Learn Macos App Development

21 min readNov 5, 2021

Generally:. Native Android: Java. SQL if you plan to use databases, and C/C if you want to use the NDK and its beautiful high-performance libraries. Native iOS: Swift. Download our free eBook to learn why professional development opportunities are key to your company’s success. Looking Forward. Thanks to Apple’s hard work, macOS Machine Learning is only going to get better. Learning speed will increase, and tools will improve. TensorFlow on Metal.

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How can you run Xcode on Windows and develop iOS apps with a Windows PC? The short answer is: you can’t! You’ve got a few alternatives to get around that, however. In this tutorial, we’ll discuss how you can install Xcode on Windows to build iOS apps.

Here’s what we’ll get into:

Rent a Mac in the cloud (starting at $20/mo)
Run and compile Swift directly on Windows/Linux
Learning to code with a Swift Sandbox
Build your own “Hackintosh” by installing macOS on a PC
Run Xcode on Windows by installing macOS on a virtual machine
Develop iOS apps on Windows with cross-platform tools
Get your hands on a second-hand Mac (starting at $300)

Let’s get to it!

Xcode for Windows: What & Why

Xcode is the macOS-only software program, called an IDE, that you use to design, develop and publish iOS apps. The Xcode IDE includes Swift, a code editor, Interface Builder, a debugger, documentation, version control, tools to publish your app in the App Store, and much more.

Xcode contains everything you need to build iOS apps, and it only runs on macOS!

That’s when the problems start. You want to make an iOS app with your Windows PC, but you can’t buy a PC or laptop with macOS pre-installed on it. Unlike Windows, Apple doesn’t license its operating system to other computer manufacturers. You can only use macOS on a Mac.

In fact, when you obtain a license to use macOS, which happens when you purchase a Mac computer, you have to agree to only run the operating system on Apple hardware. This effectively limits you to only develop apps on a Mac.

“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”
— Steve Jobs (1983)

But… it’s more fun to be a pirate, than to join the navy, right? Let’s discuss a few alternatives that’ll let you run Xcode on Windows and develop iOS apps on a Windows PC!

Rent a Mac in the Cloud

An even easier way to get your hands on macOS, albeit more expensive, is to rent a Mac “in the Cloud”. You can work with Xcode on Windows with this approach, because you’re essentially connected to a Mac that’s elsewhere.

Here’s how that works:

Someone connects a bunch of Mac’s to the internet
You sign in on one of those Macs via a Remote Desktop Connection (RDP)
Done! You can use this Mac from Windows/Linux and build iOS apps

Services like MacinCloud and MacStadium offer affordable rent-a-Mac products, usually paid on a monthly basis. Prices typically start at $20/month and you can choose from several hardware options, including Mac Mini and Mac Pro.

Starting atTypeMacinCloud$20/monthDedicated, Virtual, ServerMacStadium$79/monthDedicated, Enterprisevirtualmacosx.com$9.75/monthShared (timesharing)Mac Cloud$49/monthVirtualFlowPremiumDedicated, EnterpriseHostMyApple$25/monthVirtual, Dedicated

You connect to those cloud-based Macs via a Remote Desktop Connection (RDP). Windows includes a stock Remote Desktop Client you can use, and so do most Linux operating systems. Once you’re logged on, you can launch Xcode, and start building your iOS app. That way you’re effectively running Xcode on your Windows PC!

Cloud-based Macs usually come in 3 flavours:

A dedicated Mac, which means you get access to a physical Mac located in a data center, as if you bought a Mac in the Apple Store and put it on your desk.
A virtual Mac, which means you get access to a virtual Mac in a data center, much like the VirtualBox solution mentioned earlier. Your Mac won’t run on Apple hardware, but it will run macOS.
A Mac Build Server, which is a specialized kind of Mac that can be used to compile iOS apps. You’ll create those apps on your Mac, and then instruct the Build Server to compile the app for you.

A dedicated Mac is the most convenient, and the most powerful option. A virtual Mac is OK too, but it typically does not perform as well as a physical Mac computer.

