CodeSandbox Reviews

by Über.geek

Seems like it could be something great to have, but it has lost my work, multiple times. There are no "save", or "commit" buttons, to manually ensure changes are preserved. Sometimes things are as I left them; other times, they are arbitrarily reverted to some previous state. Also needs some UI enhancement

by Ardoitdev

This is a very capable and flexible IDE for students or even professionals wanting to turn an iPad into a real development device.

However, with that in mind, there are some shortcomings, annoyances, as well as vital features that serious developers will find missing. Just to list a few that I find significant:

- Old Node version. Node v12 LTS will reach end-of-life next year (end of April 2022) and many newer frameworks, such as SvelteKit, don’t support this older Node version. Roadmaps for upgrading to newer node versions need to made transparent, rather than saying “we’ll update our Node implementation not more than once or twice a year”.

- No git rebase, cherry-pick, reset, or restore functionality.

- Lack of a true terminal, so you’re forced to use the GUI (the interface is good and well-designed, but operations are often faster to do via terminal commands!).

- Not all web frameworks are supported (my Gatsby projects, for instance, don’t build well).

- Scripts don’t stop by themselves when they should.

- Dependency management buried in the Settings menu (it’d be more useful as its own tab, maybe switch places with Documentation?).

All in all though, a solid IDE. There’s a lot of potential here!

by Deepgilder

I need toggling wordwrap and pinch to zoom in/out like textastic

and UX is so arbitrary please use edge swipe when you going back to file list and how can I cancel making a new file? do I have to make it anyway and delete it? what a stupid UX

you should hire a designer seriously or if you have one, they should be fired

by Vli08

This is a very capable and flexible IDE for students or even professionals wanting to turn an iPad into a real development device.

However, with that in mind, there are some shortcomings, annoyances, as well as vital features that serious developers will find missing. Just to list a few that I find significant:

- Old Node version. Node v12 LTS will reach end-of-life next year (end of April 2022) and many newer frameworks, such as SvelteKit, don’t support this older Node version. Roadmaps for upgrading to newer node versions need to made transparent, rather than saying “we’ll update our Node implementation not more than once or twice a year”.

- No git rebase, cherry-pick, reset, or restore functionality.

- Lack of a true terminal, so you’re forced to use the GUI (the interface is good and well-designed, but operations are often faster to do via terminal commands!).

- Not all web frameworks are supported (my Gatsby projects, for instance, don’t build well).

- Scripts don’t stop by themselves when they should.

- Dependency management buried in the Settings menu (it’d be more useful as its own tab, maybe switch places with Documentation?).

All in all though, a solid IDE. There’s a lot of potential here!

by Mo707-S

Needs a reset switch

by Jonathanwork007

Great software but autocomplete sometimes lags. Still needs a way to install packages when needed. Portrait mode only, ohh come on most devs use landscape mode too it will be nice feature to add on there. Also when going to documentation will be great to save where i was at on the page save where my scroll was left off at and not scroll back and see the whole documentation again. My list could keep going email if you want more feedback thanks for the great work.

by ClarkUra

I would really love to use this all the time.
Needs auto complete and auto format for text editor.
Needs more tutorials/documentation. Some video walkthroughs would have cleared up some basic questions I had getting started.

by Chlo_Z

Use case: Programming a Discord bot as a novice programmer.

What to hate: So far, the only issue I’ve encountered is a problem with the ytdl-core package. My Discord bot can run off this IDE (for testing), but breaks the bot without any info as soon as I try playing music.

What to love: This IDE will resolve packages automagically (with confirmation) if need be which is amazing! GitHub support is to my needs, clean layout and design, runs in the background if you want it to, and plenty of quality of life settings (font size, font, theme color, change CodeSandbox icon, etc).

From a mobile IDE, this is amazing! Just not perfect.

by Vanslotj

I like the idea of importing and animating .svg files but I haven’t gotten that far with it. I also don’t know which libraries I’m able to import without an npm install, or is there a way around this? Also not much help online with UX. For instance, I can’t even figure out how to undo. But great app and with time I hope it becomes greater

by Arieljake

Really happy the developer came up with this idea. Super handy and the only one of its kind.

