# Xamarin development experience better on iPhone or Android? **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Tags:** mobile\ **Created:** [May 6, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/xamarin-development-experience-better-on-iphone-or-android/95 "2018-05-06T17:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackfoxy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/jackfoxy/32/14_2.png) [@jackfoxy](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/jackfoxy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/xamarin-development-experience-better-on-iphone-or-android/95/1 "2018-05-06T17:47:43Z")
It’s time to get a new cell phone. From the perspective of Xamarin/Azure F# development for my personal use and/or open source, should I get an iPhone or Android? I’m looking for informed opinions. What are the pros/cons of each? Apparently you can develop for your personal iPhone [[https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/11/microsoft-now-lets-ios-developers-deploy-run-and-test-their-apps-directly-from-windows/](https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/11/microsoft-now-lets-ios-developers-deploy-run-and-test-their-apps-directly-from-windows/)]([http://Xamarin](http://Xamarin) iOS development on VS) ---
**Author:** ![charlesroddie](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/charlesroddie/32/45_2.png) [@charlesroddie](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/charlesroddie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/xamarin-development-experience-better-on-iphone-or-android/95/2 "2018-05-06T18:11:40Z")
I’m assuming this is Xamarin.Forms. Android: 🙂 you can use an emulator on Windows and build on Windows to run on a local device. ☹ Android development is a slow and bumpy experience with device-specific issues and Xamarin.Forms has the most overhead on Android. iOS 🙂 Your app should perform well and not depend on device specifics. ☹ You will need a mac for development. I wouldn’t rely on LivePlayer esp with F#. Also consider UWP for development, with momre occasional builds/releases on iOS/Android: 🙂 Easy and fast development and debugging on Windows. ☹ Can’t release to Store. (Edit: this is [possible now](https://github.com/dotnet/corert/issues/5780).) ---
**Author:** ![jackfoxy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/jackfoxy/32/14_2.png) [@jackfoxy](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/jackfoxy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/xamarin-development-experience-better-on-iphone-or-android/95/3 "2018-05-06T20:09:41Z")
According to the article I posted above, you no longer need a Mac for personal development. ---
**Author:** ![charlesroddie](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/charlesroddie/32/45_2.png) [@charlesroddie](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/charlesroddie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/xamarin-development-experience-better-on-iphone-or-android/95/4 "2018-05-06T20:30:58Z")
Yes. That’s very new and F# support is just out. Feel free to be a guinea pig for the rest of us :). ---
**Author:** ![jackfoxy](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/jackfoxy/32/14_2.png) [@jackfoxy](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/jackfoxy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/xamarin-development-experience-better-on-iphone-or-android/95/5 "2018-05-12T16:35:22Z")
7sharp9\_exhumed convinced me on the slack channel Android Java is just not a good language to be developing on top of. So it looks like I’m opting for iOS. ---
**Author:** ![kunjee](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/kunjee/32/565_2.png) [@kunjee](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/kunjee)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 4:07am UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/xamarin-development-experience-better-on-iphone-or-android/95/6 "2018-06-19T04:07:19Z")
Dave is right. If you are developing for Android then make sure you do have device with you. Running things on simulator or emulator is way too slow. While for iOS you will not find that kind of issue. And this very much generic for all cross platform tools. @jackfoxy ---
**Author:** ![jaskers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jaskers](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/jaskers)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2018, 8:53am UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/xamarin-development-experience-better-on-iphone-or-android/95/7 "2018-06-26T08:53:18Z")
iPhone will be safer than android