Visual Studio 2015, Xamarin and target devices

Question

I just downloaded and installed Xamarin for VS2015, including VS2015 SP2 and a host of other stuff. I created a "hello world!" app and got targets for iOS, Android, Universal Windows, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1.

I am new to developing for Android and iOS and know that if I want an iOS solution I'll need to purchase a Mac to do that. I have a couple of Windows Phone apps that I might convert to android and iOS apps, so a Mac seems inevitable.

However, my question is can I use the (now) free Xamarin for VS2015 to create and build C# apps that will run on OS X (not iOS), or do I have to learn Objective-C to do that?

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible to create and build MAC OS apps with Xamarin and C#. Here you have the official Getting Started guide , where you'll find the requirements, such as:

• A Mac computer running Mac OS X Yosemite(10.10) or greater.
• Xcode 7 and above
• Xamarin.Mac and Xamarin Studio

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Visual Studio is free in Mac OS only for MSDN subscribers. However, Xamarin Studio is free.

Answer 2

Xamarin provides Xamarin.Mac which consists of a set of OS-X API bindings (which in the Unified API version contain many of the same APIs as Xamarin.iOS as 64-bit iOS and OS-X share many of the same Frameworks, in name, function and parameters).

That said, you will need to use Xamarin Studio Community Edition on a Mac to do that C#/F# development as Xamarin.Mac is not supported within the Windows/Visual Studio environment.

From Xamarin's FAQ:

Can I still develop Xamarin.Mac apps?

Yes! All Xamarin Studio developers on Mac now have the ability to create Mac apps with Xamarin.Mac, in addition to iOS (and tvOS and watchOS).

Ref: https://www.xamarin.com/faq#xpq9

Answer 3

There has been a ton of confusion over the new licensing schemes for Xamarin and Visual Studio so one of my coworkers (Amy Burns) put together this great, interactive guide: Licensing Options .

Just follow through the "options" from the top to the bottom by clicking on the appropriate links in a "choose your own adventure" style.

The short story is this: if you meet the requirements of the license, you can use the Community Edition of Visual Studio or Xamarin Studio to code in Xamarin.iOS (this includes watchOS and tvOS), Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.Mac.

If you don't meet the free license requirements you can purchase Visual Studio standalone or MSDN versions Professional or Enterprise (which includes extra features such as discounts on Test Cloud for Enterprise). Visual Studio Professional and Enterprise both include Xamarin Studio on Mac of the same level for free (see the Visual Studio Comparison Chart ).

Any Apple OS (iOS, watchOS, tvOS or OS X) requires a physical Mac with the latest version of Xcode and Xamarin Studio installed. For all Apple OSes (excluding OS X), the Mac can be networked to a Windows machine running Visual Studio and development done from there. Mac OS X development in Xamarin.Mac must be done in Xamarin Studio on a physical Mac. These are Apple's restrictions, not Xamarin or Microsofts.