Running Xcode via a Mac in the cloud has a drawback: you can’t easily connect your iPhone to Xcode via USB! With Xcode on your local Mac you can run and debug your app on your own iPhone, via the USB/Lightning cable. This obviously won’t work when your Mac is in the cloud…

Don’t worry! There are plenty of solutions for that:

A simple approach is to run your app on iPhone Simulator, right from within Xcode. You can launch iPhone Simulator in Xcode, and debug your app with it. This is perfect for the development phase of your project.
An alternative solution are tools like Flexihub, NoMachine and USB Network Gate. They only work with dedicated Mac hardware, and you need to have a dedicated IP address.
Install your iOS app on your iPhone via TestFlight, and debug it with a tool like Bugsnag. You can monitor and debug live crashes in your app.

An interesting use case for renting a Mac in the cloud comes from the latest developments in Apple’s hardware. Many designers, developers and desktop-publishers have voiced their concerns over Apple hardware lagging behind, offering low-spec computers for a fairly high price.

If you don’t want to take your $3.000 MacBook Pro with you in a coffee shop, or on your next trip to Thailand, why not purchase a low-end Windows or Linux laptop, and connect to your Mac in the cloud? You can either host it at home yourself, co-locate it in a data center, or rent a dedicated cloud-based Mac.

Do you want to learn how to code iOS apps, but don’t want to invest money in a Mac? Rent a Mac in the cloud for the duration of the iOS development course you’re taking! It’s a great way to bootstrap learning iOS development, and you can always buy your own Mac later.

Learn how to code iOS apps

Get started with Xcode and Swift

Ready to get started with iOS development? Learn how to code iOS apps with Xcode and Swift with our immersive iOS development course. Works both on Mac and PC!

Install macOS on Your Windows PC via VirtualBox

The easiest way to run Xcode on Windows is by using a virtual machine (VM).

A virtual machine will create an environment an operating system can run in, as if it’s running on the hardware itself, except it’s running “on top” of your actual hardware and operating system. You can then run Xcode normally, because it essentially runs on macOS on Windows!

This is called virtualization, and it allows you to run Windows on Linux, macOS on Windows, and even Windows on macOS. One of the benefits of virtualization is to run multiple OS side-by-side, which is useful for cross-platform development.

You need 2 things to run macOS on Windows in a VM:

A copy of macOS, as an installer or virtual disk image file
A virtual machine tool, like VirtualBox (free) or VMware (paid)

You can obtain a copy of macOS by downloading it from the App Store or by borrowing it from a friend. A great approach is to search for virtual disk images that have macOS pre-installed. You can also find installers from various sources on the internet, or upgrade a pre-existing image to a newer (beta) version of macOS.

Here’s what you do next:

Install VirtualBox or VMware
Mount the macOS installer or disk image
Start the VM to launch macOS
Launch Xcode!

You can read exactly how to in this tutorial. The recommended system specs are: 4–8 GB of RAM, an Intel i5/i7 compatible CPU, and at least 10 GB of free disk space.

Note: Using macOS on non-Apple hardware is against Apple’s End User License Agreement (EULA). (Fun fact: the same EULA prohibits the use of macOS to manufacture missiles or nuclear weapons…)

Build Your Own “Hackintosh” to Run Xcode

The most obvious choice to run Xcode on a Windows PC is perhaps to literally install macOS on a Windows PC…

“One platform to rule them all” has always been Apple’s take on the world. The Mac, App Store, iOS and Apple Music are all closed systems. Apple enthusiasts have always enjoyed the integrated Apple experience.

On the other hand, the rest of the world builds computers using an “open systems architecture”, in which you can effectively mix-and-match computer components and architectures to create your preferred computing machine.

Building $10.000 gaming PCs, mid-level desktops, blazing-fast ultrabooks, and $250 laptops is only possible because of open hardware. Because of Apple’s closed systems, you’re always bound by the hardware options they give you.

But… what if you want to run macOS on your custom built PC? Apple won’t let you, and your computer manufacturer can’t install macOS for you, even if they wanted to. Because macOS shall only run on Apple hardware!

Enter the “Hackintosh”.

A Hackintosh is a PC that runs macOS. Just like you can install macOS in a virtual machine, or in the cloud, you can install macOS as the bootable operating system on your PC. Switch it on, and macOS loads.

