Codea vs Iodine Code
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Codea
Create interactive games, simulations, and visual projects using a touch-friendly code editor. Turn your ideas into reality with Lua scripting, advanced rendering, and physics engines. Export your creations to produce real applications.
- 2D and 3D renderer
- Visual code editor with touch controls
- Lua programming language
- Physics engines
- Export to Xcode
- Live shader editor
- Bluetooth keyboard support
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"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.
Iodine Code
A mobile code editor and Git tool that allows you to code, stage, commit, and push directly from your iPhone or iPad. It features syntax highlighting, code suggestions, and a diff viewer for a seamless coding experience.
- Powerful Git tool
- Multi-tab code editor
- Diff viewer
- Project file manager
- Syntax highlighting
- Code suggestion
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Iodine Code is a powerful git tool and beautiful code editor. With syntax highlighting and code suggestion, it offers you a fluent experience similar to coding on PC. Coding, staging, committing, pushing and viewing logs, every thing will be done just in your iPhone / iPad. • Powerful git tool (clone, pull, push, branch, tag, log, status, commit...) • Beatiful multi-tab code editor • Splendid diff viewer • Handy project file manager with Quick-Opener and Drag & Drop • iPad Pro smart keyboard shortcuts • Great syntax highlighting (Objective-C only so far) • Context awareness code suggestion (Objective-C only so far)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Codea at 88% against Iodine Code's 33%. Codea also leads on price (Free vs $4.99) and rating (4.5 vs 1.0). Iodine Code's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.5). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Codea is free to download; Iodine Code costs $4.99 up front. Codea sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Iodine Code asks for nothing beyond the download.
Codea holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Codea has 127 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Codea's written reviews are positive against 33% of Iodine Code's.
Codea ships an update fortnightly, Iodine Code every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Codea | Iodine Code |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 4.5 (127 ratings) — better | 1.0 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 88.2% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 127 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.5 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 235 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Two Lives Left | 典 熊 |
Customer experience
Codea
Iodine Code
Bugs and requests
Codea
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes when switching between documents
- Xcode export not working with latest version of Xcode
- Keyboard and cursor issues when using Bluetooth keyboard
Requested features
3 requests- Add ability to import sounds and 3D models
- Improve documentation and provide more tutorials
- Add support for more programming languages beyond Lua
Iodine Code
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Codea
- Codea Pro (Monthly)$4.991 Month
- Codea Pro (Yearly)$29.991 Year
- Codea Pro Lifetime$99.99
Iodine Code
No in-app purchases









