5 ms·

You can create and compile an Android app on an Android phone... I'm surprised you can't do that on an iPhone. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co

You can create and compile an Android app on an Android phone... I'm surprised you can't do that on an iPhone. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aide.ui&hl=en_US&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aide.ui&hl...

voz_ 3y ago
[flagged]
- fxtentacle 3y ago
  Try doing THAT with an iPhone ;)
wilsonnb3 3y ago
The smartphone form factor is just not very good for software development. Even if the tools existed on the iPhone, nobody would use them. There is a more compelling argument about the iPad not being able to do software development since it is marketed as a laptop replacement.
- TheFreim 3y ago
  > The smartphone form factor is just not very good for software development. I believe with some androids you can connect it to a monitor and have a desktop environment styled mode, though at that point you'd be better served with a laptop.
  - freedomben 3y ago
    > I believe with some androids you can connect it to a monitor and have a desktop environment styled mode, though at that point you'd be better served with a laptop. why? my oneplus has 12 GB of RAM, 8 cores, and 256 GB of storage (plus expandable with SD card). It's plenty capable for development/desktop use. I've done dev on a raspberry pi with 4 GB and 4 cores, I don't see why the oneplus wouldn't be a more than acceptable "laptop"
    - TheFreim 3y ago
      > why? I guess I'm just not used to phones being as powerful as they are.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- kitsunesoba 3y ago
  If there were iOS dev tools on the iPhone, I think they’d probably be built around Xcode’s Interface Builder and resemble something like a touch friendly version of Visual Basic or REALBasic, simply because the smartphone typing experience is so ill-suited for writing code. On iPad there’s Playgrounds, which is kind of an Xcode Lite that supports Swift and SwiftUI but to do anything substantial with it you’re going to want a physical keyboard of some kind.
- pid-1 3y ago
  From a hardware point of view, your average iPhone is definitely fast enough for many types of development. What's really missing is an easy way to connect to peripherals, plus OS support. Samsumg has something in this direction, though I heard it's not quite mature: https://www.samsung.com/us/apps/dex/ https://www.samsung.com/us/apps/dex/ https://youtu.be/Ku6eQvYRDrk?t=342 https://youtu.be/Ku6eQvYRDrk?t=342
  - accrual 3y ago
    I believe iOS and iPadOS both support standard HID devices if connected through a USB-to-Lightning or USB-C adapter. I've used a Logitech MX Ergo on an iPad Mini and thought that was pretty neat. I thought about getting a Magic keyboard and pairing that and the Ergo to the iPad as a lightweight SSH solution for traveling.
    - nehal3m 3y ago
      I've done some sysadmin work with an iPad, a Magic Keyboard and a Logitech MX Master 3. Works really well.
- Mystery-Machine 3y ago
  You're missing the point. The point is _NOT_ whether _ANYBODY_ would use them, the point is that you should own your device and be able to install any software on it that you want. ...plus I'm sure some people would use it, at least sometimes.
- trostaft 3y ago
  Indeed, developing directly on the smartphone would be ridiculous. But, to be honest, I have similar feelings to developing directly on a laptop. There's no position I can place it at to have an ergonomic position; I always end up feeling like I'm hunched over a tiny screen. Which is why, when I get into work, I dock it and use an external monitor + kb/m. So why can't I use my phone as that intermediary 'compute brick' I bring around? Sure, it's significantly less performant, and it would require incredible development work to make a mobile OS than can transition seamlessly into desktop. Well, that's exactly why no one does it.
  - activiation 3y ago
    > I dock it and use an external monitor + kb/m. You could do the same with a phone
  - asdff 3y ago
    It really wouldn't require that much work. Just expose the unix tooling these devices are running under the hood anyway. Expose the actual file system not a toy one. All of these complaints kind of go away when you simply jailbreak your iphone, expose the filesystem for yourself, and can do whatever thanks to the built in unix ecosystem the device already runs, but walls off from you normally until its jailbroken.
- jerf 3y ago
