Is it possible to use Python to write cross-platform apps for both iOS and Android?

Question

Is it possible to use Python to write cross-platform apps for both iOS and Android

Dg

duplicate? – Kissner

@Kissner i am not convinced by the selected answer of that question, I think it can be used and to confirm I asked that question – Dg

Has this changed at all? – Nucleolus

Is using pyside, pyqtdeploy a viable option in 2018? – Erlanger

Answer 1

For Android Google provides something called ASE (Android Scripting Environment) which allows scripting languages (Python included) to run on Android. More details here

For iOS, it might be quite a bit more complicated (and I'd advise to check the latest version of iOS SDK agreement to check the current state of the law - apple tends to allow & disallow such apps periodically). For the technical part you might need to interface between Python & Objective C as well as do some wizardry to statically link all the libraries Python requires; full details are available here. Another approach for iOS Python development would be to embed a Python interpreter into you app and distribute your Python script with it (so to play nicely with Apple rules). In this case your Python application would be a Python interpreter which is packaged with your script and runs it automatically.

Second option is to use Kivy framework(kivy.org) - it's a framework to write touch-friendly applications in Python and package them for different platforms. It's had Android support for a while, and recently added iOS support

Dragster

also this is precisely the aim of Kivy (kivy.org) - it's a framework to write touch-friendly applications in Python and package them for different platforms. It's had Android support for a while, and recently added iOS support – Dragster

Python 3.3+ to iOS is not supported by Kivy yet. – Behavior

Answer 2

An option is kivy: a cool cross platform Python framework which works for Android, Win7, Linux, MacOSX and iOS.

Update: kivy project is growing daily, now supports also Raspberry Pi

Bigwig

Answer 3

For writing a GUI applicaion you can use the Toga library,then package it with briefcase into a Android and/or iOS app (or Windows, Linux, macOS etc).

Note: the project is still in alpha state but under rapid development.

Phonologist

Answer 4

As @piertoni mentioned, BeeWare enables native iOS & Android apps to be written in Python.

Externalism

Answer 5

You can try and combine brython and cordova. The Brython wiki describes how to write an Android app using Brython, which might provide the necessary information to do this also using Cordova. I haven't tested this yet, but it sounds promising. You should however be aware that due to its nature, Brython cannot support x86-compiled packages such as OpenCV (see e.g. here). On the other hand, if you know a bit about JavaScript / HTML5, you can use the WebView native functions, e.g. http://www.brython.info/gallery/three.html.

Incognizant

Answer 6

There's FireMonkey (FMX).

FMX is a fairly new framework for developing cross-platform applications using Python, but I can honestly say that it is the best one currently available!

It's far better than all the other GUI Python Frameworks. With FMX you can develop with a single code base for Windows, MacOS, Android, and Linux.

iOS is not yet supported, but it is planned for in the near future.

I think FMX is worth keeping an eye on.

Bowles