-01-04, version 3.15* My initial review was deleted even though it clearly expressed my opinion of this product without unsupported hostility or unrelated tangents. When this application’s publisher restores my valid and warranted review, I will submit an update reflecting my thoughts after having used it, ### 5/5 — Lets me code when I fell the itch *2025-12-20, version 3.15* I mostly use Codea on my iPhone because I use it when I might be scrolling social media. It’s simple and the documentation and references in the app are really nice, makes it possible to learn even though Codea isn’t that popular on YouTube, etc. Would love to see more polish on iPhone, but works 99% fine for me. Only bug I have is when I use the space bar cursor move on my keyboard, the cursor in Codea disappears, so I have to use the old hold in the text feature instead, which is fine, just less convenient ### 5/5 — 좋은 앱같습니다. *2025-11-22* 좋은 앱으로 보이나, 영어도 모르고, 개발도 모르는 사람에게 진입장벽이 높네요. 물론 한글이 지원하지 않는다는 것도 알고 앱을 설치하고 구독도 했습니다만 역시 힘드네요. 혹시 한글지원도 기대할수있을까요??? **Developer response:** 다음 버전에서 한국어 지원을 추가할 예정입니다. ### 3/5 — Assets don’t work *2025-08-20, version 3.14.3* I open assets from my project menu and everything just freezes, please fix it I wanna finish my game I needed to add custom assets :/ ## Frequently asked questions about Codea ### What can I create with this app? You can create games, simulations, and various visual ideas that are interactive. The app leverages iPad features like Multi-Touch and the accelerometer to bring your creations to life. You can also export your finished projects to Xcode to produce standalone applications. ### What programming language does it use? The app is built on the Lua programming language, which is described as simple and elegant. It also supports GLSL Shader Language with a live shader editor for advanced visual effects. ### How much does the app cost? The app is free to use for projects up to 500 lines. For access to advanced features and unlimited project size, you can subscribe to Codea Pro. Monthly, yearly, and a lifetime one-time purchase option are available. ### What devices is this app compatible with? The app is designed for iPad and utilizes its specific features like Multi-Touch and the accelerometer. It also supports Bluetooth keyboard input and can be controlled via WiFi from a PC using Air Code. ### Can I import my own assets? Yes, you can import your own assets such as images and sounds directly from Dropbox. This allows you to easily integrate your custom content into your projects. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 3.17 — 2026-05-05 New Autocomplete Style - When using a hardware keyboard, you'll see a more traditional floating menu autocomplete style on iPadOS - This can be configured in editor preferences IMPROVEMENTS - The modern renderer is more capable and compatible with legacy projects. Give it a try on your own projects and let us know how it goes FIXES - Issue where requiring dependencies in iCloud could cause slow project run performance - Xcode export for projects with dependencies - `require` did not always maintain dependent projects buffer ordering - Fixes potential crashes in the runtime ### 3.16 — 2026-04-05 Built-in MCP Server & AI Agent Support - Codea now includes a built-in MCP server, making it easier to connect AI coding agents directly to your projects - To get started, open Air Code and check the updated menus and documentation Editor Scroll to Top Gesture - Adds a new setting in Editor Preferences to control the editor scroll-to-top gesture Xcode Export Improvements - Improves Xcode export - The Xcode exporter now uses the same packaging style as zip export, with dependencies embedded into the exported project IMPROVEMENTS Performance Improvements - Improves Codea startup performance - Attempts to improve loading performance on the project grid Game Center Turn-Based Support - Adds GKTurnBasedEventHandlerDelegate support Viewer Layout Improvements - Prevents the viewer split pane from being occluded by buttons in iPhone landscape mode FIXES - Fixes an issue where the dependency list could show items in an incorrect state - Fixes an issue where pressing return could incorrectly add an `end` statement - Fixes `require` when importing projects using modern buffer ordering syntax - Fixes image pixel access behaviour so it is no longer inverted on the Y-axis in Modern renderer - Minor UI fixes ### 3.15 — 2025-12-16 File API - This lets you copy, move, rename and delete files using asset keys. See the Storage chapter for documentation and examples Multi-Window Mode - iPad power users: you can now switch Codea into multi-window mode from the settings pane to open and run projects in new windows by default. Great for external displays iPad Menu Bar Support - Codea now supports the iPad menu bar IMPROVEMENTS Liquid Glass - Codea now supports the new UI. Edges more opinionated Documentation Sharing - Adds a share button to documentation pages to share markdown-formatted snippets. Share what you know, perhaps with an LLM? Project Reordering While Searching - You can now reorder projects even while a search is active Carbide Rendering & Canvas Improvements - Adds canvas.position and canvas.size - UI canvas position is no longer influenced by UI scale - Fixes an issue where camera viewport affected canvas rendering - Camera and matrix state handling is more robust when using render textures and matrix.push Carbide Shader Improvements - Adds a new sprite() mode to Shader Builder for improved sprite render order control - Improves handling of sampler flags in shaders. Textures behave themselves Editor Improvements - Autocomplete is now suppressed inside multi-line strings and comments FIXES - Fixed crashes when displaying PDFs - Documentation example views now display correctly - Fixed crashes related to camera state when mixing viewports, matrices, and render textures - Fixed issues with iCloud assets that could cause hangs - Fixed an issue where the Find view didn’t automatically search for selected text sometimes ### 3.14.3 — 2025-06-24 Screen sizes: you can now choose from a variety of screen sizes when running your projects. This includes iPhone, TV, and Square. Great for testing your layouts — use `layout.safeArea` to ensure your project is not obscured by device features ### 3.14.2 — 2025-06-18 NEW - Dependencies list is now searchable, supports iCloud and other project locations. Very dependable FIXED - Improved support for hot reload - Exposed tween target to Lua for more control in animations. You are the puppet master - Modern renderer: Fixed sprite rendering breaking some scene rendering - Modern renderer: Improved rendering by resetting view state when changing projection or view matrix. We don't know what it means either - Improves performance of the project grid to address lag and freeze issues with large projects. The grid no longer buckles under the weight of your creations ## Apps similar to Codea | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Küçük Adımlar](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kucuk-admlar/id1631550900) | — | Free | Productivity | | [Periodic Questioning](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/periodic-questioning/id1665812740) | — | Free | Productivity | | [StudyHungry](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/studyhungry/id1664623080) | 4.5 (8) | Free | Productivity | | [Flexblocks - Time Blocking](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/flexblocks-time-blocking/id1631938060) | 1.0 (1) | Free | Productivity | ## More apps by Two Lives Left - [CRABITRON](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crabitron/id440462182) - [Cargo-Bot](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cargo-bot/id519690804) - [Shade](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/shade/id1402522815) - [Terminal of Woe](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/terminal-of-woe/id6744296466) All apps by Two Lives Left: https://appshunter.io/developer/335953314 ## Related topics [explore apple creator studio](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/explore-apple-creator-studio) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-18.*