Be it businesses or developer; it’s hard to have missed out hearing about Xamarin. Why? Well, because of its full acceptance as a terrific resource for developing high quality cross-platform native mobile apps and that too without needing to replicate the code for every single platform. It’s all great till you find yourself in a situation where you have to build a Xamarin-based iOS application but without the use of Apple’s ecosystem.
Why? Wait, we’ll explain.
Well, even though Xamarin apps share a large chunk of their code, the truth remains that it is imperative to test each iteration of the app on the platform they are meant for. It is not an issue with Android, but it is a different story with iOS. Moreover, it is because to build an app; you need an OSX environment.
Unfortunately, both the OSX and iOS operating systems involve significant costs. Sure, you can buy hardware, but that would necessitate not only additional costs but also hardware upgrades and updates for the software. While this can, admittedly, be a significant deterrent, a practical alternative is found in MacInCloud. A tool for testing iOS apps without an OSX environment, MacInCloud proffers a plethora of benefits. However, to give you a fair idea of if this may be a viable option for you, we’ll list its benefits as well as pitfalls.
1. Advantages
a. Companies are freed up from the charge of buying hardware, and by extension, also its maintenance and updates since all of this are taken care of by MacInCloud.
b. It’s not just the hardware — MacInCloud also executes software updates. So that’s another thing you don’t have to worry about.
c. Thanks to this nifty solution at their disposal, companies are also saved from needing to make massive investments to start their iOS development project.
d. When it comes to solutions such as MacInCloud, one of the biggest concerns companies have is about setting it up and configuration. Well, that’s one more thing that MacInCloud makes effortless.
2. Pitfalls
a. Though MacInCloud offers the possibility to save substantial costs, it may not always be the case. How much a company earns depends on two factors: its current expenses as well as the MacInCloud plan it selects.
b. Moreover, if you also need OSX administrator access, be prepared to shell out some more since the plan that allows that is more expensive as compared to other options on offer.
c. It’s not that there aren’t comparatively affordable options in the list, it’s just that they are on servers that share hardware.
Well, there you have it; a quick and yet all-encompassing overview of all that MacInCloud has to offer. The good as well as the bad of it. Now, the decision is yours: should you choose MacInCloud for developing Xamarin apps for iOS? The answer will be found by first analyzing your requirements and then gauging the MacInCloud advantages and disadvantages in the context of your business’ needs.
A professional and security-oriented programmer having more than 6 years of experience in designing, implementing, testing and supporting mobile apps developed. Being techno geek, I love to read & share about the latest updates in technology including but not limited to IoTs, AI, application development, etc. In my free time, I like to play football, watch movies and explore new places. I have been learning mobile app development since 2012. With having a good understanding of programming languages, I develop native as well as web apps for both iOS & Android using latest tools & technologies. I am also having experience in both front-end & back-end development.
