Xamarin Platform Reviews

We have worked on Android and iOS applications using the Xamarin Platform. In addition, we have used it to build Android and iOS applications.

When we create applications, we usually need applications for both platforms. For example, we have a vendor that provides services on both Android and iOS applications. So usually, if we want to create an application for Android and iOS, we have to create two applications, one in Android, like Java or Kotlin, and one in iOS, like Swift or Objective C. But, using the Xamarin Platform, we don't have to create two applications. Instead, we create one Xamarin form application. We write code in that solution and build it according to our specifications.

Xamarin Platform is a platform that uses C Sharp and allows you to create hybrid applications. The best part of this solution is that you can create one solution in C Sharp. It works for both Android and iOS.

They can improve their marketing to have more popularity as other solutions in the market. I haven't seen that many limitations in the Xamarin Platform. It's pretty UI-heavy, and some may say that Xamarin applications are a bit slow, but that is probably only if the developer hasn't followed the instructions.

Creating an application works like a native application, but the file size is a bit big, so you have to make certain layers. That is one drawback, but it is understandable because we use an external platform. When we build the project, the C Sharp code and the Xamarin Platform get converted into the native code in Android and iOS, so we have to have a middle layer bundled inside our application.

In the past, when we wanted to select a file from our mobile storage, we could not, and that feature was missing, so we had to implement it in native code and then use it in our code. But now they have created Xamarin Essential, which has all those features.

We have been using this solution for six years and use version 4.7. Xamarin Platform is used for hybrid mobile applications and building app solutions for Android, iOS, and Windows.

It is a stable solution.

It is a scalable solution. Mostly the developers at our organization use this solution. Microsoft acquired Xamarin, so it is part of their Visual Studio and maintenance is done by Microsoft.

Before using the Xamarin Platform, we used a hybrid technology solution, like Paladin, but it was difficult to use. If a company is using C Sharp or .NET to build their products, they'll want their current team to work on it so C Sharp developers can easily move into the Xamarin Platform to create the hybrid application. It depends on your client and requirements if you're going with Xamarin Platform or React Native.

Our deployment process is simple. It happens in-house, and we don't use a third party. We create an application on Google Play Store, the same as deploying regular Android applications with one additional step of archiving it. So, from Visual Studio, you archive it, sign the application, and then upload the .AAB file on the Google Play store or iOS. You create an archive from here and can upload it using the file uploader Mac provides.

I do all the deployments myself and need 30 minutes to create a full application and deploy it for Android. For iOS, it takes about five minutes.

It is a free platform.

I rate this solution a nine out of ten. Most people choose React Native over the Xamarin Platform because it is more prevalent in the market. Xamarin Platform requires learning because it is an old language. It uses C Sharp, so not everyone can work with it. It is a bit difficult at first, but once you start working on it and get the hang of it, you can do everything in the Xamarin Platform.

I use Xamarin Platform to design application UIs, integrate APIs, and create special features.

Xamarin Platform's best features are its single codebase, the support from Microsoft, and the free libraries.

Xamarin Platform's performance base could be improved. In the next release, Xamarin Platform should include gradients and a looping feature in its path

I've been working with Xamarin Platform for over two years.

Xamarin Platform is stable.

Xamarin Platform is scalable.

Microsoft's support is one of Xamarin Platform's best features.

The initial setup was straightforward.

Xamarin Platform is open-source, but there are fees for deployment, the API Store and Play Store, and using third-party libraries.

I would rate Xamarin Platform eight out of ten.

I am using the Xamarin Platform because I am using Visual Studio or Xamarin Studio.

The most valuable feature of the Xamarin Platform is that both the UI are the same in Android and iOS, in one project and Android and iOS, are applications for developing PCL projects. Additionally, the dashboard is good.

The Xamarin.Forms could improve.

I have been using the Xamarin Platform for approximately two years.

Xamarin Platform is stable.

The scalability of the Xamarin Platform is good.

We have four developers using this solution in my organization.

I have not contacted the support from Xamarin Platform.

The initial setup of the Xamarin Platform is easy and takes one day.

Xamarin Platform is a free open-source solution.

This is a good platform.

I rate Xamarin Platform an eight out of ten.

I'm a developer and we are customers of Xamarin. 

We are a 5-member team and Xamarin provides us with a tool kit that crossbreeds from hybrid applications. We write a single line of code that works both with android and iOS. It's a main feature of Xamarin and makes the product very user-friendly. 

The application platform could be improved. We've had some compatibility issues on the android side with the different versions although they work fine with iOS. The product lacks some controls and enhancements that would provide additional features that we need.

The solution is stable. 

The customer support is quite good, they've helped me several times. 

Positive

The initial setup is very straightforward. Implementation takes about an hour. 

This is an open-source solution and there are no costs on the Xamarin side. If you're using it with iOS then you need to purchase a membership which is about USD$100 per year. 

I recommend Xamarin Platform, it's a good solution and I rate it eight out of 10. 

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

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

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

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

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

No issues. Everything is fine.

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

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.

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

Good knowledge

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

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.

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

We develop Model X for sports and tourism and for Android and iPhone sport.

We have some projects on the sport-level worldwide, not only in Europe. One of our examining apps is the GDPR tool. We want to expand the GDPR tool to mobile apps for local sports and in other non-profit organizations. That's the reason why we want to develop mobile apps in the Xamarin Platform, so we can connect local organizations to sports, tourism, and non-profit organizations. That's our focus.

