Best way to develop iOS apps

kryptonmight

I'll try to keep this short. I have a Windows phone app that I'm working on and at some point, I might like to port it to iOS and Android. While I can probably develop the Android version on my PC I'm guessing I need a Mac in order to develop an iOS version?

I know there are some tools like Xamarin that let you develop iOS apps in C# on Windows but I don't know if that is the best way to go, for reasons such as performance and app size, plus I think the software is expensive. However buying a Mac isn't cheap either, although I think you can buy some sort of Mac box that comes without a monitor, keyboard etc which may be a slightly cheaper way to own one.

Has anyone here developed apps for iOS as well as other platforms? If so, how did you go about it?

Thanks.

Graham

I use a mac for all platforms, Parallels for running Windows on the mac if I need it.

Mac mini is probably the cheapest new mac that's suitable for dev work. Might be worth looking at 2nd hand 24" or 27" iMac too or check out the Apple refurb store.

SilverScreen

I've used a Mac Mini + XCode to work on a few apps in the past. Mac Minis are the cheapest option but can be slow sometimes.

maccored

i bought this very mac im using on adverts.ie for a few hundred euro. its an MBP 15 in perfect nick. Macs dont have to be expensive.

Graham

maccored wrote: »

i bought this very mac im using on adverts.ie for a few hundred euro. its an MBP 15 in perfect nick. Macs dont have to be expensive.

Very true, although if you have the choice/budget I'd definitely go for something with as large a display as you can get.

dazberry

I bought a second hand Mac mini myself, but I've since heard mention of www.macincloud.com which might be worth a look...

D.

Creamy Goodness

Cross platform toolkits are a no no. You can get away with that **** on android/windows phone/blackberry but they stick out like a sore thumb on iPhone.

Mac mini + Xcode is the best way to go. Objective c + cocoa touch is a nice language/framework to learn too.

Colonel Panic

I write as much of the core of cross platform apps in C++ as I can, then use whatever native tool kits and languages are at my disposal.

Mixing C++ with Objective C is pretty straightforward, especially with recent language updates which make it even easier and cleaned.

John_Mc

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Cross platform toolkits are a no no. You can get away with that **** on android/windows phone/blackberry but they stick out like a sore thumb on iPhone.

Mac mini + Xcode is the best way to go. Objective c + cocoa touch is a nice language/framework to learn too.

Depends on what the App does of course, but would the likes of PhoneGap not work just as well? It's HTML 5 which runs well on IOS and all other smart phones and it could look exactly the same as a native app. In fact it would be a native app because it is compiled into one.

Graham

John_Mc wrote: »

Depends on what the App does of course, but would the likes of PhoneGap not work just as well? It's HTML 5 which runs well on IOS and all other smart phones and it could look exactly the same as a native app. In fact it would be a native app because it is compiled into one.

Although PhoneGap can access many of the native functions on the mobile platforms, aren't PhoneGap apps still html 5 apps in a native wrapper? Has that changed recently?

ChRoMe

John_Mc wrote: »

Depends on what the App does of course, but would the likes of PhoneGap not work just as well? It's HTML 5 which runs well on IOS and all other smart phones and it could look exactly the same as a native app. In fact it would be a native app because it is compiled into one.

This is a really misleading perspective that is being sold to developers, that is simply not true (I'm not having a go at you personally John).

I've seen several commercial projects that have gone the HTML5/PhoneGap route, frankly it just doesn't work, however that's not PhoneGap's fault.

Basically the mobile HTML rendering engines are obviously not on par with native UI renderers, so once you get to a situation where your application has moderate complexity (read: many nested dom elements) it slows to a crawl giving a really **** user experience.

John_Mc

Graham wrote: »

Although PhoneGap can access many of the native functions on the mobile platforms, aren't PhoneGap apps still html 5 apps in a native wrapper? Has that changed recently?

I doubt it but I'd imagine the available features are being extended over time. Seems like you can do quite a lot from looking at the API.

My post was responding to the outright dismissal of cross platform solutions without actually knowing the requirements of the application. If it can be used then it should be used because of the obvious savings made when offering on platforms other than IOS.

John_Mc

ChRoMe wrote: »

This is a really misleading perspective that is being sold to developers, that is simply not true (I'm not having a go at you personally John).

