Codea Downloads & RevenueCodea · App Store
Not in any tracked top chart right now.
Updated 8 Nov 2026 · rankings refresh through the day
DeveloperTwo Lives Left
CategoryProductivity
PriceFree
Released
Rating★ 4.5 (127)
Version3.19
Age rating4+
First seen by us
23 Oct 2026
23 Oct 2026Full timeline · 4 events
- 📦Codea updated to version 3.19Xcode Export
• Projects using the modern renderer can now be exported to Xcode.
• print() output and errors from exported modern projects now appear in Xcode's console.
• viewer settings such as viewer.mode and viewer.framerate now work in exported projects.
• Fixed the Development Team and Show Status Bar export settings having no effect.
Share Playable Link
• Long press a project to share a playable link with your friends
Modern renderer changes
• Added point and spot lighting, with adjustable range and spotlight angles
• Added camera effects: bloom, tilt-shift, saturation, vignette, and film grain, plus support for custom shader effects
• Improved shadow quality and reduced shadow artifacts on sloping surfaces.
• Added frustum culling to skip rendering scene objects outside the camera's view.
• Updated the Mini City example to use the new rendering APIs.
• Added voxel.model:copy() and voxel.model:assign() for duplicating models and implementing undo.
• Added style.depth(true) for depth testing shapes, sprites, and meshes using the default shader.
• Fixed camera orientation and front/rear camera mirroring.
• Fixed issues with mesh bounds, camera textures, and projects that create large numbers of meshes or images.
• Fixed a freeze when reading images from native callbacks.
• Improved audio handling when pausing or backgrounding projects.… more - 🆕Codea first spotted by AppInsiderUnited States (found via developer)
- 📦Codea version 3.18Advanced 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… more - 🆕Codea released on the App Store
Collected from the stores by AppInsider since we first spotted the app. Dates are when we saw each change.
Rating
4.5 ★
127 ratings
Measured
Codea on the App Store
App details
App ID
439571171
Publisher
Two Lives Left
On the store since
Oct 2011
15 years on the store
Minimum OS
iOS 18.5+
iPhone XS and later
Devices
iPhone · iPad
Universal purchase · Game Center
Content rating
4+
Languages
11
CA NL EN FR DE IT JA KO RU ZH ES
Size
246 MB
Also listed in
Education
Where it ranks now
Every top chart it appears in across 30 countries.
| Country | Charts | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Not charting right now. | ||
Ratings
App Store, worldwide.
Rating
4.5 ★
127 ratings
Measured
Ratings
127
Measured
About 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.
"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.
Latest updates
3.19
Xcode Export
• Projects using the modern renderer can now be exported to Xcode.
• print() output and errors from exported modern projects now appear in Xcode's console.
• viewer settings such as viewer.mode and viewer.framerate now work in exported projects.
• Fixed the Development Team and Show Status Bar export settings having no effect.
Share Playable Link
• Long press a project to share a playable link with your friends
Modern renderer changes
• Added point and spot lighting, with adjustable range and spotlight angles
• Added camera effects: bloom, tilt-shift, saturation, vignette, and film grain, plus support for custom shader effects
• Improved shadow quality and reduced shadow artifacts on sloping surfaces.
• Added frustum culling to skip rendering scene objects outside the camera's view.
• Updated the Mini City example to use the new rendering APIs.
• Added voxel.model:copy() and voxel.model:assign() for duplicating models and implementing undo.
• Added style.depth(true) for depth testing shapes, sprites, and meshes using the default shader.
• Fixed camera orientation and front/rear camera mirroring.
• Fixed issues with mesh bounds, camera textures, and projects that create large numbers of meshes or images.
• Fixed a freeze when reading images from native callbacks.
• Improved audio handling when pausing or backgrounding projects.
3.18
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
