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The Offline Editor is available for Android tablets[1] (though not other mobile platforms, such as iOS). However, mobile devices can not use keyboard controls, which are essential for many projects. ScratchJr is another app for tablets but it has limited functionality.
Mobile Application
Tablets can use the Online Editor to create projects. Currently, there is an Offline Editor for Android.[2] However, there are no official applications for other mobile platforms, such as iOS.
There was a tablet version of Scratch in development. @MIT Media Lab posted this spoiler on Twitter (also known as X) on February 4, 2014:
| “ | Mitch Resnick leads an early design exploration for a tablet version of #Scratch | ” |
– @MIT Media Lab | ||
Prior to this major leak, Mitch Resnick replied to a question on his profile with:
| “ | We're working on a version of Scratch for iPad (and other tablets). It will be ready sometime next year.[citation needed] | ” |
He has also hinted at some unique capabilities tablets can provide for Scratch which computers cannot, like the use of physical features like gyroscopes.
| “ | Yes, as we develop Scratch for tablets, we plan to provide access to the special sensors on tablets (similar to the way we now provide access to the webcam with the video-sensing blocks) | ” |
– mres, September 25, 2013[3] | ||
History
 |
The subject of this article or section has changed dramatically and requires updating. Some information or images may not be accurate or relevant to the current version of Scratch, the Scratch website, or the article subject. (April 2019) |
The Scratch Viewer was the first application created to play Scratch projects on mobile devices, specifically Apple's iOS. It was made by John McIntosh of Smalltalk Consulting Ltd, a Canadian programmer with no prior affiliation with the MIT Media Lab. In April 2010, Apple removed the application from the iTunes store because it violated the company’s policy against applications that interpret or execute code.[4]
After the Scratch Viewer's demise, other Scratchers started attempting to make project viewers based on the HTML5 canvas element, which can be run on most mobile devices. The first two such programs were Go Everywhere!, by comp500, and the HTML Viewer, by Johnnydean1.[5] The HTML Viewer officially stopped development, but was picked up again by two of its members, MidnightLeopard[6] and MathWizz, who are developing JsScratch based on its old code and a JavaScript library known as Morphic.js. Go Everywhere is still in active development, but is far from usable.
The Android Scratch Player is a player made by ZeroLuck specifically for the Android operating system. It was in alpha stage, but was discontinued after the official Scratch app for Android released.
RHY3756547 started creating their own HTML5-based player for Scratch 2.0, called sb2.js. It compiles a file in the Scratch 2.0 File Format into JavaScript code.
The Scratch Team attempted to develop an HTML5 Player for Scratch 2.0. They have released the source code to the public and looked for help help on this forum topic. The source code can be accessed here. The HTML5 player must be hosted on one's own website, as there is no official testing area on Scratch. The HTML5 Player was later abandoned and development on Scratch 3.0 began.
In December 2019, the Scratch Team released an official Scratch app on the Google Play Store.[1] It works on Android tablets as well as Chromebooks.
Pyonkee is an app which is based on Scratch 1.4.
Problems
No matter how well an HTML5 player works on a desktop computer, it will likely not work as well on a mobile device for a few reasons:
- Mobile devices are often not as good as interpreting code as desktop computers
- Mobile devices do not have a real keyboard, so key interaction is made difficult
- Exact clicking on a mobile device is made difficult by the necessity of using a finger as the mouse. There has to be more space in order for touchscreen to be possible
The native Scratch 1.4 application also doesn't work, due to the Squeak VM not supporting mobile devices. If the tablet supported either the Flash Player or Java Player, the project could be played in it. For Scratch 2.0, the project could be edited, albeit with the difficulties mentioned above, if the device supports Flash. Scratch 3.0 can be run on tablets running Android 6.0 or newer.
