Deployment & testing

.NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI) uses a single-project system to manage the configuration of your cross-platform app. This configuration includes properties and settings that control building and packaging the app on each platform. For more information, see Project configuration for .NET MAUI apps.

Unit testing checks that each unit of functionality in your app performs as expected, so that errors don't propagate throughout your app. A unit test takes a small unit of the app, typically a method, isolates it from the remainder of the code, and verifies that it behaves as expected. For more information, see Unit testing.

There are many techniques for increasing the performance, and perceived performance, of .NET MAUI apps. Collectively these techniques can greatly reduce the amount of work being performed by a CPU, and the amount of memory consumed by an app. For more information, see Improve app performance.

When it builds your app, .NET MAUI can use a linker called ILLink to reduce the overall size of the app with a technique known as trimming. ILLink reduces the size by analyzing the intermediate code produced by the compiler. It removes unused methods, properties, fields, events, structs, and classes to produce an app that contains only code and assembly dependencies that are necessary to run the app. For more information, see Trim a .NET MAUI app.

Android

You can debug and test your apps on the Android emulator, which can be run in a variety of configurations to simulate different devices. Each configuration is called a virtual device. When you deploy and test your apps on the emulator, you select a pre-configured or custom virtual device that simulates a physical Android device such as a Pixel phone. For more information, see Debug on the Android Emulator.

While the Android emulator enables you to rapidly develop and test your apps, you'll also want to test your apps on a real Android device. To run on a device, you'll need to enable developer mode on the device and connect it to your development machine. For more information, see Set up Android device for debugging.

When distributing a .NET MAUI app for Android, you generate an Android Package (APK) or an Android App Bundle (AAB) file. The APK is used for installing your app to an Android device, and the AAB is used to publish your app to an Android store. With just a few configuration changes to your project, your app can be packaged for distribution. For more information, see Publish a .NET MAUI app for Android.

iOS

Building native iOS apps using .NET MAUI requires access to Apple's build tools, which only run on a Mac. Because of this, Visual Studio must connect to a network-accessible Mac to build .NET MAUI iOS apps. Visual Studio's Pair to Mac feature discovers, connects to, authenticates with, and remembers Mac build hosts so that you can work productively on Windows. For more information, see Pair to Mac for iOS development.

When combined with Pair to Mac, the remote iOS Simulator for Windows allows you to test your apps on an iOS simulator displayed in Windows alongside Visual Studio. For more information, see Remote iOS Simulator for Windows.

While developing a .NET MAUI iOS app it's essential to test it by deploying the app to a physical device, in addition to the simulator. Device-only bugs and performance issues can transpire when running on a device, due to hardware limitations such as memory or network connectivity. To test an app on a physical device, the device must be provisioned, and Apple must be informed that the device will be used for testing. For more information about device provisioning, see Device provisioning for iOS.

Rather than having to use a USB cable to connect an iOS device to your Mac to deploy and debug a .NET MAUI app, Visual Studio can deploy .NET MAUI iOS apps to devices wirelessly, and debug them wirelessly. For more information, see Wireless deployment for .NET MAUI iOS apps.

Alternatively, hot restart enables you to quickly deploy iOS apps to a 64-bit local device, from Visual Studio, without requiring a Mac build host. It also removes the need for a full package rebuild by pushing new changes to the existing app bundle that's already present on your locally connected iOS device. It supports changes to code files, resources, and project references, enabling you to quickly test changes to your apps during their development. For more information, see Deploy an iOS app to a local device using hot restart.

When distributing a .NET MAUI app for iOS, you generate an .ipa file. An .ipa file is an iOS app archive file that stores an iOS app. Distributing a .NET MAUI app on iOS requires that the app is provisioned using a provisioning profile. Provisioning profiles are files that contain code signing information, as well as the identity of the app and its intended distribution mechanism. For more information about publishing an .NET MAUI app for iOS, see Publish a .NET MAUI app for iOS.

On iOS, .NET MAUI apps run in a sandbox that provides a set of rules that limit access between the app and system resources or user data. Apple provides capabilities, also known as app services, as a means of extending functionality and widening the scope of what iOS apps can do. Capabilities are added to your app's provisioning profile, and are used when code signing your app. For more information, see Capabilities.

Mac Catalyst

When distributing your .NET MAUI Mac Catalyst app, you generate an .app or a .pkg file. An .app file is a self-contained app that can be run without installation, whereas a .pkg is an app packaged in an installer. Distributing a .NET MAUI Mac Catalyst app requires that the app is provisioned using a provisioning profile. Provisioning profiles are files that contain code signing information, as well as the identity of the app and its intended distribution mechanism. For more information about publishing an .NET MAUI Mac Catalyst app, see Publish a .NET MAUI Mac Catalyst app.

On Mac Catalyst, .NET MAUI apps run in a sandbox that provides a set of rules that limit access between the app and system resources or user data. Apple provides capabilities, also known as app services, as a means of extending functionality and widening the scope of what iOS apps can do. Capabilities are added to your app's provisioning profile, and are used when code signing your app. For more information, see Capabilities.

Windows

You can test and debug your apps on a local Windows machine, which requires you to enable Developer Mode. For more information, see Deploy and debug your .NET MAUI app on Windows.

When distributing a .NET MAUI app for Windows, you can publish the app and its dependencies to a folder for deployment to another system. You can also package the app into an MSIX package, which has numerous benefits for the users installing your app. For more information, see Publish a .NET MAUI app for Windows.