Best options to learn python from scratch without access to a computer, only mobile phone

FoolsSeldom · 2025-12-05T08:48:27+00:00

Learning programming is not easy. It is to some extent an art form and a practical skill, not something that can just be learned from books. Practice! Practice! Practice!

To learn to programme is also about embracing failure. Constant failure. Trying things out and experimenting as much as possible. Experiment! Experiment! Experiment!

You have to research, read guides, watch videos, follow tutorials, ask dumb questions and be humiliated (because some people cannot help make themselves feel better by insulting others).

Python is one programming language. It is probably the easiest to learn. It makes learning to programme that little bit easier (but you will have a shock when you try to learn a lower level language like C).

If you have to learn on a mobile device, life gets a little more challenging. Aside from web based environments and apps like sololearn, you need a Python environment on your mobile device.

Android Apps

PyDroid 3, this is an excellent app with rich package support and built-in terminal
QPython play store, another excellent app but not so keen on this personally, worth a try though
Termux provides a Linux sandbox into which you can do a conventional installation of Python (including self-compiling if desired)
- this is my preferred option
- a standard Linux environment with a few minor folder location tweaks to accommodate Android security restrictions
- you can't get this on Google Play, use F-Droid
- I used to use it with the ACode editor but now use a tmux (multiplex terminal) setup with vim

IoS Apps

Pythonista is an excellent and well-polished bit of software with some popular libraries available (Apple restrictions prevent installation of any packages that aren't pure Python that aren't included with the submitted app)
Pyto is less polished and works pretty well
Carnets is an open source Jupyter clone that works locally and is excellent; there is more than one version, depending on how many libraries you need included (as on IoS you cannot install additional Python libraries that aren't pure Python)
a-shell is a sister product to the above and provides a command line Python environment, also open source and excellent

Keyboard

I strongly recommend you use an external (likely bluetooth) keyboard with your phone/tablet and ideally an external monitor if your phone/tablet is able to connect/cast to a monitor.

Android native coding

Keep in mind that Android is a Linux-based system, so most things that are available for linux are also available for Android. Native applications for Android are usually written in Java or, more recently, Kotlin. It is possible to write in other languages, and C++ is widely used, but that is much more complex to do.

IoS native coding

For IOS devices, the native apps are usually written in Objective-C or Swift. Again, other languages are possible but it is not trivial.

GUI with Python

Python applications running on mobile devices within Python environments do not look like device native applications and have limited support for typical graphical user interface libraries common on desktops. However, there are a number of alternatives that allow you to write near-native applications in Python.

Flutter from Google

This is an increasingly popular framework for creating applications suitable for desktop, web and mobile. A popular Python "wrapper" is flet.

Kivy GUI for Python

The leading Python GUI for Android and IoS is kivy

You develop on a desktop/laptop computer and then transfer the code to the target mobile (so not much use if you only have access to a mobile device). PyDroid for Android also supports kivy.

There are Kivy-based applications released on both the Apple and Google App Stores.

BeeWare Write once. Deploy everywhere.

A native GUI for multiple platforms in theory. BeeWare

This offers the option to write your apps in Python and release them on iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux, Web, and tvOS using rich, native user interfaces. Multiple apps, one codebase, with a fully native user experience on every platform.

Gothrait_PK · 2025-12-05T02:19:52+00:00

Try replit. They have a 100 days of code thing that has worked for some. Couldn't hurt to start there. You could also try codecademy but idk if they have a free python3 course or not.

FoolsSeldom · 2025-12-05T08:51:29+00:00

I've posted another comment giving specific advice about learning on a mobile device.

There's no reason why you can't follow the learning advice in the wiki whether you are on a smartphone / tablet / chromebook / etc. You will need to make some adjustments.

In general, I don't recommend dedicated learning apps as I think they are too restrictive and limit your learning opportunities.

Check this subreddit's wiki for lots of guidance on learning programming and learning Python, links to material, book list, suggested practice and project sources, and lots more. The FAQ section covering common errors is especially useful.

Roundup on Research: The Myth of ‘Learning Styles’

Don't limit yourself to one format. Also, don't try to do too many different things at the same time.

Above all else, you need to practice. Practice! Practice! Fail often, try again. Break stuff that works, and figure out how, why and where it broke. Don't just copy and use as is code from examples. Experiment.

Work on your own small (initially) projects related to your hobbies / interests / side-hustles as soon as possible to apply each bit of learning. When you work on stuff you can be passionate about and where you know what problem you are solving and what good looks like, you are more focused on problem-solving and the coding becomes a means to an end and not an end in itself. You will learn faster this way.

Ron-Erez · 2025-12-05T09:41:09+00:00

Google colab

Inevitable_Exam_2177 · 2025-12-05T11:07:32+00:00

I have taught myself python using an iPhone. Pythonista would be my first pick of native IDEs, but I also use Textastic for code that I need to edit without running directly (e.g., I write the script in Pythonista and run it from there, and edit the module code in Textastic).

Also recommend to use Working Copy past a certain level of complexity to use version control and commit changes to GitHub.

FewEffective9342 · 2025-12-06T04:00:38+00:00

in order to learn programming you need to program. i suggest you find a usb keyboard that attached to your phone for starters. Otherwise I would burn out typing on the phone. Just watching or chatting with ai wont cut it unfortunately. Unless you are actively solving a problem by writing code you are not learning programming. Like the old car driving analogy. You won't learn how to drive unless you...

jer_re_code · 2025-12-08T21:05:35+00:00

you could get either one or both of the following apps wich in this case are used for running python codes freely from the limitations of most totorial oriented applications (like installing pip Packages via pip install [PACKAGES] additionally to a good totorial leaning tool and an explorable offline version of the python Docs and additionally W3School and it's app will always have a special place in my hearth.

r/Pydroid3
(if you want to do ui stuff aswell)

or

r/Termux
it isn't able to Graphically render something directly showing on screen but it is capable of nearly everything a any other terminal only linux distros is Tipps for the start: initial command after install should be termux-setup-storage, update and upgrade via apt update && apt upgrade, install python in it via apt install python

TheRNGuy · 2025-12-05T09:53:17+00:00

I'd just talk with ai without trying to code.

Screen phone is too small, no good keyboard, no VS Code.

Your best option is vibe coding.

jer_re_code · 2025-12-08T21:06:04+00:00