How do I build an iPhone Xamarin App without a Mac?

Question

I\'m developing xamarin forms apps. I can generate the APKs and run it on my android devices. But how can I do the same for iPhones without having a mac? Is there a way to build

Answer 1

With Visual Studio 2019 preview you have the Hot Restart that allow you to deploy with the iTunes to your local iphone/ipad...

https://docs.microsoft.com/es-es/xamarin/xamarin-forms/deploy-test/hot-restart

Answer 2

Another solution is to create an archive: To do that, visual studio, right-click on your iOS project -> Archive...

this will generate a .ipa, however, you have to sign it with a certificate to be able to use it on your device.

Learn more here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/android/deploy-test/release-prep/?tabs=windows

Answer 3

Here is guidance about how to build Xamarin apps for Android and iOS in azure-devops:

Build Xamarin apps azure-devops

Here is document about how to build Xamarin iOS app in AppCenter:

Building Xamarin apps for iOS in AppCenter

If you want to build a xamarin.iOS project locally, you must connect to a network-accessible Mac to build Xamarin.iOS applications. Because building native iOS applications requires access to Apple's build tools, which only run on a Mac.

Refer: Pair to Mac for Xamarin.iOS development