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I'm evaluating a Xamarin Studio indie license which does not include VS integration - Correct me if I am wrong. But I want to know if it's possible to use Xamarin Studio to do iOS development? I'm very interested in the new feature of iOS designer announced at Xamarin Evolve, ideally it shall be possible too on Windows.

If the answer is yes, how?

Durai Amuthan.H
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imgen
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    In order to develop iOS projects you must have a MAC that can build and convert the C# code to objective c. You can edit the code in C# (Visual Studio) on Windows - but you must have a MAC on the network with the enterprise license installed to do the builds. – tsells Apr 19 '13 at 04:12
  • I think what you described is before. Now with Xamarin Studio, we can create and run (on device) in VS. But the problem is that Indie license does not include VS integration. – imgen Apr 19 '13 at 04:22
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    No. Visual Studio integration came out with the new release. One of the REQUIREMENTS is to have a MAC on the network that can do the build. Please read the first sentence of the Overview section. http://docs.xamarin.com/guides/ios/getting_started/introduction_to_xamarin_ios_for_visual_studio – tsells Apr 19 '13 at 15:44
  • @tsells what is the latest update, with new release of Xamarin studio, is it possible? – Niraj Jul 01 '15 at 17:36
  • Not with Xamarin Studio though. But now Xamarin for VS is included in Starter edition and VS community edition is free now, so it is possible. – imgen Jul 09 '15 at 02:20
  • possible for community edition @imgen,... have u tried? – gumuruh Mar 14 '17 at 23:15
  • @gumuruh, I did try it. Actually I am using it right now. Thanks for the tip! – imgen Mar 16 '17 at 11:25
  • community is for sure. anyway, what do u mean "license not include VS integration"....? is that mean VS Community can't integrate with a mac os for debugging... or something else that i didn't catch up? @imgen – gumuruh Mar 17 '17 at 15:53
  • @imgen i believe ionic can provide you all the 3 emulators in the web...... but as rolf says u need some sort of mac device – Grijan Apr 06 '18 at 11:55

7 Answers7

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Currently it is not possible to develop for iOS using Xamarin Studio on Windows.

If you want to use Windows, you can use Visual Studio.

If you want to use Xamarin Studio, you can do so on a Mac.

Note that you will always need a Mac around, even if you're using Visual Studio.

Rolf Bjarne Kvinge
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While not specifically answering the question, it should be noted that it is possible to develop for iOS in Visual Studios using a connected Mac as a build host. This connected Mac could either be through the network or can even be a VM running from your Windows machine.

SMKS
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    i agree... @SMKS, coz in the previous project I did the same thing as android development where it needs android device as its embedded inside VM. :D – gumuruh Apr 30 '16 at 01:29
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We can use xamarin studio in Mac OS only. If you want to use xamarin in windows you need to download xamarin plug in to visual studio from xamarin.com. Also you must need Mac Os as virtually running on windows for debugging and seeing output. User interface design should only performs on Mac OS Xcode SDK. So only we need Mac OS virtual machine on windows. In visual Studio IOS project file having .xib file (i.e) Xcode Interface builder, in that file only we need to design user interface configurations using xcode on Mac OS.

Mark Parnell
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vivek
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Using Mac build Host you can do but you'll need the networked mac for developing and debugging too.

or else you can use Xamarin Live Player using which you can debug,develop and deploy the app completely in windows without the help of any Apple system but to sign and release the app to appstore you will need Apple System though

Durai Amuthan.H
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You can code your whole iOS application of from Visual Studio in windows.

When it comes to execution of application, you have to have MAC machine. You can connect your MAC to windows on Network by Mac build Host in order to run, debug your application in windows.

For more information follow this link.

R15
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Currently it is not possible to run Apple iOS emulator on windows.

See the official documentation given on url Installing Xamarin.iOS on Windows in Xamarin Developer Documentation which says :-

There are some tasks that Xamarion.iOS for Visual Studio currently cannot do i.e No iOS simulator on Windows – The iOS Simulator runs on Mac OS X, so it’s necessary to switch to the Mac’s screen when testing on the simulator

vibs2006
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  • how about if we use the mac OS under virtualbox,... would it helped @vibs2006 ? – gumuruh Mar 14 '17 at 23:16
  • @gumuruh The problem with Virtual boxes is that they cannot run any mobile emulators as they themselves are Virtual Machines. – vibs2006 Mar 17 '17 at 04:49
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http://docs.xamarin.com/guides/ios/getting_started/introduction_to_xamarin_ios_for_visual_studio/ says

Xamarin iOS for Visual Studio allows iOS applications to be written and tested on Windows computers, with a networked Mac providing the build and deployment service.

So I think you can do developing and testing (debugging?) but not building nor deploying. CMIIW.

maspai
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    The problem is that it works only with Visual Studio, not Xamarin Studio. Visual Studio Integration is not available for the Indie edition which is what I am going to buy. – imgen Mar 25 '14 at 09:54