The short answer is No, it's not dead. The long explanation starts here.

A couple of days ago, I had a quite heated conversation on Twitter:

At the beginning of my career building mobile apps, I was also confused about what was Xamarin? Was it a multi-platform solution or was it a single-platform solution? The answer was both.

With Xamarin at the present time, you can build apps for:

• Android only AKA Xamarin.Android,
• iOS only AKA Xamarin.iOS.

Xamarin.Forms was the cross-platform solution that was replaced by MAUI.NET (more about it later).

In my case, I started to build straightaway Android apps only since I didn't own a Mac (I still don't), and that's how I easily understood the difference between the 3 solutions. However, I noticed that this confusion still persists in 2024, and that's why I wanted to bring you this short explanation:

Xamarin.Android is a platform for building native Android apps with C# that only works on Android. These are some important points about it:

• The code can be compared with using Kotlin or Java.
• Kotlin or Java code can be reconverted to C#.
• You can reuse the typical XMLs to create your activities or views.
• It generates only .apk or .abb.
• It can be used to bind Android libraries from Gradle.
• The final app will be more optimal and smaller since it works only on Android.
• Most code might not be compatible with Xamarin.iOS.

You can read more at:

Its official GitHub repository is:
xamarin/xamarin-android

Its official documentation:
Xamarin.Android - Xamarin

Xamarin.iOS is a platform for building native iOS apps with C# that only works on iOS. These are some important points about it:

• The code can be compared with using Swift or Objective C.
• Swift or Objective C code can be reconverted to C#.
• You can reuse Storyboards to create your views.
• It generates only .ipa.
• It can be used to bind iOS libraries.
• The final app will be more optimal and smaller since it works only on iOS.
• You must own a Mac either physically or in a cloud to compile your code.
• Most code might not be compatible with Xamarin.Android.

You can read more at:

Its official GitHub repository is:
xamarin/xamarin-macios

Its official documentation:
Xamarin.iOS - Xamarin

Furthermore, there is a variation for building macOS apps only that is called Xamarin.Mac:
Xamarin.Mac - Xamarin

Credits: Microsoft

.NET MAUI is a platform for building native multiplatform apps for Android, iOS, Windows, etc. from one source code. It is the official Xamarin.Forms' evolution. These are some important points about it:

• It can be compared with React Native, Flutter, or NativeScript.
• Some Android, Windows, and/or iOS code/libs might be compatible but they should be readapted per platform.
• It generates .akp, .abb, .exe .ipa, .app, etc.
• The UI might be less flexible since it must work on all devices.
• The final app will be less optimized and bigger since it works on multiple platforms.
• You must also own a Mac either physically or in a cloud to compile your code for iOS and/or macOS.

You can read more at:

Its official GitHub repository is:
dotnet/maui: .NET MAUI

Its official documentation:
.NET MAUI

Hopefully, this short explanation can support you in your adventure as a mobile developer and avoid confusion. The better you know which tech you must choose, the better performance you will get and the better your results will be.

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