Can Swift Playgrounds create Apps on Apple Ipads?

[BruceH]

(04-25-2024 12:11 PM)StephenG1CMZ Wrote:  I have seen many Apple websites stating No, you need to use Xcode on a Mac (many £000's*).
I have seen a couple of Apple websites saying it is possible using Swift Playgrounds on an iPad (£400's*).
I have seen brief videos giving a taste of what the Swift language is like, but the many websites saying it is impossible are worrying.
Confusingly, both websites seem to be Apple's - but large corporations do struggle to present consistent information (in the past many HP sites overlooked the HP Prime, for example).

I wonder if anyone with experience of Apple's walled garden has tried this?
*for the hardware, add ~£100 for an Apple account

Yes, you need to pay for a developer account at £99pa. But no, using Xcode on a Mac is not "many thousands". Xcode is free so it's the cost of the hardware only. A second-hand Mac Mini 2012 model onwards is able to run the latest OS version (Sonoma) and therefore build binaries for the latest versions of Mac and iPad. Current eBay prices for such a machine in the UK are between £50 and £100.