C++ on Android: What Runs Today and What Doesn't

C++ needs a serious compiler, which is exactly why people assume it's off-limits on a phone. To be straight about it: C++ does not run in PocketCode today. This post explains what that means, and what you can compile and run on the phone right now.

Where C++ stands

You can open, edit and save C++ files: the editor highlights C++ and has a built-in formatter for it, with a symbol bar for the punctuation. What is missing is everything that executes it:

• No runner. Run is greyed out on a .cpp file.
• No installable compiler. The plugin manager (Settings → Compilers and runtimes) lists a Clang-based C++ pack, but it can't be installed in this version.
• No C++ language server. clangd is a native program, and Google Play doesn't allow apps to download native code, so there is no one-tap server for C++.

We don't count C++ among the languages the app runs.

What you can do today: C with TCC

If what you want is compiled, native-style code on the phone, C works now. The app bundles the TCC compiler, so a .c file compiles and runs on the device with nothing to download — see compile and run C on Android.

• Real compilation, with genuine compiler errors and warnings.
• printf, standard headers, pointers, structs and arrays — the C you'd write while learning or prototyping.
• It all runs on the device and nothing leaves it. (You need a connection to sign in; opening the app with a session already started works offline; after that it's local.)

It's also a good way to learn the memory model that C++ builds on. To build and run real C++, use a desktop or a server you reach over SSH.

What else runs on the phone

If you want to practice typed languages today, Kotlin and Java (experimental and limited, through the BeanShell interpreter: classes with objects, generics and lambdas don't run) run on the device too, as do Python, JavaScript and TypeScript, Ruby and PHP. Go, Lua and Rust-style scripts are optional packs. See the full lineup.

---

C++ doesn't run yet; C, Kotlin, Python, JavaScript and more do, on your phone today.

PocketCode is available on Google Play. Get PocketCode to try it on your own device.