Editor needs some work, like Find/Replace, auto-completion, add instructions for how npm works (or put an explicit button).

Also, CodeSandbox should take a cue from Termius and use location services to keep itself running in the background...less accidental shutdowns.

by Subant05

Nice IDE for the iPad. It’s good enough that I can use my iPad as a laptop replacement. Add other UI frameworks and this would get 5 stars

by Eagle@001

it has been few months that I installed CodeSandbox
it is amazing specially with the focus mode and the environment it has
I love it
in facts CodeSandbox is the only reason I am using an iphone

by BrownWolf223

Haven’t come across a “pay me” sign yet unlike so many others. No ads that I can’t work through if any. Looks amazing!

by Amish Aydem

Really, really solid app. I sincerely appreciate the dev’s dedication to making this better on a consistent basis as well. I’m a Vue user, so the recent addition of Vue syntax highlighting is a huge plus for me. Keep in mind, that if you do plan on using Vue, you’ll still need to come up with the boilerplate yourself and then add it in. The beauty is that CodeSandbox does support node packages, so you can run just about everything in here so long as it’s based on that.

Update: Dev replied and added a boilerplate for Vue, so getting started is easier than ever. Thank you, nakiostudio!

by Obamaatemypollo

Work perfect in the iPad, awesome to be able node apps away from home, intellisense is great, this could very well be your IDE if you don’t have computer.

by Djmason9

UPDATE: The developer was very responsive and fixed my concerns. Thanks CodeSandbox is great!

I really wanted this to be great but the second I connected it to my external monitor all I saw was a gray screen and I was not able to use CodeSandbox . If the Developer can help me fix this I would give it a better review.

by Uatemymilk

I didn't expect much and was absolutely blown away. Really great program but I'm a beginner and I had a hard time noticing I had an error in the browser because errors aren't printed in the browser's console. I hope you guys add this in there; it would make my first steps much much easier!

by Liz A. Schmitt

But I felt I kinda had to for CodeSandbox. The dev designed it to perform exactly as it promised...and wow. Very well executed. I can actually program/build react apps on the fly. Props to the developer for making the UI so smooth and akin to a desktop experience.

by C31d5

Ive used many mobile IDEs ever since iPad Pro first came out and this is the very first Javascript focused IDE that’s as good as Pythonista is for Python. It looks like no other app out there, with a window manager and desktop-like environment. If you have an idea and just want to start coding, opening CodeSandbox and starting a RN project is faster than running create-react-native-app on Desktop.

by Heretiq

Wow! Thank you 🙏🏽. CodeSandbox is exactly what I needed to allow me to conveniently experiment with react native without having to fire up my Mac. The editor and DEV environment are extremely functional and user friendly. The documentation is a pleasant bonus. The two together present a very impressive learning and productivity tool. Wow!!!

by Rychillie

This application gives me a view of use on these devices like no other, the possibility of programming without problems with it is on another level!

by Masterchief

The setup for this is amazing! Absolutely love the new design! The old design felt tacky, like it wasn’t made for iPad OS. As a full time programmer, I am blown away with what they have been able to accomplish for this application! It has came a long way in a year, can’t wait to see where it will be a year from now! Please developers keep up the great work! I think you all have set the standard for how straightforward an IDE can be on the iPad! I have a few ideas that I would love to share with you for new features and improvements!

by Hpennington93

Please update to using a different SSH key because GitHub can no long use RSA keys. Also needs the ability to run commands on the non root folder of a repository.

by Kastifur

I honestly don’t have words. CodeSandbox is 100% worth every penny and more. I love this so much and can’t begin to thank the developer(s) enough.

by Linnkhantthu

I have used many editors on iPad and iPhone but this one is the best. CodeSandbox helps me work at a cafe or on a bus easily and comfortably. Thank you !

by Larry.ratliff11

I have a few minutes