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System Analyst at Intersoft Data Labs
Real User
I can develop apps for iOS and Android without migrating to Objective-C or Java
Pros and Cons
  • "For me, developing apps for iOS and Android is a dream came true, without migrating to Objective-C or Java. Xamarin enables me to do so."
  • "Test Cloud, Calabash, SpecFlow, and Xamarin.UITest are the features which can’t be ignored because just writing code doesn’t mean your app will run flawlessly. You need to test your app on each possible device and configuration, which you can do easily."
  • "Plugins like MvvmCross make a developer’s life easy."
  • "All Xamarin library issues need to be taken care of as a top priority."
  • "There is room for increasing the scale a little bit further with the designer in the Visual Studio, more specifically, Xamarin.Android Designer in Visual Studio."

What is our primary use case?

Let’s take an example of a simple restaurant App which needs to be developed for each platform (iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows). Xamarin gives you the power to produce a quick proof of concept where you can use Xamarin.Forms and have your app ready within some days for each platform, using only one Xamarin developer. Otherwise, you need different native developers to have your app developed for each Platform. 

How has it helped my organization?

I have been using Xamarin Platform for four years and learning new things each day. Being just an Asp.NET C# developer, I feel more confident because, for me, developing apps for iOS and Android is a dream came true, without migrating to Objective-C or Java.

Also, it’s cost-effective when you don’t require more native developers for each platform. You can train one C# developer for Xamarin using free resources or even provide paid training, and he or she alone can deliver your apps for each platform.

What is most valuable?

Test Cloud, Calabash, SpecFlow, and Xamarin.UITest are the features which can’t be ignored because just writing code doesn’t mean your app will run flawlessly. You need to test your app on each possible device and configuration, which you can do easily.

And how can I forget plugins like MvvmCross, which make a developer’s life easy.

What needs improvement?

I would say that every technology has room for improvement, Xamarin Platform is no exception. All Xamarin library issues which need to be taken care of should be top priority. Sometimes it becomes clumsy when there are a lot of things going on in your project or solution and you need to take care of business logic in parallel. On top of everything, providing only wrapper classes does not make a developer’s life easy.

So yes, there are improvements going on and they will need to continue to improve in the future as well.

Buyer's Guide
Xamarin Platform
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Xamarin Platform. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

As far as my experience with Xamarin, I’ve found no issues with the stability, if you have the right people working with you. It’s always easy to criticize a technology and it amazes me to see people out there criticizing some technology just because they couldn’t use it properly.

Over time it has created a revolutionary change in the technology and market. In our case, we were able to deliver projects on time and that’s what matters in the end. Maybe we have faced some issues but it would not be nice to say that Xamarin is not a stable technology. As a matter of fact, it is very stable, and they're working on making it more and more stable each day.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

People are flying radio-controlled drones and aircraft as a hobby with the help of apps which were developed using Xamarin technology. Yes, there is room for increasing the scale a little bit further with the designer in the Visual Studio, more specifically, Xamarin.Android Designer in Visual Studio.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate technical support at eight out of 10. There are communities like Xamarin Forums and Stack Overflow that will possibly give you answers. If you are a developer you know exactly what I am talking about.

How was the initial setup?

In the very beginning, it was a bit complex because I was using Visual Studio 2015 which doesn’t come with a Xamarin module like Visual Studio 2017; you need to add it manually.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

If you plan smartly enough I think you will save some bucks for sure. You don’t need different native developers for each platform as Xamarin comes with cross-platform development so that’s an advantage.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Xamarin Platform an eight out of 10 because, while developing applications using Xamarin Platform you will come across some library issues which need to be taken care of first. But I would strongly recommend Xamarin Platform because it’s a reliable technology compared with what is out there in the market and a plus-point is support for C# language. 

