Snippet: The Death of Panic’s Code Editor ☇

Panic:

Code Editor — originally called “Diet Coda” then later “Coda for iOS” — was our powerful and full-featured iOS editor for developers. Introduced in 2012, it was packed with innovation, like our “Super Loupe” designed to make iOS cursor placement more precise — even fun, and an “iPad Preview” that let you use your iPad as a dedicated website preview screen long before Sidecar. The goal was to make a great code editor for iOS that anyone could use on-the-go.

Unfortunately, like Transmit iOS and Status Board before it, we’re discontinuing Code Editor as it doesn’t generate enough revenue to cover its continued development.

This was a gut-punch, mostly because I use Coda Code Editor on my iPad for this site and a few other projects and it’s the perfect mix of design and features for me. I’m not even sure there is a proper replacement from someone else (feel free to email if there is!)

For what it’s worth, I would’ve loved to pay a subscription to keep Transmit and Code Editor going, but I also understand that there just may not be enough people to even do that. Apple’s heavy-handedness with the App Store played a role to prevent adding additional tools, but I think there’s also the disconnect that people aren’t willing to pay for professional, complex software on mobile like they are on desktop operating systems.

Being able to run many iOS apps on the M1 Macs, along with this announcement has me wondering some random thoughts for the first time in awhile—should my next computer be a MacBook Air and replace my iPad and Mac mini with one machine that can do it all?