You can also create a dual-boot, i.e. a system that both hosts Windows and macOS. When you boot your PC, you can select the operating system that starts.

Building a Hackintosh can be a tricky exercise, especially if you’re not familiar with PC hardware and creating custom installations. Not all hardware is compatible with macOS. Moreover, Apple has of course created safe-guards against booting macOS on unsupported hardware.

Nevertheless, it’s a good option for running macOS on your custom hardware, and booting macOS on your Windows PC. Check out hackintosh.com for more information, and step-by-step guides.

The name “Hackintosh” comes from the old brand-name of Apple computers: Macintosh, combined with “hack”. Again, it’s against Apple’s EULA — but you wanted to be a pirate, right?

The days of the Hackintosh are almost over, depending on who you ask. Apple’s newer hardware includes a T2 chip now. Hardware-specific chips are notoriously hard to mimic in non-Apple hardware, which essentially means that, in the future, you may not be able to install or update macOS on a computer that doesn’t have that T2 chip.

Swift for Windows & Linux

Developers who want to learn Swift have 2 alternative approaches to code Swift, next to working with Xcode on Windows. Swift is open source, which means you can essentially run it on any system.

Currently, you can use:

Mac Os Must Have Apps

Swift 5 on Ubuntu Linux 16.04 and 18.04 via the official images
Swift 4.1 on Windows 10 via the unofficial swiftforwindows.github.io

Here’s how you can run Swift code on Linux:

Download the latest release from swift.org/download
Unzip the .zip in a convenient location
Locate the swift executable in the usr/bin directory
Compile and run a Swift file with swift [filename.swift]

You can also copy the Swift executables to your $PATH, or add Swift’s folder to $PATH, to use the swift command anywhere on your system.

Here’s how you can run Swift code on Windows:

Download the latest release of Swift for Windows from this page
Start the program and point it to your .swift file
Click Run in the program

It appears the Swift for Windows project hasn’t been updated in a while. It’s latest supported version is Swift 4.1., which doesn’t differ that much from Swift 5 in terms of beginner syntax and functionality. Your mileage may vary, though!

You can even run and compile Swift on the $35 Raspberry Pi single-board computer! You can download Swift 5, which has been ported to the ARM CPU architecture, right here. Installing is as easy as pointing your RPi to the swift-arm repo, then do sudo apt-get install swift5, and then run the Swift CLI with swift [filename.swift]. Neat!

Develop iOS Apps on Windows With Cross-Platform Tools

Cross-platform tools are awesome: you code your app once, and export it to iOS and Android. That could potentially cut your app development time and cost in half. Several cross-platform tools allow you to develop iOS apps on a Windows PC, or allow you to compile the app if there’s a Mac in your local network.

Well, not so fast…

The cross-platform tool ecosystem is very large. On the one side you have complete Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Xamarin, that allow you to build cross-platform apps with C#.

The middle ground is covered by tools like PhoneGap, Cordova, Ionic and Appcelerator, that let you build native apps with HTML5 components. The far end includes smaller platforms like React Native that allow you to write native apps with a JavaScript wrapper.

The one thing that stands out for all cross-platform tools is this: they’re not beginner friendly! It’s much easier to get access to a Mac, learn Swift, and build a simple app, than it is to get started with Xamarin.

Most of the cross-platform tools require you to have a basic understanding of programming, compilation options, and the iOS and Android ecosystems. That’s something you don’t really have as a beginner developer!

Having said that, let’s look at a couple of options:

If you’re familiar with Windows-based development tools and IDEs, and if you already know how to code, it’s worthwhile to check out Xamarin. With Xamarin you code apps in C#, for multiple platforms, using the Mono and MonoTouch frameworks.
If you’re familiar with web-based development, check out PhoneGap or Ionic. You’ll feel right at home with HTML 5, CSS and JavaScript. Don’t forget: a native app works different than a website…
If you’re familiar with JavaScript, or if you’d rather learn to code JavaScript than Swift, check out React Native. With React Native you can code native apps for iOS and Android using a “wrapper”.

