Using py2app to make apps from Python

Learn how to turn a python app into a standalone application using the py2app package

If you do not have pip installed, you can learn to install it here:

[HighlineGuitars]

It's always the little details like entering pip3 or python3 that can make or break this process on a Mac. Thank you!

[nigelli]

Thank you so much for this! I'm a python beginner, been learning from Udemy for the past 2 months, and it feels so rewarding being able to turn my tiny beginner projects into apps I can share with my friends and family 😁

[dyhosjw]

Thank you!!! This is one thing NOBODY talks about when teaching Python. Great video 👏😄

[SiLiDNB]

Thank you for making this tutorial! It's really helpful, especially the trick of opening it from within the Package Contents to see the terminal window for debugging.

[paarynvadgama]

Perfect video and thanks for not editing out the small naming error, it's really helpful to see the debugging.

[krishnamoorthi]

Great video with step by step explanation, Thank you Samantha!

[Rohit-pebg]

This was so fun! thank you for explaining what each step of the process meant :)

[josephdorocak]

Thanks for this GREAT explanation. This is JUST what i need.

[clutchmaster]

Thank you so much! But one thing to add on is that when building you might get a Recursion Error which can be fixed by importing sys and increasing the recursion limit in the setup.py file.

[andrewjohnson]

I thought I followed along perfectly fine, but at time 5:08, I get a “PermissionError: [Errno 1] Operation not permitted”
Any ideas where I’ve erred?

[georgelza]

curious, can you use py2app on a M1 based MAC to build a executable for a Intel based mac.
2nd question, yes i have some data files and image files, but they are in a event and images sub directories ? the json files in events themself are to be edited by the app...
gets more interesting, i have a file called .exps that i run before the executable to setup the environment...
i normally run my program by executing a shell script that execute .exps and then executes the program by calling python <app>

[richielavey]

Thank you very much for the tutorial but I can't quite get it working, no dist or build directory is created on my computer and i get a disutil error, any recommendations?

[LOLJokes]

Thank you so much, this was super useful!!!! my compiled file is really large for such a small script, is there anyway to reduce the size?

[MartinJirsakMAJ]

Hi, thank you for this! Is it compatible with the Mac Silicon (M) processors, please? I tried to build my app. It was working with the py2app -A command, but when I tried to build the real application with the py2app, I couldn't start the application anymore. I get a "Lunch error". Thank you!

[vanshdeepsingh]

Everything was fine after I followed the procedure in the video. However every time I would run the app from the dist folder I was asked to permit the fact that the documents folder needs to be accessed. After clicking 'OK' the app icon would disappear and it would not open. I cannot seem to find the solution online. Would you be able to help? I am on macOS Catalina 10.15.6

[Zhisaoka]

Wow this is the only understandable tutorial. Thanks

edit: -bash: py2applet: command not found

[freddiegathercole]

In the dist directory, there are loads of other folders like Contents, MacOS and Resources, but how do I just open my app?

[bascurtiz]

@Samantha Cruz
By any chance, do you know how to write outside the Resources folder?
We've build an app, that will write a log.txt file so the user can review what the app has done in detail.
This log.txt ends up in the /Resource folder inside the bundle... Not really user-friendly to ask them to right-click the app, show Package Contents, Contents, Resources folder.
I'd love to have it written just in the folder next to where the app itself is.

[mattmovesmountains]

Is this instead of using pyinstaller? A more effective way of making an app/executable for Mac? I've never had issues with using pyinstaller to make apps on my Mac, but I Have had issues with getting those files uploaded/downloaded to and from file-sharing sites like drive and Dropbox. Just curious if this creates a better end-product

[juliacao]

I had an issue with the pyglettest as well but when I looked at the contents and opened the exec thing it didnt tell me what was wrong. So, I have no idea what where to look for the error.

Also when I dont have any files to add to the nano setup.py should I just leave it and exit?


This still got me so much further than other tutorials, so thanks!!