My only advice is that you please do a proof of concept before diving straight into development. It is always good to see beyond what you want and the requirements of your project. First, do some benchmarking of the requirements and then go for implementation of your solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Prem Sai Varada - PeerSpot reviewer
Junior - Analyst Programmer at Web Synergies
Real User
Open-source, simple, and quick to install
Pros and Cons
  • "The best part while using the Xamarin Platform is a cross-platform application. We could execute iOS and Android while writing a single line of code."
  • "The architecture in the Xamarin Platform has to improve, there are some features missing."

What is our primary use case?

We use the Xamarin Platform to develop applications. We develop mobile Android and iOS applications.

What is most valuable?

The best part while using the Xamarin Platform is a cross-platform application. We could execute iOS and Android while writing a single line of code. The most important feature of the Xamarin Platforms was this.

What needs improvement?

I believe there is already a better version in.NET MAUI. Xamarin Platform has already been shut down in the month of May 2024, according to my knowledge. Support will be discontinued in the month of May 2024.

It already has a completely new version. It has already vastly improved.

The architecture in the Xamarin Platform has to improve, there are some features missing.

There are no borders. The main thing that the Xamarin Platform lacks is a user interface. It is somewhat difficult when we are creating the UI.

Borders and sheets are two of the most important features that are missing in Xamarin. The frame is heavyweight. Sheets, nowadays, we see looking sheets on every platform and in every application. It will come from the bottom. When you finish paying, it will come from the bottom. It's similar to the system's successfully completed sheet.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have had 15 months of experience with the Xamarin Platform.

I believe we are currently using a three to four-year-old version because this is a long-running project.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The Xamarin Platform is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Xamarin Platform is scalable. We can add to it.

In our company, we have approximately 20 developers.

How are customer service and support?

I have never used the help of the technical support team.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In my company, the majority of the software we use is Microsoft-only, such as MVC,.NET MVC, Power Apps, PowerPoint, and Power Apps CRM. The majority of the software we use in my company are Microsoft products.

My company is 99.9% dependent on Microsoft products.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to install.

While using Visual Studio, it is easy to use the Xamarin Platform.

The time it takes to install Xamarin is dependent on the internet speed. 

We can easily install Xamarin in 30 to 40 minutes, depending on internet speed.

It is extremely quick If you have high-speed internet as well as some RAM and systems processor. It will be very fast if it has an i7 processor.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is no requirement for a license. It is available for free as an open-source product.

What other advice do I have?

If you are new to the Xamarin Platform or thinking about using it, my advice is to start with.NET MAUI instead, because Microsoft support for the Xamarin Platform will be discontinued in 2024.

.NET MAUI is a new tool and platform for developing everything.

I would rate Xamarin Platform an eight out of ten.

I am not giving it a ten, because I don't know the other languages. Flutter is a major competitor for Xamarin in mobile applications. But I'm not familiar with Flutter. That's why I'm giving it an eight.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Xamarin Platform
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about Xamarin Platform. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Software Development Lead at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Allows us to reuse our knowledge of C# and .NET Framework
Pros and Cons
  • "We were able to optimize the service organization for one of our clients."
  • "It allows us to reuse our knowledge of C# and .NET Framework."
  • "It is common to find a problem that you would need to develop from the start since there are no third-party components to reuse."
  • "From time to time, it is a bit harder to code some specific scenarios compared to the native approach."

What is our primary use case?

We mainly build mobile solutions for enterprises. In most of the cases, it does require a lot of complex domain knowledge and multiple integrations with various internal systems, pretty often legacy ones. 

We decided to work with Xamarin, since it does give us a lot of advantages compared to fully native solutions, which use Java or Swift/Objective-C. First, it allows us to reuse our knowledge of C# and .NET Framework. Next, since .NET and Java are the most common choices for enterprise platforms, it allows us to reuse some parts of business logic without the need to re-write/port them. Then, there is the possibility to apply well-known MVVM patterns to both Android and iOS targeting apps with reuse of up to 70% codebase between platforms, not to mention automated testing possibilities.

