Option to run saved projects in companion app

App Inventor for iOS
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1

Is there any chance we could have an option to run saved projects in companion app that would work something like:

  1. When you connect via companion app to a project you have created then if you click on menu (in top right hand corner) there is an extra option called "Save Project" (currently only option is "Close Project") and this would save (to files in the companion app) whatever the companion app downloads when you connect to project you have loaded in the AI2 browser.
  2. Have options in companion app in addition to "connect with code" and "scan QR code" to manage saved projects - at minimum this would be to load and delete projects, but ideally an option to export and import projects to a URL which would give an easy way to share projects with friends.

At the moment you can connect to a project in companion app and if you close project in browser then it continues to run on the device without connection to the browser, so it seems connection to project in browser is not actually required to run the app.
So then surely this would be very simple and quick to implement as it is just giving an option to load a project from files stored in the companion app or a URL, rather than downloading this info from your app inventor account.

The benefits of this functionality are it would allow you to share apps you have written to friends who only have iOS devices, but also for Android, it gives a quick and easy way to share apps as with sharing via an APK, then you have to first change option to allow installing from APK file.

So this is not just a short term solution for running App Inventor apps on iOS, but a long term solution for a quick and easy way to share apps in both Android and iOS as alternative to installing from an APK or publishing to PlayStore/AppStore

2

I think this is something we could probably implement. At the moment, code is only pushed to the companion when you view the relevant screen, so we would have make it so that all code for all screens would be synchronized if one opts to save the project locally to execute later.

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That would be great and I would be more than happy to beta test (I have an iPhone and Android phone). My daughter finds coding at school to easy so boring and I have coded some AI2 apps with her, but she has friends that only have iPhones, so not being able to share apps with friends is a blocker to get her more involved.
Even an option that only works for singe screen apps would be a good start, but support for multiple screens is a bonus as quite few apps I have written use multiple screens.

Thanks for quick reply

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