CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ioswindowsbuildreact-native
simon Le Ster
simon Le Ster

Reputation: 981

React-native: How to build for ios from windows

We are starting to work with react-native at my company. We have one mac and the rest of the team is running on windows.

Is there a way to write the app on windows with the ios device connected to the windows machine or local wifi. Then launch the build on the mac (from the windows pc) and get the app launched on the ios device ? So it would like using the mac only as a build/package server.

Hope i am clear enought.

Thanks.

Upvotes: 89

Views: 126337

Answers (5)

Abraham
Abraham

Reputation: 15830

Honest advice

Developing IOS apps on windows is something that Apple intentionally wants to block and hence tries to give you hard time doing that by purposeful hindrances in the software that slow you down in such attempts.

To do that, you will need to install Xcode, which requires MacOS, which you would have to install on a virtual machine if you ever want to use on windows, which itself is against the apple terms and policy

So, even if it works, you wouldn't be smoothly developing in such blocked environment. So I believe it isn't worth spending time on.

I am writing this since I have tried it myself, and want to help you to not waste your time. Since most websites during search including on youtube, this subject is for clickbait with videos with more dislikes than likes. The most you can get is the following

  • Use cloud services like MacInCloud, MacStadium, XcodeClub ( They are expensive )
  • Install MacOS on virtual machine like VirtualBox or Vmware ( Apple intentionally hinders such activities and you will have hard time installing it let alone using it for bearable development )
  • Build and use hackintosh ( expensive, I prefer buying mac )

I hope this saves your time

Upvotes: 22

FredPonch
FredPonch

Reputation: 502

Old question, but for’people who are still searching for an easy solution, take a look at https://appcenter.ms

App center let you to build iOS app in the cloud, it’s free (unless you need lot of builds), easy (you just need to know how provisioning profile and certificate works and host your code on a online fit repo).

We use it to build and deploy app on iOS and android for 3 year (even if we work on Mac)

We only have 2 main issues: it’s slow 30 minutes for an iOS build, and not extremely stable. Sometime we need to relaunch build 3-5 times.

Upvotes: 3

Ali Abbas
Ali Abbas

Reputation: 721

Well, you can setup a virtual machine.

Install VM Ware software and add MacOS image to run the operating system.

Then setup Xcode and build the react native iOS app.

Upvotes: 2

ljmocic
ljmocic

Reputation: 1887

You should explore the option of running macOS in VMWare on Windows machines for building purposes.

EDIT: Now using:

expo build:android
expo build:ios

Way simpler.

Upvotes: 3

KrishnaCA
KrishnaCA

Reputation: 5695

We can launch the build on windows using Virtual Machine, the detailed steps for doing that can be found in the following link:

https://blog.udemy.com/xcode-on-windows/

Upvotes: 18

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