Can You Really Code on an iPad or Chromebook?

An iPad with a keyboard case is a lovely machine to type on. A Chromebook is cheap, light, and has a battery that lasts all day. Both are tempting as a development machine, or as the thing you bring when you'd rather not carry a laptop.

The question isn't whether you can write code on them — any device with a keyboard can do that. It's whether you can run your project: install its dependencies, start its server, run its tests, and use the tools the project expects. That's where they differ from a laptop, and where the workarounds come in.

Why it's harder than it looks

iPad. iPadOS doesn't let you run arbitrary programs the way a desktop operating system does. There's no general-purpose terminal where you can install Node, Python, Postgres, and Docker and have them behave like they do on a Mac or Linux machine. Some apps provide limited local environments, but a typical web project's full toolchain doesn't run natively.

Chromebook. ChromeOS includes an optional Linux environment (often called Crostini), which runs a real Linux container. Many projects run in it well, especially on a machine with enough memory. The limits are the hardware — many Chromebooks are low-powered — and the edges: Docker, GPU tooling, and some USB devices can be awkward or unavailable depending on the model and settings.

So a Chromebook can often be a real local dev machine, within its hardware. An iPad essentially can't, for most projects. For both, the most dependable approach is the same: run the project somewhere else, and use the device as the screen and keyboard.

Approach 1: SSH into a remote machine

Rent a server or use a machine you already own, and connect over SSH. Your project runs there — full Linux, any tools — and you edit in a terminal editor like Vim, Neovim, Helix, or nano.

On iPad: a good SSH app — Blink Shell, Termius, and others — gives you a proper terminal. Blink also supports mosh, which keeps your session alive through sleep, network changes, and flaky Wi-Fi, which matters a lot on a tablet that constantly suspends apps.

On Chromebook: the Linux terminal has ssh built in, or use an SSH app.

Always use tmux (or a similar multiplexer) on the remote machine, so your session survives disconnections. A tmux Cheat Sheet for Long-Running Sessions covers the essentials.

Strengths: fast, lightweight, works on poor connections, full power of a real machine. Weaknesses: terminal-only editing, and you're running a server — see How to Run Claude Code on a Remote Server for what that involves.

Approach 2: a browser-based editor

If you want a graphical editor, run VS Code in the browser:

GitHub Codespaces — a hosted environment with VS Code in the browser, created from your repository. Works in Safari on iPad and in Chrome. Billed by usage — see How Much Does GitHub Codespaces Actually Cost?.
code-server or OpenVSCode Server on your own machine — VS Code served to your browser. Put it behind proper authentication, never just a password on the open internet. (Self-Hosted Cloud IDEs in 2026.)
vscode.dev — VS Code in the browser for editing repositories and, with a remote tunnel, connecting to a machine you run.

Strengths: a full graphical editor with extensions, files, and search. Weaknesses on iPad: browser IDEs fight with the tablet for keyboard shortcuts — Cmd+W, Cmd+T, and friends may go to Safari instead of the editor. Adding the site to your home screen as a web app helps. Needs a steady connection.

Approach 3: a cloud development environment

A step up from a raw server: a service that gives each project a ready-made environment with the runtime, dependencies, database, and preview URLs already set up, reachable from a browser. You don't administer anything; you open the project and work. The trade-offs versus local development are covered in Cloud Development Environments vs Local Setup.

Strengths: nothing to maintain; the environment is the same from every device. Weaknesses: a monthly cost, and you're dependent on a connection.

Approach 4: let an agent do the heavy work

This one changes the equation most. With an AI coding agent like Claude Code running on a remote machine, a lot of work shifts from typing code to describing, reviewing, and steering — which is exactly what a tablet is good at. You describe the change, the agent edits files, runs the tests, and reports back; you read the diff, try the preview, and push back where it's wrong.

That works well from an iPad in a café — or even a phone on a train — as long as the agent is running on a machine that stays on. How to Use Claude Code From Your Phone compares the ways to do it.

Practical tips

Get a real keyboard with an Escape key, or remap one. Terminal editors and many tools depend on it; iPad keyboards often lack a physical Escape. iPadOS lets you remap Caps Lock to Escape in keyboard settings.
Use mosh plus tmux for SSH on iPad. The combination makes reconnection seamless.
Preview your app from the device. When the app runs on a remote machine, you need a URL to see it: a preview URL from your cloud environment, an SSH port-forward, or a tunnel. Plan for this — it's the step people forget.
Keep your credentials off the device where you can. A remote environment means your SSH keys and cloud credentials live on the server, not on a tablet you might leave on a train.
Chromebook buyers: get more memory than you think you need if you'll use the Linux environment. 8 GB is a sensible minimum for web development.

So, can you?

Chromebook, light-to-medium projects: yes, locally in the Linux environment, if the hardware is decent. Remote options work too.
iPad: yes — as a window onto a remote machine. Not as the machine itself.
Either, with an agent doing the heavy lifting: increasingly, yes, and comfortably.

The device is rarely the limitation any more. Having somewhere reliable, always-on, and properly set up for the code to run is.

EasySpawn gives each project a persistent cloud workspace with Claude Code running in it, reachable from a browser, an iPad, a phone, or SSH — with live preview URLs so you can see the running app from whatever device you're holding. See how it works or join the waitlist.