  There's no longer any technical reason why you couldn't hook your cell up to a ~$20 USB-C dock and have a full Android environment with a complete desktop-style setup, driving your monitor, using your mouse, etc. Every year I'm more surprised this isn't happening more. I get that the empty clamshell laptop you slide a cell phone into never took off, but this just gets cheaper and cheaper every year. The drivers exist, the OS capability mostly or entirely exists, we're just... not doing it. With a dock, you can cobble things together; the TV your dad threw away, a keyboard you found at goodwill, any old mouse. Incredibly accessible; anyone with a phone and that level of access to tech could have a full computing environment. I have tasted this with my Steam Deck. I have some limited uses for it when I take it places but want it to do just a bit more. I'd love it even more if my cell phone, which has all the computing power it needs for the uses I have, could do it. If I was a student, or less well off, being able to turn my phone into a full computing environment and use it at its full power would be a great way to save money. The only two limitations on cell phones at this point are 1. the IO with the screen and touchscreen and 2. power limitations from being stuck on battery. Other than that they'd be quite credible laptops from ~2013 or 2015 no question, possibly even a few years later. Very capable nowadays.
  - Vrondi 3y ago
    Most people have zero clue this is possible, even on devices they already own.
  - freedomben 3y ago
    A lot of Android phones are capable of this (OnePlus, Samsung) but for reasons I don't understand Google disables it on the Pixel devices. I was infuriated when I tried to plug in my Pixel to a USB-C to HDMI cable and went down the troubleshooting rabbit hole only to find out that something I used to do all the time on my OnePlus wasn't possible.
  - gumby 3y ago
    > There's no longer any technical reason why you couldn't hook your cell up to a ~$20 USB-C dock and have a full Android environment with a complete desktop-style setup, driving your monitor, using your mouse, etc...Every year I'm more surprised this isn't happening more. Because many people can do everything they need on their undocked phone already. For me, my phone is an auxiliary device and my preferred device is the computer. But I'm sure I'm in the minority.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- jrmg 3y ago
  I’d choose to use Xcode on Mac, but you _can_ write apps in Swift Playgrounds on iPad, and even upload them to App Store Connect for publication in the App Store.
  - freedomben 3y ago
    Isn't that just a thin client though? the actual "machine" is the server and you're just remoting into it? I don't think I'd consider that "developing" on an ipad since without the server it's totally dead in the water. I'd call that developing on a server
    - danielagos 3y ago
      No, it’s all done on iPad, you can develop and publish an app without using a computer at all: https://screenrant.com/publish-ios-apps-ipad-swift-playgrounds-4-how/ https://screenrant.com/publish-ios-apps-ipad-swift-playgroun...
- asdff 3y ago
  People have been developing code for the last 50 years with command line ides. So long as the device has a command line and privileges its as fine of a platform as any, and orders of magnitude more performant than the hardware a lot of developers historically made a career out of. IO should be easy considering these things already have bluetooth and could interface with a keyboard. You don't need a mouse for command line work after all.
- ComputerGuru 3y ago
  > The smartphone form factor is just not very good for software development. Even if the tools existed on the iPhone, nobody would use them. Tell that to those of us that wrote games on a TI-83.
twobitshifter 3y ago
You know what though? Shortcuts exists on iOS. What is shortcuts? It’s a visual programming language for making apps on your iPhone. It allows you to interact and program your phone in a sensible manner for a small screen. Yeah it doesn’t give you keys to the kingdom, but the types of things you might want to do to automate using your phone are there.
- jxramos 3y ago
  I've seen those but never fully comprehended what it was about or experimented. I need to watch some Youtube videos on the subject and take a bite into that world.
  - twobitshifter 3y ago
    It’s very cool, here’s an example of a tool made using chat gpt. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9_MbW9FK1fA&pp=ygUVc2hvcnRjdXRzIGlvcyBhbWF6aW5n https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9_MbW9FK1fA&pp=ygUVc2hvcnRjdXR...
Someone 3y ago
I haven’t looked at it, but Apple claims you can develop apps with Playgrounds. See https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/ https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/
- Jtsummers 3y ago
  Which is not available for iPhone, iPadOS (minimum 16, which supports iPads from 2015 and forward) and macOS only.

voz_ 3y ago

[flagged]

fxtentacle 3y ago
Try doing THAT with an iPhone ;)

wilsonnb3 3y ago

The smartphone form factor is just not very good for software development. Even if the tools existed on the iPhone, nobody would use them. There is a more compelling argument about the iPad not being able to do software development since it is marketed as a laptop replacement.

