Programming with L5 on iOS

This is a working method for programming with L5 on your phone or tablet with iOS, as of summer 2026.

Working with L5 requires: 1) a code editor, 2) LÖVE (Love2d), 3) the L5.lua library file. There are multiple methods to set this up on iOS.

One toolchain we've been working with lately involves using Love2d Studio, available for iOS. Please note that L5 is not connected to the developer and has no connection to this program. The following steps are all done from your iOS device.

1. Download Love2d Studio from the iOS store.
2. Open a web browser on your device and navigate to L5 Starter to download the L5-starter as a compressed zip file. Depending on your browser, you may have to click again to confirm the download.
3. Open the Files app on your device. Browse your local files and navigate to your Downloads folder, or wherever you downloaded the L5-starter.zip file.
4. Long press on L5-Starter.zip and select Uncompress from the pop-up menu. You should see a new L5-starter folder with 3 items.
5. Open the Love2d Studio app on your device. Click the + icon in the top right and create a New folder. Enter a name for your new project folder and click OK.
6. From the main screen, click on the 3 dots icon. From the popup menu choose Import file. In the Files app that pops open navigate to the uncompressed L5-starter folder and select L5.lua. In the Love2d Studio app you will now see that file in your project folder. Right click again on the 3 dots icon next to your project folder and now import main.lua from the L5-starter folder.
7. Now in Love2d studio click on the main.lua file inside your project folder. A code editor will open up for you to work on your L5 project. When you are ready to run your program, press the play button in the top right. And press the X icon to close the running program.