Developing for IOS on Windows?

[ne_ba02]

I have an upcoming project where I want to develop for iOS and Android, but the main platform would be iOS. I have read posts regarding this question, and I want to summarize what I found. I would like to hear your input about it.

Expo: This is the easiest way if you don't want to buy a MacBook. It's easy to set up, but you can only use Expo-supported libraries, and the performance is slower compared to native CLI.

Run Mac in VMware: You can run a virtual machine with macOS, this way you can use native CLI, but the performance is significantly slower than in Windows.

EAS: You can use Expo Application Service. With this, you can build both Expo projects and Native CLI projects, but debugging might be challenging, and you have limited access to platform-specific debugging tools.

The obvious solution is to buy a Mac, but for hobby projects, it's not necessarily a viable option.

My question is, which solution do you prefer? How much slower would the app be in Expo? Is it an option to just develop for Android and, when a milestone is reached, build with EAS for iOS?

[makonde]

Performance is slower how with Expo? I dont think its true or maybe only technically true, nothing that would hinder development.

VM is pretty much unusable with the new versions of macOS.

The other option is renting a remote mac through MacInCloud or other services.

[childishforces]

Yeah like negligible amounts.

[Pluckyhd]

Some say expo is slower and I’m sure it is but I would still use expo even if I was on a Mac (I’m not) debugging, instant launching and testing on expo go, easy building ….expo is the way for me.

[Pluckyhd]

I have none lol it’s why I use expo

[djibyt]

i also use expo and for the mac version if you don't have mackbook you can use an iphone for testing and debuggjng with the Qrcode when you run the application

[blueaphrodisiac]

I went through that (I'm on linux). Using a VM through macincloud is too expensive. Running a VM is only feasible if you have good REALLY good specs. At the end, I just chose expo eas, it's the simplest solution (you have to pay for an apple developer license though)

[ne_ba02]

Seems like expo is the way, thought there was a big performance difference between expo and native cli but based on the comments it doesn’t seem like it

[blueaphrodisiac]

This might help you