Building iPhone apps without owning a Mac

The quiet entry fee

For years, making an iPhone app came with an unwritten rule: you needed a Mac. Apple's workshop for building apps, Xcode, only runs there. So if your developer works on Windows, or your team lives on Linux, someone had to buy Apple hardware before a single screen got built.

xtool is an open-source project that politely ignores that rule. It recreates Xcode's core features using open standards, and according to a recent GitHub Trending roundup, it's the first time you can build, sign and deploy iOS apps from Linux or Windows. When that roundup went out, it had 9,658 stars and 410 forks, which is a lot of developers paying attention.

Why it caught my eye

It's not flashy. It just removes a door you used to pay to walk through. For a small team, the Mac requirement often meant one shared machine everyone queued for, or a separate setup just for iPhone builds. If the tools come to the computers you already have, the iPhone stops being a special, expensive side project.

Words worth knowing

• Xcode: Apple's official toolkit for making iPhone and Mac apps. Mac only.
• Signing: a digital seal that tells an iPhone the app really comes from you and hasn't been tampered with. Apple insists on it.
• Open source: software whose code anyone can read, use and improve.
• CI: short for continuous integration. Robot helpers that build and test your software automatically whenever someone changes it.

Something to sit with

If an iPhone app has been on your someday list because your team doesn't use Macs, that excuse just got thinner. Next time you talk to a developer, ask if they've seen xtool (github.com/xtool-org/xtool). Even if they stick with a Mac, it's a nice conversation to have.