The Cross Platform is a great asset. We develop and then at the end, we publish other mobile apps to Android and to iPhone platforms. We develop stand-alone apps for Android and the iPhone and then transfer our development to Xamarin because it's much easier.

We need to think about partnering with IBM because there is a need for a big data partner; someone who has machine learning and can help us connect the app to big data.

The stability of this solution is fine.

I have not used tech support too much. In the beginning, we had some issues, but the support resolved the issues quickly.

The initial setup was easy.

Xamarin helped us to develop a cross platform mobile app with less time and resources. 

Managing code is useful using TFS, so a separate code managing software was not required. Authenticating user to app is easy using Azure authentication, which is supported in Xamarin

Provides a wide variety of technical work and some interesting problems to solve. 

Being able to use the .NET framework and platform have me creating applications better than anyone who develops on Windows. 

Being able to use Visual Studio means development gets to use the best IDE currently available.

Xamarin is well-integrated with Visual Studio so it will feel very familiar to you once you start. 

There is limited support for UX widgets. Also, there are compatibility issues between versions of various Xamarin components.

The new go-to-market with Microsoft is different. It will require some adapting.

They are genuine, smart, and action-oriented people across the board!

It saved a lot of time and resources needed to develop a cross platform mobile app.

If you are already heavily invested in the .NET platform and C# development, Xamarin is the quickest way to make native iOS apps.

Their leadership is exceptional at both listening to the customer base and delivering innovative, best-in-class products. A company that takes great care of its people. 

Xamarin has just been bought by Microsoft. What an endorsement!

Our primary use case is to build high performance mobile applications and bring about maximum code sharing between different platforms.

We have a lot of applications, which cater to different types of end users. These have really helped us in creating a connected system, which has enhanced the productivity and usefulness of different products.

• This is close to the native app experience. 
• It brings about good code sharing strategies, which bring down cost and maintenance efforts.

• The android application compilation time needs to be reduced. 
• The deployment package sizes need to be looked into.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

We use Xamarin almost exclusively for development of native mobile applications, even when single platform. The development hardware that we use are MacBook Pros with 16GB RAM and min 500GB SSDs. We run Windows 10 in a Boot Camp partition and virtualized using parallels. We have Xcode installed on the iOS partition and Visual Studio 2017 installed on both Windows and Mac partitions, along with Android SDK and NDK.

We use Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS for apps with a complex UI, and use Xamarin.Forms where applicable.

It has significantly reduced the skill barrier for development and testers. Our company is mostly a Microsoft stack house, so most developers either use, or are familiar with, C# and .NET. Removing the need to become proficient in two other languages, makes adoption easier. Though it should be noted that developers still have to become familiar/proficient with the iOS and Android SDKs and the lifecycles of the native apps.

The ability to reuse significant amounts of code between platforms, have a single code repository, and a single development team for all platforms has massive advantages. It significantly reduces development and test costs, and ensures that there is synergy between the platforms on product features and user experience. However, the most important impact is the reduction in product lifecycle costs.

It allows the development of truly native applications in C# using the power of .NET framework and Visual Studio.

Xamarin allows the same development and build environment to be used for all platforms and code to be controlled in a single code repository. Shared logic, such as business logic and models, can be shared between the platforms, which significantly reduces development, test, and maintenance efforts. Typically, this leads to around 75-80% code reuse between the platforms. If Xamarin.Forms can be used, then this reuse typically rises to around 95%.

Xamarin also leverages the full power of the .NET Framework, including things like lambdas, LINQ, properties, bindings, commands, etc. Lastly, it uses the Visual Studio IDE, by far the most powerful and complete IDE available, making development and maintenance much easier.

The Xamarin SDK provides C# bindings to all native iOS and Android SDK APIs, as well as access to the .NET framework and builds to a native package. The Xamarin Mono run time runs a .NET CSR alongside the native run time with a bridge between them, and handles memory management and garbage collection.

App behavior is completely native and performance is near native (depending on the app architecture, but can be even faster than native if the business logic is computationally intensive). App size and memory footprint is slightly larger than native, due to the need for the inclusion of the .NET and Xamarin libraries. In a debug build, this can be significant. However, in release mode, the build process uses a rigorous linking process which removed most of the unused classes and methods from the managed DLLs. As a result, the average app size increases in a release build by only 5 to 6MB.

The most common issues involved are with the IDE and build process. The worst build issue concerns are the caching process MSBuild uses to reduce the build time. It is unnecessarily complex (internally) and will sometimes leave cached files which should have been removed, even when a full solution clean is performed. The work around involves closing the solution and deleting some project folders. Occasionally, IntelliSense loses sync with the code and provides visual error indicators when no error exists.

Xamarin.Forms does have some short comings, especially surrounding performance. Launch time on Android is a particular issue because Xamarin.Forms loads all the external assemblies during initialization. Support for lazy loading or merging of assembles would significantly reduce this, but Microsoft is still committed to a solution. Support of platform specific behavior could also still be improved. However, I believe strongly that Xamarin.Forms is the future of cross-platform native mobile development.

I have been using Xamarin for about seven years, since before it was Xamarin (it used to be MonoTouch and MonoDroid).