How has it helped my organization?

Xamarin brought various benefits to our clients. For example, we were able to optimize the service organization for one of our clients. Customers can use now a branded mobile application to submit issues within the customer products. It allows for QR code scanning with error details. It makes it much easier for customers to report issues and for service employees to collect all necessary data, then quickly respond to the customer’s needs.

What is most valuable?

The possibility to share business domain model-related code between iOS and Android.

What needs improvement?

It would be great to have some quirks of Xamarin.Forms solved. However, the number of community developed libraries and components are growing rapidly, so this should be another advantage soon. 

Nowadays, it is common to find a problem that you would need to develop from the start since there are no third-party components to reuse.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What other advice do I have?

It does have its drawbacks. From time to time, it is a bit harder to code some specific scenarios compared to the native approach. Since Xamarin is the another layer of abstraction, it also adds its own bugs to the whole process. However, the overall experience is really positive. The benefits listed above are much higher than the costs associated with the overhead needed to work with Xamarin.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user877149 - PeerSpot reviewer
C#/Xamarin/Mobile Technical Lead at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
Real User
Enables our developers to work interchangeably on different projects/platforms
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are: One language for all platforms: C#; XAML for UI in Xamarin.Forms; provides 100 percent coverage of APIs on each platform."
  • "I would like to see hot reload, similar to what Flutter has out-of-the-box. There is "Live Reload" but it’s still in preview and was only recently announced."

What is our primary use case?

In most cases, I develop apps for iOS and Android, but there are some rare cases that include UWP platform. My environment includes a Windows 10 PC with VS 2017 and a Mac mini with VS for Mac.

How has it helped my organization?

All of our mobile developers can easily substitute for each other on different projects and platforms.

What is most valuable?

  • One language for all platforms: C#
  • XAML for UI in Xamarin.Forms
  • Provides 100 percent coverage of APIs on each platform

What needs improvement?

I would like to see hot reload, similar to what Flutter has out-of-the-box. There is "Live Reload" but it’s still in preview and was only recently announced.

For how long have I used the solution?

Three to five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There have been some stability issues, mostly with VS 2017 for Windows when working with iOS.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues with scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Community support is great. You can always ask on the Xamarin forum or Stack Overflow. If you are a member of Xamarin.University you can get a one-to-one hour with a technical instructor.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Xamarin is my first cross-platform framework.

How was the initial setup?

Using early versions of Xamarin, especially VS on Windows for developing iOS, were a mess. But now, with the latest installer, it is really straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

In most cases, it is sufficient to have free/community license. But if you plan to seriously develop production-level, highly polished apps, you need to use Xamarin.Profiler and the professional or enterprise license.

What other advice do I have?

I rate it a 10 out of 10. It's the best cross-platform framework, and it continuously improves.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Technical Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Because of the C# programming language, we can train our .NET developers to learn the tool and develop mobile apps easily
Pros and Cons
  • "We very much like the XAML design techniques, multiple layout and pages, MVVMCross support, and portability across different platforms."
  • "Because of the C# programming language, we can train our .NET developers to learn Xamarin and develop mobile apps easily."
  • "It needs offline sync capabilities to store data on devices persistently."

What is our primary use case?

We have been using Xamarin for enterprise mobile application development. Primarily, we are targeting iPhone devices. This field mobility application helps end users to perform their duties and view 360 information about the work to be performed.

How has it helped my organization?

  • Because of the C# programming language, we can train our .NET developers to learn Xamarin and develop mobile apps easily. 
  • It helps us to easily integrate and implement Azure Cloud API services. 
  • We can track mobile usage with the help of the mobile device center.

What is most valuable?

We very much like the XAML design techniques, multiple layout and pages, MVVMCross support, and portability across different platforms.

What needs improvement?

  • It needs offline sync capabilities to store data on devices persistently. 
  • Security features and data analytics need to be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

This is a free product, so there is zero investment on licenses and IDE.

