Coding iPhone apps on PC just got a lot easier. Submitting the app to the App Store and creating the final build still require a Mac. But developers have been able to code on Windows PCs. You can build iPhone apps directly within Visual Studio (2008, 2010, Express). Pretty neat, it even builds IPA files for your app after a successful compilation. The code works as is on jailbroken devices, for the rest of the planet I believe the final compilation & submission to the App Store has to be done on a Mac.
Xamarin Testflight. Xamarin TestFlight is a popular tool for developers but you can use it to upload and emulate iOS apps on your PC as well. Still, it's definitely a more advanced approach, but the benefit is that it's frequently updated, comes in the form of a feature-rich desktop client, and lets you run and test the latest iOS 8 apps with great reliability and accuracy. The quickest way to develop iOS apps on windows is with the help of a virtual machine. A virtual machine will create an environment where any operating system can run in like it's running in the same hardware itself. This functionality is called virtualization as it allows you to run Windows on Linux and even Windows on OS X. The emulator's desktop looks like a mix of iOS and Windows. To add more iOS apps, you should download them from the official App Store. IPadian will let you install and use the apps as if you were on a standard iPad. To go back to Windows, click the Windows icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
How can one develop iPhone apps on Windows? Robert Nay from Utah is a case in point as he develop his own iPhone app on Windows without having to spend a fortune buying a Mac and the iOS SDK. Nay used Corona SDK – a Windows-based tool which provides cross-platform development capabilities, supports high-performance graphics and significantly reduces the overall development time.
Apart from Corona SDK, other Windows-based iPhone application development tools such as Appcelerator Titanium, PhoneGap, DragonFireSDK and Sencha Touch also provide good alternatives to using the Mac OSX/ iOS SDK combination.
Is It Necessary to Use Apple SDK for iPhone Application Development?
Though Apple originally mandated developers to use iOS SDK for iPhone app development and disallowed the use of third party Windows-based development tools, it removed this limitation in September last year. Ever since then, the number of Apple developers interested in building iPhone applications has increased exponentially. Thankfully, the availability of several windows-based development tools has now ensured that having a Mac is no longer a necessity for iPhone application development.
How to Develop iPhone app on Windows?
iPhone app development is all the rage these days. The first question most prospect iPhone app developers ask is how to build an iPhone app? Moreover, Windows still rules the software development world and most developers don't have access to a Mac box.
Buying a Mac – whether it's the desktop version such as Mac Mini or a laptop such as Macbook or Macbook Pro is a costly proposition and overkill if a developer is still learning the traits of iPhone development. Therefore, the best solution is to look for a Windows-based iPhone development environment. The advantage of some Windows based iPhone development tools (such as PhoneGap, Appcelerator Titanium) is that these provide a cross-platform experience so you write the code once and you can run it on multiple platforms such as Android, iPhone and BlackBerry.
Further, most of these Windows-based development tools are either free or cost a fraction of the Mac development costs.
Corona SDK
Corona SDK is perhaps the most well known and most advanced iPhone application development tool on Windows. Bubble Ball and Robert Nay have been great ambassadors to promote Corona as a leading Windows-based iPhone development platform.
Corona offers a drag and drop interface so it's a perfect starting point for non-programmers to embrace iPhone development. It's free, offers high performance graphics and provides a true cross development experience so developers can use same code to build both iOS and Android apps with the click of a button. Further, Corona takes care of the screen size so the app will work just as well on a phone and tablet.
Appcelerator Titanium
Appcelerator Titanium provides a good iPhone development platform for people who have basic web programming skills such as HTML, JavaScript etc. The idea is simple – developers code in standard web technologies and Titanium coverts it into iPhone, iPad and Android apps.
Appcelerator came into limelight last year when it partnered with PayPal to provide the first ever mobile commerce platform for iPhone and Android apps. The Titanium SDK is free and provides an easy to use interface for testing mobile applications.
If you know HTML and JavaScript, Appcelerator is a good option to explore your iPhone application development journey.
PhoneGap
PhoneGap is an open source HTML5 based Windows development framework for building iPhone applications. It's free and it cross-compiles the source code into as many as six mobile platforms including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Palm webOS, Symbian and Windows Phone 7.
As with Appcelerator Titanium, PhoneGap is a good iPhone application development alternative for people with basic web programming skills such as HTML, JavaScript etc. Simply download the SDK, choose iPhone as the target platform and get started.
DragonFireSDK
How To Create A Phone App
DragonFireSDK is perhaps the best iPhone development option for C/C++ programmers who do not have a Mac. It provides an easy to use development environment with several code samples, documentation and simulators for iPhone and iPad devices. Pricing starts $49.99 onwards and developers can choose from various bundles depending on their preferences.
The best part about DragonFireSDK is that it allows developers to distribute their app for free and becomes published Zimusoft developers.
Sencha Touch
Build Ios App
Sencha Touch is one of the most popular mobile JavaScript frameworks. It's the ideal platform for developers who are used to custom JavaScript libraries such as extJS. Sencha Touch is a free download and allows developers to write mobile web apps that look and feel as native iPhone applications.
How To Build An Iphone App On Windows
There are a number of powerful Windows-based iPhone application development platform to choose from. While some of these rely on web technologies, others are as easy as drag and drop on a visual interface. Either way, one thing is for sure – developers no longer need to get bogged down due to inaccessibility of Mac to ponder how to develop iPhone app.
How To Build A Mobile App
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