New to WIP?
We're a group of makers shipping together. We help each other stay accountable and reach our goals.
Apply for access
Topics
Back
Question
Do you code on the iPad? If yes, what do you use?
I have additional 30-40 minutes a day in the morning before my day job and I want to use it for working on my side project.
I want to have the same strategy as Pat Walls from Starter Story and sit down in the cafe on the way to the office.
I don’t want to carry my laptop with me every day, but I have iPad that will be ideal for it.
Do you have any experience and tips for coding on iPad? I know that I can use code spaces or codesandbox and I wonder what is the best option.
I want to have the same strategy as Pat Walls from Starter Story and sit down in the cafe on the way to the office.
I don’t want to carry my laptop with me every day, but I have iPad that will be ideal for it.
Do you have any experience and tips for coding on iPad? I know that I can use code spaces or codesandbox and I wonder what is the best option.
👋 Join WIP to participate
I have used my iPad as my primary and only device for over two years. I worked with an AWS EC2 instance connected via Mosh using Blink Shell (blink.sh) and coded on Ubuntu with Neovim.
I didn't use a GUI editor, but you can use Blink Code, which is VSCode integrated into Blink. It still requires a remote machine to connect to for running code, but you can also use Tailscale to connect to your home Mac or computer and work from there.
Depending on your use case, you can easily adapt this setup to suit various needs. I loved every minute using the iPad, but as a full-time designer, it did limit my possibilities. Figma worked well until it didn't, and designing in Affinity was not an option. However, from a programmer's perspective, it’s a wonderful machine. If I were coding exclusively, I would trade in my Mac without hesitation. :-)
What are the specs of the EC2 instance you work on?
Sounds like a very nice thin client setup!
I used the t4g.2xlarge, but I'm not using the iPad anymore, so I just do everything locally. :-)
If I had to start again, I would probably go with a Hetzner dedicated server, as you can get a super powerful machine for less than €40. But you could also do everything on a super cheap $5 droplet on DO. :)
I like doing remote development, and Blink Shell makes the most sense. I have a box at Hetzner for this (DigitalOcean/Linode/AWS/etc/ are all good options), and the iPad has cellular, which is great. Remember to remap keys for extreme productivity.
That said, you might also be surprised that there are a few apps (they don't cost much, and if you really want to save $$$, you could compile many):
I have Working Copy (pay for it, otherwise you can't push to your git repos), and I also do use Textastic.
This is still not as powerful as doing stuff on my Macbook Pro, but that one doesn't have cellular, and I only tether when in need.
Edit: I also found a self-hosted option for VS Code that i have not used, but might actually be great to further power the iPad development environment.
I have a laptop and an iPad. I can’t relate to the MacBook being any more work to carry than the iPad. You’ll get so much more done with the laptop… and it all counts! Are you sure?