What other advice do I have?

This product is very easy to design and develop, and it is using C#. Microsoft is supporting this application, so product reliability increases.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Co Founder at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Provides cross-platform support for mobile app creation. It should support native functions for iOS and Android.

What is most valuable?

  • The ability to work in macOS for Xamarin iOS solutions
  • Cross-platform support

How has it helped my organization?

Creating mobile apps became quicker as we started to use the code base function.

What needs improvement?

Xamarin Studio should be more polished and support native functions (iOS, Android). It should be working like a charm.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Generally, when iOS products get updates, some issues can happen with Xamarin. Crashes happen from time to time.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Most scalability is handled on the server side. In rare cases, some libraries weren’t supported, such as the TCP/IP stack.

How is customer service and technical support?

Technical support is good.

How was the initial setup?

Setup was actually pretty complex, as we had to get experience. We had some oddly written solutions provided from previous vendors of our customers. These were impossible to maintain.

What was our ROI?

By the third year, we got a solid ROI. It’s hard to measure, but is was probably over 200%.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Licensing and pricing have changed, as the product moved to Microsoft. Before that, it was fairly complex: $800 per developer place, for one platform only.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did look at alternatives. However, other solutions were only hybrid platforms, which lagged behing when doing moderately complex projects.

What other advice do I have?

You will need to invest a bit of time to become a good vendor using this framework.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are an Xamarin certified partner.
PeerSpot user
Xamarin Developer
Real User
Saves time for application development. We write once and the code works everywhere.
Pros and Cons
  • "It usually saves time for application development. We write once and the code works everywhere."
  • "They need to take a step towards independence from the UI platform. It takes a lot of time to adapt the native controls."

What is our primary use case?

I use Xamarin.Forms to develop mobile applications, which basically have the same functionality and cross-platform.

How has it helped my organization?

It usually saves time for application development. We write once and the code works everywhere.

What is most valuable?

In Xamarin.Forms, it is valuable that one and the same code (including UI) work on all platforms. It is very convenient.

What needs improvement?

They need to take a step towards independence from the UI platform. It takes a lot of time to adapt the native controls.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Everything is fine. There have been difficulties with memory leaks, but usually they are not difficult to fix.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues. Everything is fine.

How are customer service and technical support?

The support is not very good. Bugs remain very long openable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Earlier, I tried to write code on native technologies, but still liked C# more. 

We switched because it makes cross-platform applications more expedient, faster, and cheaper.

How was the initial setup?

Everything was simple. Besides, on GitHub there are always good examples. Although, you need to understand the native SDK a bit.

What about the implementation team?

Good knowledge

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Xamarin is free, or comes with Visual Studio. Therefore, it is very profitable.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I looked at Ionic and other HTML/JS platforms, but I considered this a bad decision. They were too slow and you had more problems with their frameworks than the benefits of their work.

What other advice do I have?

Be sure to look at the lessons from Xamarin University, as well as test projects on GitHub.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Mobile Apps Team Lead, Scrum Master, Senior App Developer (Xamarin, Android) at a music company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Cross-platform development saves time and provides consistencies-
Pros and Cons
  • "Cross-platform development saves time and provides consistencies."
  • "The performance needs improvement, especially the dev tools, and also the ultimate output of the mobile applications."

What is our primary use case?

Mobile applications for our music streaming service. 

How has it helped my organization?

  • A much larger portion of shared codebase
  • Better usage of software patterns
  • Better knowledge sharing among team members
  • More streamlined, standardized development and testing processes.

What is most valuable?

  • Cross-platform development saves time and provides consistencies. 
  • C#: Simply the language. 
  • Native UI: No compromises needed for final users. 
  • MVVM: Clear concerns separation. 

What needs improvement?

The performance needs improvement, especially the dev tools, and also the ultimate output of the mobile applications.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Five years ago, we switched from native development to a cross-platform solution, we have never regretted this move.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user