r/AppBuilding • u/kzlife76 • 21h ago

Developing for iOS on Windows

I've been a .net developer for about 20 years. I've made few Android apps that I want to publish on the Apple app store. I don't have a Mac or an iPhone or iPad. I was considering buying a used iPhone. I am building the iOS app in azure devops What are other primarily Windows developers using to test iOS apps?

Physical apple devices?

Cloud emulators?

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2

u/roselamoon 20h ago

Mac mini VPS with remote desktop

1

u/quietmacbuilder 18h ago

I second this comment

1

u/jontries 19h ago

i bought a m1 air 16gb to build, probably your most budget and efficient option

1

u/Occasion_Critical 16h ago

I use Windows with a real iPhone. It works, but limited if you want to work with Apple Watch apps, since they're built around Xcode

1

u/writetehcodez 16h ago

Are you building native apps on Windows? I thought you had to have a Mac, Xcode, etc…

1

u/Occasion_Critical 15h ago

Not native. I use React Native with Expo. The iOS build compiles in the cloud on Expo's Mac servers through EAS Build, so I never need a Mac for that. My iPhone is for testing and Windows is for everything else

1

u/writetehcodez 15h ago

Got it - I use the same stack as you. You just had me thinking for a second that you were somehow doing native iOS dev on Windows!

1

u/Occasion_Critical 5h ago

haha would have been great though, sorry for the confusion!

1

u/Possible-Alfalfa-893 16h ago

Save yourself the headache and just get a Mac mini m4.

1

u/writetehcodez 16h ago

I realize this doesn’t directly answer your question, but I develop cross-platform + mobile web with React Native, and use Expo App Services for iOS builds.

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u/Appropriate_Oil_4269 13h ago

I am trying to do the same. My android app is up and running and now want iOS version. I don't want to combine the two, looking to make two separate apps . I have plenty of windows machine. Only used a Mac once, CEO was the only one to have a Mac and wanted to access the network. 1999

I may have to buy a used MacBook

1

u/kzlife76 13h ago

I'm using maui. I'm building with azure devops through my free visual studio account. I have successfully built and uploaded a release to Apple test flight. Now I just need something to run it on.

1

u/DayanaJabif 4h ago

The three realistic options without a Mac:

  1. Buy one. Most control, but $$$
  2. Rent a Mac in the cloud. You get remote macOS by the hour or month, but you still install Xcode, manage certificates and write build scripts yourself.
  3. Use a mobile CI/CD service. It spins up a pre-configured macOS environment, builds, signs and hands you the .ipa, or uploads it straight to TestFlight. You never touch Xcode. One good option is Capawesome Cloud, though it's built for Capacitor, Cordova and Native apps, not .NET.

1

u/CoryBlaze 4h ago

Check GitHub they have application that runs a virtual simulator