TheFreim 3y ago
> The smartphone form factor is just not very good for software development. I believe with some androids you can connect it to a monitor and have a desktop environment styled mode, though at that point you'd be better served with a laptop.
- freedomben 3y ago
  > I believe with some androids you can connect it to a monitor and have a desktop environment styled mode, though at that point you'd be better served with a laptop. why? my oneplus has 12 GB of RAM, 8 cores, and 256 GB of storage (plus expandable with SD card). It's plenty capable for development/desktop use. I've done dev on a raspberry pi with 4 GB and 4 cores, I don't see why the oneplus wouldn't be a more than acceptable "laptop"
  - TheFreim 3y ago
    > why? I guess I'm just not used to phones being as powerful as they are.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
kitsunesoba 3y ago
If there were iOS dev tools on the iPhone, I think they’d probably be built around Xcode’s Interface Builder and resemble something like a touch friendly version of Visual Basic or REALBasic, simply because the smartphone typing experience is so ill-suited for writing code. On iPad there’s Playgrounds, which is kind of an Xcode Lite that supports Swift and SwiftUI but to do anything substantial with it you’re going to want a physical keyboard of some kind.
pid-1 3y ago
From a hardware point of view, your average iPhone is definitely fast enough for many types of development. What's really missing is an easy way to connect to peripherals, plus OS support. Samsumg has something in this direction, though I heard it's not quite mature: https://www.samsung.com/us/apps/dex/ https://www.samsung.com/us/apps/dex/ https://youtu.be/Ku6eQvYRDrk?t=342 https://youtu.be/Ku6eQvYRDrk?t=342
- accrual 3y ago
  I believe iOS and iPadOS both support standard HID devices if connected through a USB-to-Lightning or USB-C adapter. I've used a Logitech MX Ergo on an iPad Mini and thought that was pretty neat. I thought about getting a Magic keyboard and pairing that and the Ergo to the iPad as a lightweight SSH solution for traveling.
  - nehal3m 3y ago
    I've done some sysadmin work with an iPad, a Magic Keyboard and a Logitech MX Master 3. Works really well.
Mystery-Machine 3y ago
You're missing the point. The point is _NOT_ whether _ANYBODY_ would use them, the point is that you should own your device and be able to install any software on it that you want. ...plus I'm sure some people would use it, at least sometimes.
trostaft 3y ago
Indeed, developing directly on the smartphone would be ridiculous. But, to be honest, I have similar feelings to developing directly on a laptop. There's no position I can place it at to have an ergonomic position; I always end up feeling like I'm hunched over a tiny screen. Which is why, when I get into work, I dock it and use an external monitor + kb/m. So why can't I use my phone as that intermediary 'compute brick' I bring around? Sure, it's significantly less performant, and it would require incredible development work to make a mobile OS than can transition seamlessly into desktop. Well, that's exactly why no one does it.
- activiation 3y ago
  > I dock it and use an external monitor + kb/m. You could do the same with a phone
- asdff 3y ago
  It really wouldn't require that much work. Just expose the unix tooling these devices are running under the hood anyway. Expose the actual file system not a toy one. All of these complaints kind of go away when you simply jailbreak your iphone, expose the filesystem for yourself, and can do whatever thanks to the built in unix ecosystem the device already runs, but walls off from you normally until its jailbroken.
jerf 3y ago