Choose deliberately for a cross-platform tool because it fits your project, not because you think a native platform language is bad. The fact that one option isn’t right, doesn’t immediately make another option better!

If you don’t want to join the proprietary closed Apple universe, don’t forget that many cross-platform tools are operated by equally monopolistic companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe and Amazon.

An often heard argument against cross-platform tools is that they offer limited access to and support for smartphone hardware, and are less “snappy” than their native counterparts. Also, any cross-platform tool will require you to write platform-specific code at one point, especially if you want to code custom features.

Note: You’ll still need to compile your app with Xcode, even if you use cross-platform tools. Most cross-platform tools rely on the command-line tools that are shipped with Xcode, as part of macOS. You’ll also need Xcode to publish your app in the App Store.

Get a Second-Hand Mac

You gotta ask yourself: Why not get a Mac? Perhaps the simplest option to build iOS apps with Xcode, in this tutorial, is purchasing a Mac for iOS development.

If you don’t want to tinker with cross-platform tools, or rent-a-Mac in the cloud, and just want to get started with iOS development: get a Mac.

A simple search on Ebay shows you 1–3 year old second-hand Mac Mini’s for as little as $250. Any newer, decent second-hand Mac Mini will set you back around $450. Don’t forget that you can get a brand new Mac Mini for around $800.

A better question is perhaps: is a Mac Mini from 2015 fast enough to build apps with? I’ve built 50+ apps for iOS, Android and the web since 2009, and a fair share of those were built on a 1.2 Ghz 8GB MacBook Air from 2013. I started LearnAppMaking.com with that same trusty ol’ MacBook, and I’ve coded several successful production apps with it until 2018.

It’s traveled with me all over the world, from the beaches of Thailand, to airline lounges, to coffee shops, to coding apps with my knees behind my ears, cramped in economy class at 20.000 feet up in the air.

I don’t want to go all nostalgic on you, but I learned to code on a 100 Mhz i486 PC, when lines still started with a number. That’s a lot faster PC than the one that put man on the moon, at 46 Khz.

So, to say that a Mac Mini, or your new 2015 MacBook Pro, is fast enough, is an understatement…

If you buy a second hand Mac, make sure that it supports the latest version of macOS. Xcode and iOS versions are connected to macOS versions, so you want to buy a Mac that supports at least the current ones. You can find the max. latest version of Xcode that your Mac can run, by cross-referencing the min macOS to run in this wiki with Hardware compatibility in this wiki.

Code Swift with a Swift Sandbox

Do you really need Xcode to code apps? Ultimately, yes. But you can definitely learn Swift and code Swift without a Mac or Xcode!

Here, check this out:

func fibonacci(_ i: Int) -> Int {
if i <= 2 {
return 1
} else {
return fibonacci(i — 1) + fibonacci(i — 2)
}
}
let numbers = Array(1…10).map { fibonacci($0) }
print(numbers)

The above code runs in a Swift sandbox. The sandbox sends the Swift code to a webserver, which compiles it and returns the result. It’s the perfect tool to quickly play with some Swift code in your browser!

Swift is an open-source language, and that means you can effectively run it on any hardware.

Need more space for your Swift code? Check out the bigger Swift Sandbox right here!

Learn how to code iOS apps

Get started with Xcode and Swift

Ready to get started with iOS development? Learn how to code iOS apps with Xcode and Swift with our immersive iOS development course. Works both on Mac and PC!

Getting Started With iOS Development

Let’s first talk about what skills you need to build your own apps.

Master Xcode: Xcode is the Mac app you use to create apps. It has a code editor, project organizer, compiler, debugger, and many more important tools to build great apps.
Swift Programming: Swift is the powerful programming language that you use to code iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS apps. It’s easier to learn than Objective-C, and Swift packs a ton of features that help you code productively. It’s also a lot of fun!
Build UIs: Every app needs a User Interface (UI). UIs are made up of buttons, views, navigation, labels, images, controls, etcetera. It’s important that you know how to build UIs and design them. You can use view controllers or SwiftUI.
Coding Logic: Your Swift code governs what happens in your app, and when. If this then that. This is called logic, and it’s crucial to any app. Most of learning iOS app development is focused on understanding code and logic, and being able to code from scratch.
App Architecture: Writing clear, extensible and maintainable code is as important as writing code that works. App architecture is like the foundation you build a house on. It’s a challenging topic, and it takes time to learn what solution works best in different scenarios.

