5 Best Xcode Alternatives For Windows

Xcode is nothing but a text editor, created by Apple for developing applications like iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

With Xcode, you can write, compile, debug, test, and optimise your applications in very less time and with ease before submitting them to the Apple app store.

Also along with this, it supports a wide range of programming languages. It also provides a host of tools to streamline your workflow. Hence, you can create the best applications without obstacles. But what if we don’t have a Mac but want to develop software for macOS or iOS?

You may have questions such as: Do I have the option to use Xcode for Windows 10?

Thus, it’s important to explore other platforms that developers can use to replace Xcode on their Windows systems. Hence below there is a list below of some of the best Xcode alternatives for Windows that you must try.

MacStadium

MacStadium is the one and only provider of secure enterprise-class Apple Mac infrastructure. Either you need a dedicated Mac to test your iOS app, or you need to deploy a Mac private cloud for large-scale CI/CD, MacStadium has got everything covered.

MacStadium is a trusted alternative to Xcode by iOS developers, mobile testing teams, and DevOps engineers at thousands of companies around the world. It provides Mac infrastructure for everyone from individual developers to growing startups to Fortune 100 organisations and every iOS developer.

MacinCloud

MacinCloud provides managed and dedicated cloud Mac servers which are hosted by private cloud solutions and DevOps pipelines. Users are able to access on-demand Mac servers for app development, Mac tasks, and enterprise builds. All of its plans and solutions are backed by genuine Mac hardware hosted in 8 professional data centres around the globe.

MacinCloud is a leading cloud Mac solution provider with a global presence. The utilisation of the MacinCloud platform can be done for learning application development, developing software, building cross-platform applications and automating application testing from everywhere with Internet access.

Sublime Text

Sublime Text provides you access to a powerful and lightweight text editor for coding and making all kinds of text files.

It also offers search tools and shortcuts to help find a specific function without browsing through the whole menu to locate it and create adjustments to many lines at the same time.

Unlike Xcode which needs a lot of system resources to run in the proper way, Sublime Text consumes small resources while still providing an advanced set of features. Sublime Text provides users with a split editing option to enable them to manage and edit files altogether.

It even allows to launch multiple windows and place them on different monitors. It gives freedom and flexibility to customize pretty much anything in Sublime Text from the menus to shortcuts and settings.

Eclipse

Eclipse is an integrated development environment that’s basically utilized as a framework for developing Java applications. Though it provides support for building applications in other programming languages like C, C++, Python, and more. It makes it easier to reuse and maintain large codes and projects.

Another reason that makes Eclipse one of the best Xcode alternatives for Windows is that it gives an assortment of options for editing code. Changing of project theme to set the coding style in the preferences section can be done anytime.

Eclipse helps to check for compile-time errors while writing code so that problems can be resolved by checking out the suggestions offered by the autocorrect feature.

Refactoring of coding can be done, format source code automatically, and take advantage of its enthusiastic community of users to help in improving performance with Eclipse.

Also, Eclipse provides lots of powerful debugging options and an extensible plug-in system that can help to customize the environment to the suitability and make work much easier and quicker.

Xamarin

This is also the best alternative for Xcode as it allows windows developers to use C# for building apps for Mac iOS & Windows / Android.

Its mission has been to make it fast, easy and fun to make mobile apps, and that’s what it is still doing, and it is what’s been focused on.

With the latest version of Xamarin 3, which can be downloaded for free enables more excellent features for all types of developers. The best part of this application is UI, which is quicker and better than other development apps. The designer is completely combined into Xamarin’s supported IDEs, Visual Studio, and Xamarin Studio – therefore XCode is not needed.

How to use Xcode in Windows?

There is no option to directly run Xcode on Windows. But you can choose some of the methods like:

Turn your current machine into Hackintosh

It allows you to run macOS with the full capability of the hardware that your machine has.

Run a macOS in a VM

With this option, you will need fewer changes to your current Windows installation. Also, you can use other OSes without giving much load to your computer hard drive. This is possible by virtualizing the hardware which is a must for running OS. But it has overheads.

Instead of the above, you can also buy second hand MacMini.

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