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I was researching this and I can't seem to find a concrete answer.

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Angry Birds uses Lua as its level file format (well, at least on the N900). – mrbinary Oct 19 '11 at 15:11

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The iOS developer program agreement section 3.3.2 reads (in part) as follows:

An Application may not download or install executable code. Interpreted code may only be used in an Application if all scripts, code and interpreters are packaged in the Application and not downloaded.

When the license agreement was updated in 2010, this change was covered by most major Apple news sites (since it was a relaxation of the earlier rules). For example, here.

To that end, Lua should be okay as long as all the code you run is bundled within the resources of your application and never downloaded remotely (so Apple can verify it). Of course, I am not a lawyer so my interpretation of legal documents should be taken with a suitably large pinch of salt.

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Am I right in thinking that the developer agreement used to contain a 'fight club clause' stating that you must not say what's in the agreement? – George Duckett Oct 19 '11 at 6:58
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@George: Given that the developer program is open to anyone willing to pay $100 (and you agree to the terms before paying), I doubt it had such a clause. At the very least it would be totally meaningless. – Joe Wreschnig Oct 19 '11 at 11:07
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Caveat: The code can be downloaded with in app purchases, such as if you intended to have downloadable levels with LUA. – DampeS8N Oct 19 '11 at 15:43
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Considering that Corona SDK exists, I'd say yes.

Apple has also allowed Adobe to make an AIR runtime for iOS.

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IIRC Monotouch specifically uses the AOT compiler to avoid having JIT code. I'm not sure it's the best example here. – Jimmy Oct 19 '11 at 1:40
@Jimmy that's true, I've revised the answer. – michael.bartnett Oct 19 '11 at 4:45
@Jimmy: That's true, but forbidding JIT is not the same thing as forbidding embedded languages. – Joe Wreschnig Oct 19 '11 at 11:06
up vote 2 down vote

Apple allows any scripting language, there is a catch, it must be packaged in the app or app addons that go through apple, it cannot be downloaded of an external server and the user cannot edit it.

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Regarding "the user cannot edit it": the free app Paragraf allows the user to edit GLSL shaders on-device. (Now, technically, GLSL is not a scripting language, but I think the presence of this app is still a datapoint worth considering.) – smokris Nov 12 '11 at 1:55
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It depends on your definition of scripting language, it is a piece of code that gets executed at runtime.. But I agree, it is a quite interesting idea. – Matt Jensen Nov 23 '11 at 0:16

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