MacOS & XCode compatibility

MacOS and XCode compatibility is probably the biggest issue I have. Technically this is not a Xamarin/VS issue, but I am including it here because it is the biggest hinderance to iOS and Andriod app development on the MAC.

My MAC is a 2014 MacBook Pro, with Intel i7 2.8Hhz processor, 16Gbytes memory, 750 Gbye HD, and NVida GForce GT650 650M GPU. So pretty hi-spec even 8 years after purchase.

Unfortunately Apple in there infinite wisdom do not support this Mac beyond Catalina – ie MacOS 10.15.7. This means I am limited to using XCode 12.4. Which means I can only download to devices running iOS 14.4 or earlier. Given that my devices are now on 15.6.1, I am unable to download any Apps I develop to an Apple device for testing.

Indeed it is worse than that. I have previously developed a DVD Library App, which would scan the bar-code on a DVD case, and fetch and store the details on your device. A recent iOS upgrade to my iPad meant that this App would no longer run without being re-built using the latest (or at least an updated version of Xcode). Which I can no longer do, because I cannot download the App to my iPad. So my complete DVD library has been lost, and the App I was devleoping, with the possibility of releasing is now stuck on the shelf, going no-where.

I can develop and download to Andriod devices, which I am doing, but how stupid is it, that I can develop Apps on my MAC & deploy to Andriod devices, but not to Apple iOS devices.

Camera Operation

To access the camera on smartphones from platform nutral code was always likely to be a slightly complex issue. The tutorial was complete. It went through the platform specific tasks of securing camera access from the app. (iOS is in the pinfo.cs file, Andriod in the xxxx), but beyond that there is platform specific code that has to be written and accessed from the platform neutral code. And then on top of that, there is how the platform emulators emulate the use of the camera.

Next step – Deployment >>