Can anyone learn how to code? Absolutely! You only need some time, and a little bit of perseverance to get started. It helps to pick an iOS app project you want to build, because that’ll motivate you to learn more.

Xcode, the Mac app you use to create iOS apps, only runs on macOS. And to use macOS, you need a Mac computer. Xcode doesn’t run on iPad, unfortunately. If you want to learn iOS development, you will need a Mac! There are other options too, as I’ve explained in this tutorial.

Learn how to build iOS apps

Get started with iOS 14 and Swift 5

Practice One Hour Per Day

One hour a day…

This is my no. 1 rule for learning anything. If you can set aside one hour a day to focus exclusively on learning iOS app development, you’re guaranteed to make progress. It’s that simple.

Here’s how it works:

Learn iOS app development for one hour a day, every day, for one year
Focus exclusively on iOS development in this hour, without distractions
Set a timer for an hour, and stop when the timer goes off
Get back to learning iOS app development for one hour the next day
When you miss a day, don’t worry, and pick it up again the next day

Research shows that our brains learn new information when we repeatedly expose ourselves to the learning material, in different ways. You could say that practice makes permanent, so by consistently spending time to learn iOS development you will master it.

In the years that I’ve run LearnAppMaking.com, I’ve seen many people learn to code iOS apps. A pattern that stood out among successful learners is that they learned habitually, and kept their momentum between learning sessions. So, when you learn consistently, and get back to it regularly, you’ll learn app development more successfully.

Learning is of course a complex topic. If you’re interested to learn more about how we learn, I recommend you check out Barbara Oakley’s excellent Coursera course, Learning How To Learn.

Do excuses bog you down, when you want to learn iOS development? Commit to 1 hour of learning a day. Keep a run streak count on your calendar to keep yourself accountable. Mark every day you learned for 1 hour with a big red X, and don’t break your day-to-day streak. No zero days!

Get Through “The Dip”

I’ve learned plenty of new things in my life. Every time I learned a new skill, I would encounter something known as “the dip”. The concept of this “dip” was originally introduced to me by Seth Godin.

You want to get through the dip as soon as possible, because everything gets easier after the dip. The idea of the dip is quitting before you start something, and powering through the dip no matter what, if you decided to pursue your goal.

Here’s how you recognize the dip when learning iOS development:

You can write more code, with fewer errors, without running your app in between, to check your results
When you encounter bugs or errors, you have an intuitive workflow that you follow automatically
You get better at reading someone else’s code, and understand what they’re doing
You understand what tools and components you need to build an app feature, and you can create a break-down of steps you need to take to build it

When you feel a certain fluency when you’re coding apps, you know you’re through the dip. It’s a great feeling of ease, clarity and comfort. And it’s awesome!

Beginner iOS developers make two common mistakes when dealing with the dip:

They don’t give up before the dip, and lose valuable time
They slack off, and stay in the dip forever

When you set your expectations of learning iOS app development too high, you’re likely to give up when the going gets tough. You get frustrated, lose motivation and give up. If you reflect on this before starting, you might be compelled to give it a try and decide that it’s not for you.

When there’s too much time between learning sessions, you don’t build up momentum. Your brain doesn’t get enough exposure to the materials you’re trying to learn. So, you forget what you learn and you won’t get over the hump.

It’s surprisingly simple to overcome these mistakes. Here’s how:

Give up before you start, and if you start, don’t give up
Commit, build momentum, and keep the pressure on

If you give up before you start, you will never have to get through the dip. It sounds defeatist, and that’s the point: quitting before you start is exceptionally effective! You can try lots of things, decide that it’s not for you, and move on. You increase your chances of succeeding at a greater number of goals, having tried many of them. And think about the time you’ve saved!

If you commit to learning app development, then follow through. Don’t give up! Commit yourself, build momentum, and keep the pressure on. Power through the dip, and everything gets easier after.