I've seen several commercial projects that have gone the HTML5/PhoneGap route, frankly it just doesn't work, however that's not PhoneGap's fault.

Basically the mobile HTML rendering engines are obviously not on par with native UI renderers, so once you get to a situation where your application has moderate complexity (read: many nested dom elements) it slows to a crawl giving a really **** user experience.

Ok I get ya now. I haven't personally used PhoneGap myself so can't stand over the performance of it.

Graham

John_Mc wrote: »

Ok I get ya now. I haven't personally used PhoneGap myself so can't stand over the performance of it.

There's always slight differences between native components and their html facsimiles and if you're app is anyway complex PhoneGap has (in the past anyway) had a tendency to lag and loose the fluidity that you'd get with a native app.

There are other cross-platform options but that's starting to drag the thread O/T.

Creamy Goodness

John_Mc wrote: »

Depends on what the App does of course, but would the likes of PhoneGap not work just as well? It's HTML 5 which runs well on IOS and all other smart phones and it could look exactly the same as a native app. In fact it would be a native app because it is compiled into one.

Being honest with you...

phone gap is fine for very basic apps (single page apps), but as Chrome said the more difficult your DOM gets the more sluggish it gets.

If your app is simple then wrapping it in an app isn't brilliant either, just do a nice responsive website.

Goodshape

ChRoMe wrote: »

Basically the mobile HTML rendering engines are obviously not on par with native UI renderers, so once you get to a situation where your application has moderate complexity (read: many nested dom elements) it slows to a crawl giving a really **** user experience.

That's not untrue but it still depends on what the App does. There's no good reason to dismiss cross-platform / html5 / phonegap without first knowing the requirements.

But you have to know the tools you're using. Cross-platform will not allow you the greatest, smoothest, most lavish and best-in-class iOS "experience", but not every app calls for that.

ChRoMe

Goodshape wrote: »

That's not untrue but it still depends on what the App does. There's no good reason to dismiss cross-platform / html5 / phonegap without first knowing the requirements.

But you have to know the tools you're using. Cross-platform will not allow you the greatest, smoothest, most lavish and best-in-class iOS "experience", but not every app calls for that.

I'm not a fan of committing to an architecture that's going to severely limit future development as well.

Anyone in software a reasonble amount of time knows that requirements change and you need to plan for that, painting yourself into a corner with PhoneGap and the likes is a risk. One that can be easily side stepped.

Goodshape

Your warnings are perfectly valid, I just dislike the hardline "never ever" stance. There are more than a few reasons PhoneGap might be an attractive – maybe even good – option, particularly for first iteration and functional proof of concepts.


The idea that you're going to get "exactly the same as a native app" is pretty much always wrong, though. You just end up in a ****ty uncanny valley situation.

kryptonmight

Thanks for the replies so far.

The app itself is very basic so far. I'm still trying to get my head around Windows Phone development, Xaml and the likes as my experience so far would be mainly C# winforms so I would class myself as beginner-ish level. Just wondering what the options were if I eventually wanted to port it to other platforms.

However I never even considered HTML5 which might be a nice initial option.

Talisman

Have you considered MonoTouch (now Xamarin)? It provides C# bindings to the native iOS frameworks.

FurQyou

I set up virtual box to use mac OS (and linux) on my PC.

Will probably still need an Iphone/pad to test on though.

Atomic Pineapple

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Cross platform toolkits are a no no. You can get away with that **** on android/windows phone/blackberry but they stick out like a sore thumb on iPhone.

Mac mini + Xcode is the best way to go. Objective c + cocoa touch is a nice language/framework to learn too.

Sticks out like a sore thumb on all of them to be honest.

Goodshape

Atomic Pineapple wrote: »

Sticks out like a sore thumb on all of them to be honest.

Just because it's easier to make a complete balls of it, doesn't mean it's impossible to do a good job. That's just FUD and propaganda.

Plenty of good looking Phonegap apps listed on their website – http://phonegap.com/app/

Atomic Pineapple

Goodshape wrote: »

Just because it's easier to make a complete balls of it, doesn't mean it's impossible to do a good job. That's just FUD and propaganda.

Plenty of good looking Phonegap apps listed on their website – http://phonegap.com/app/

Of course, I agree