There's no longer any technical reason why you couldn't hook your cell up to a ~$20 USB-C dock and have a full Android environment with a complete desktop-style setup, driving your monitor, using your mouse, etc. Every year I'm more surprised this isn't happening more. I get that the empty clamshell laptop you slide a cell phone into never took off, but this just gets cheaper and cheaper every year. The drivers exist, the OS capability mostly or entirely exists, we're just... not doing it. With a dock, you can cobble things together; the TV your dad threw away, a keyboard you found at goodwill, any old mouse. Incredibly accessible; anyone with a phone and that level of access to tech could have a full computing environment. I have tasted this with my Steam Deck. I have some limited uses for it when I take it places but want it to do just a bit more. I'd love it even more if my cell phone, which has all the computing power it needs for the uses I have, could do it. If I was a student, or less well off, being able to turn my phone into a full computing environment and use it at its full power would be a great way to save money. The only two limitations on cell phones at this point are 1. the IO with the screen and touchscreen and 2. power limitations from being stuck on battery. Other than that they'd be quite credible laptops from ~2013 or 2015 no question, possibly even a few years later. Very capable nowadays.
- Vrondi 3y ago
  Most people have zero clue this is possible, even on devices they already own.
- freedomben 3y ago
  A lot of Android phones are capable of this (OnePlus, Samsung) but for reasons I don't understand Google disables it on the Pixel devices. I was infuriated when I tried to plug in my Pixel to a USB-C to HDMI cable and went down the troubleshooting rabbit hole only to find out that something I used to do all the time on my OnePlus wasn't possible.
- gumby 3y ago
  > There's no longer any technical reason why you couldn't hook your cell up to a ~$20 USB-C dock and have a full Android environment with a complete desktop-style setup, driving your monitor, using your mouse, etc...Every year I'm more surprised this isn't happening more. Because many people can do everything they need on their undocked phone already. For me, my phone is an auxiliary device and my preferred device is the computer. But I'm sure I'm in the minority.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jrmg 3y ago
I’d choose to use Xcode on Mac, but you _can_ write apps in Swift Playgrounds on iPad, and even upload them to App Store Connect for publication in the App Store.
- freedomben 3y ago
  Isn't that just a thin client though? the actual "machine" is the server and you're just remoting into it? I don't think I'd consider that "developing" on an ipad since without the server it's totally dead in the water. I'd call that developing on a server
  - danielagos 3y ago
    No, it’s all done on iPad, you can develop and publish an app without using a computer at all: https://screenrant.com/publish-ios-apps-ipad-swift-playgrounds-4-how/ https://screenrant.com/publish-ios-apps-ipad-swift-playgroun...
asdff 3y ago
People have been developing code for the last 50 years with command line ides. So long as the device has a command line and privileges its as fine of a platform as any, and orders of magnitude more performant than the hardware a lot of developers historically made a career out of. IO should be easy considering these things already have bluetooth and could interface with a keyboard. You don't need a mouse for command line work after all.
ComputerGuru 3y ago
> The smartphone form factor is just not very good for software development. Even if the tools existed on the iPhone, nobody would use them. Tell that to those of us that wrote games on a TI-83.

twobitshifter 3y ago

You know what though? Shortcuts exists on iOS. What is shortcuts? It’s a visual programming language for making apps on your iPhone. It allows you to interact and program your phone in a sensible manner for a small screen. Yeah it doesn’t give you keys to the kingdom, but the types of things you might want to do to automate using your phone are there.

jxramos 3y ago
I've seen those but never fully comprehended what it was about or experimented. I need to watch some Youtube videos on the subject and take a bite into that world.
- twobitshifter 3y ago
  It’s very cool, here’s an example of a tool made using chat gpt. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9_MbW9FK1fA&pp=ygUVc2hvcnRjdXRzIGlvcyBhbWF6aW5n https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9_MbW9FK1fA&pp=ygUVc2hvcnRjdXR...

Someone 3y ago

I haven’t looked at it, but Apple claims you can develop apps with Playgrounds. See https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/ https://www.apple.com/swift/playgrounds/

Jtsummers 3y ago
Which is not available for iPhone, iPadOS (minimum 16, which supports iPads from 2015 and forward) and macOS only.