.NET MAUI 9 - Workload update to support Apple Xcode 26
Following its annual release cadence, Apple formally announced its updated hardware and software during the Apple Event in early September.
The OS version numbers are now all v26 to avoid confusion. This includes the updated developer tool, Apple Xcode, which is also at v26.
Regardless of the development framework, apps submitted to the App Store must always target the most recent iOS SDK. Hence, support for the latest version of Xcode is crucial.
.NET MAUI has announced its support for Apple Xcode 26 in the Stable channel of the .NET 9 SDK. More details here.
The Visual Studio extension manifest UI displays the Install Targets section
Visual Studio 2026, codenamed Dev18, is the next-gen AI-powered IDE. It empowers millions of developers around the world. They create applications for Web, Desktop, Mobile, Gaming, and more.
The VS team shares the public preview version of the IDE with early adopters. This happens before releasing it to the Stable channel.
To match Windows, the Preview channel is now called Insiders. Insiders can try new features before everyone else.
Now, the first VS2026 Insiders release is available for download. Further details in this article.
Visual Studio’s extensibility model adds to its robustness. Several extensions are hosted in the VS Marketplace. They cater to the specific needs of developers in different stages of software development.
This February, join David and Rachel as they discuss the latest advancements in the world of .NET MAUI during the monthly community standup about GitHub Copilot’s role in enhancing productivity.
The Community Standup is a live event hosted by the core framework team on the official .NET YouTube channel. It provides valuable insights and exciting announcements. For .NET MAUI, it usually happens on the first Thursday of each month.
Undoubtedly, AI is disrupting the status quo, and now GitHub Copilot is available free of charge. On the free tier, it offers 2,000 code completions and 50 chats per month. All that is required is a GitHub user account and a sign-up for free. Supported on a multitude of apps including VS Code. For further details, please refer to the article and FAQ.
Remember to join live on Thu, Feb 6 at 18:00 UTC. Click the link to access the timing in your local or preferred time zone. Note, that it’s an hour behind its usual schedule (Daylight Saving).
The community links for this month’s standup will be updated here.
Happy coding. Stay connected as we continue to learn and share the experiences from this exciting journey of being a .NET developer.
November is set to be an exceptionally significant month for .NET developers globally, as a new version of .NET will be officially released during its annual event, .NET Conf. Similar to previous years, this year’s event will also be conducted virtually, allowing participation online. The highly anticipated .NET 9 is scheduled for release during this conference, which will take place over three days from Tue, Nov 12, 2024, to Thu, Nov 14, 2024. Please mark your calendars accordingly.
Quite like .NET 7, .NET 9 is also a short-term support (STS) release, which will be supported for 18 months till mid-May 2026. Even-numbered releases are LTS whereas odd-numbered are STS. More details on the release lifecycle are here. The support for .NET 6 (the previous LTS release) ends (more details here), with .NET 7 already out of support, and .NET 8, the current LTS release, has another 2 years of support till early Nov 2026.
.NET Release Schedule
Due to the underlying external dependencies, the support policy of .NET MAUI differs significantly from .NET, each major release will be supported only for 18 months. So, if you’re using .NET MAUI 8, support will cease by mid-May 2025 (in another 6 months). Hence, it’s necessary to plan for your app migration to .NET MAUI 9. An article has already been published detailing the comprehensive features of .NET MAUI 9.
.NET MAUI 9 is the next major version of the cross-platform application UI framework. An article detailing the significant features of this version has already been published and can be accessed here.
Following its annual release cadence, Apple formally announced its updated hardware and software during the Apple Event in early September.
iOS and iPadOS have been upgraded to v18, while macOS has been elevated to v15, codenamed Sequoia. Additionally, the dev tool Apple Xcode has been updated to v16.
Regardless of the development framework, apps submitted to the App Store must always target the most recent iOS SDK. Therefore, support for the latest version of Xcode is crucial.
.NET MAUI has announced its support for Apple Xcode 16 in the stable channel of .NET 8 SDK. More details here.
.NET MAUI All-in-One Templates - Support for NuGet CPM and Nightly Builds
Firstly, .NET MAUI 9 Preview 5 has just been released. The changelog can be found here. Notably, a new Blazor Hybrid Web template has been introduced in this version.
In short, this new template abstracts the Razor components into a distinct Razor Class Library (RCL). Furthermore, it provides the ability to create Blazor Web projects within the same solution and refers to the shared RCL.
The concept of abstracting the Razor components is already facilitated by the Hybrid project templates within the All-in-One template pack.
dotnet new mauiapp -o MyApp -dp Hybrid -rcl
Will review the modifications and cover them in a distinct article.
It’s the month of May, so it’s time for Microsoft Build, its annual developer conference, where it’ll showcase the innovative features to the community.
It’s the age of AI, which is disrupting the status quo. So most of the sessions are scheduled along that line as expected.
For .NET MAUI, Blazor, and C#, these are the highly recommended sessions to watch.