The essence of the dip is your ability to assess future failures, and choosing what to commit to. You save time, money and energy because you didn’t waste it on something you were going to give up anyway. Instead, you spend these resources on something you’re 100% committed to. And that’s what you’ll succeed at.

This is an excellent video that explains how The Dip works, in more detail.

How To Start Your Own App Project

The best way to learn iOS app development is to start your own app project. You can try out newly learned things in your own app, and gradually build towards a complete app.

The single biggest struggle for beginner app developers is transitioning from doing tutorials to coding your own iOS apps from scratch. Everything makes sense when you’re following a tutorial, but you’re stumped when starting a project from scratch.

Sounds familiar?

When you start your own project as early as possible in the learning process, you get used to coding from scratch. And that’s exactly what you want to practice. Don’t stay stuck with iOS tutorials!

Here’s the approach I recommend:

Learning Phase: Start with tutorials, and let them teach you individual topics and skills
Practice Phase: Apply what you learn in tutorials in mini “sketch” projects to practice
Experience Phase: Focus on incorporating newly learned topics and skills in your big project

Divide your time equally between the three phases. You can move between the phases however you see fit, but you’ll see that it’s easiest to go from Learning to Practice to Experience.

Learn Macos App Development Settings

The last step is called the Experience Phase because real-world experience is important. If you stay in the learning and practicing phases, you never incorporate what you learn in real-world projects.

It’s exactly this real-world experience that matters to employers, freelance clients, indie apps and startups. Building iOS apps is different in the real world, compared to the classroom. You might learn “fake” swimming on land first, but you don’t want to stay there forever. Jump in!

The Practice Phase is crucial, too. I see iOS developers learn something new and then immediately apply it in a real-world project. This leads to errors and frustrations, because your new skill hasn’t developed enough to be ready for an actual project. Practice it from different perspectives first and avoid copying-and-pasting code.

How do you start your app project?

Start with a simple, basic app idea
Design and map out your app’s features
Work out your app’s data structure
Investigate frameworks and libraries
Set up your app project and build the 1st feature
Build the next feature when you’re ready
Backtrack, keep going, and don’t stop

I’ve written extensively about creating your app project from start to finish, so here are a few quick tips:

Don’t try to build the next Facebook, and don’t make your app idea too complex
Keep a notebook of best practices, summaries and tips and tricks
Gradually upgrade your goals when you feel you can handle more challenging projects
Learn to approach a problem from several angles, and learn different solutions for one problem — this one skill has kept me in business for 10+ years
When you use a framework or library, find out how it works internally
Go back to code you’ve written before, and features you’ve build, and improve them with what you know now

Building your own app project is incredibly fun and rewarding. It’s not just the end result that counts — the gradual progress of improving, learning and refining is what makes it worth it. And you’ll cultivate a valuable, employable skill in the process: iOS development!

Learn how to build iOS apps

Get started with iOS 14 and Swift 5

Mac Os Development

What topics you need to learn and skills you need to master
The general focus areas of learning iOS app development
Two common pitfalls for beginner iOS development
Why it’s worth it to get through “the dip”
How to keep momentum with coding 1 hour every day
A step-by-step plan for starting your own app project

Learn Macos Development

Want to learn more?

Learn Mac Os Sierra

Check out my free iOS basics course, which guides you through the basics of iOS development in 7 days
Sign up for my flagship iOS development course to master iOS development and much, much more

Download here

Learn Macos App Development

Xcode for Windows: What & Why

Rent a Mac in the Cloud

Learn how to code iOS apps

Install macOS on Your Windows PC via VirtualBox

Build Your Own “Hackintosh” to Run Xcode

Swift for Windows & Linux

Mac Os Must Have Apps

Develop iOS Apps on Windows With Cross-Platform Tools

Get a Second-Hand Mac

Code Swift with a Swift Sandbox

Learn how to code iOS apps

Further Reading

Getting Started With iOS Development

Learn how to build iOS apps

Practice One Hour Per Day

Recommended iOS App Development Topics

Get Through “The Dip”

How To Start Your Own App Project

Learn Macos App Development Settings

Learn how to build iOS apps

Further Reading

Mac Os Development

Learn Macos Development

Learn Mac Os Sierra

Written by renewprofessional