Every time when technology evolves, it opens new opportunities to improve what was once limited or impossible.

As time progresses, updates to technologies become essential!

Not just for users to stay relevant, but to meet the ever-changing needs of the future.

Without innovation, it becomes hard to keep up with the world!

And with that in mind, in November 2021.NET introduced – MAUI

Not – Maui from Moana!

We are talking about Microsoft – .NET MAUI

But what exactly is it?

What changes does it bring?

And how is it different from what we had before?

Just to give you a little hint – .NET MAUI has made cross-platform application development a lot easier than you expect!

Let’s dive deep into it and explore all that you should know!

.NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) is Microsoft’s solution for building mobile (iOS, Android) and desktop (Windows, macOS) apps using a single codebase.

It’s a step up from Xamarin, giving developers a smoother and more efficient way to create cross-platform apps without the need to build and maintain separate versions for each platform.

One Codebase for Everything!

Instead of writing separate code for mobile and desktop, you can build it all in one place.

It cuts down on time, effort, and headaches significantly!

• • Native Performance – Your app runs natively on each platform, ensuring it feels fast and responsive, just like an app built specifically for that device – separately.
• • Consistent User Experience – MAUI allows you to create a user interface that adapts to each platform’s look and feel, so users get a familiar experience no matter what device they’re on.
• • Share Code Across Platforms – You can reuse most of your code for different platforms. This means less work and fewer bugs to worry about.
• • Built into the .NET Ecosystem – Since MAUI integrates with familiar tools like Visual Studio, it’s easier for developers who already work with .NET to get started and be productive right away.
• • Easier to Maintain – No need to juggle multiple codebases. Updates, bug fixes, and new features can be rolled out across all platforms simultaneously, saving time on maintenance.

Bottom Line

.NET MAUI makes developing mobile and desktop applications easier, faster, and more efficient.

With one codebase, you can create powerful multiplatform apps that work seamlessly across all major platforms.

Something to Note

It’s important to remember that .NET MAUI doesn’t currently support web development.

For Web apps, you would need to use Blazor!

To achieve full cross-platform flexibility (mobile, desktop, and web), you can use Blazor in conjunction with MAUI.

Now that you know what you can expect from .NET MAUI, let’s explore how it actually works!

The cross-platform app development with .NET MAUI is made possible through a combination of key features and underlying architecture that streamlines building applications for multiple platforms (iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows) from a single codebase.

Here’s how it works👇

.NET MAUI allows you to write a single codebase in C# and XAML.

This means that you can define the core logic, data handling, and a significant portion of the user interface once, and it can run on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.

The major advantage here is – that you don’t need to write separate code for each platform, reducing both development time and complexity.

While you share most of the code, .NET MAUI provides platform-specific native controls.  

It uses a feature called “handlers” to map your cross-platform UI elements (like buttons, labels, etc.) to their respective native controls on each platform.  

For example – 

On iOS – The button will appear and behave like a standard iOS button. 

 On Android – The button will follow Android’s Material Design principles. 

 On Windows – It will look like a native Windows button. 

 This ensures that each app feels native on its respective platform, while still sharing much of the core logic. 

.NET MAUI provides a set of cross-platform APIs that let you access device-specific features such as the camera, GPS, and sensors, without having to write separate code for each platform.

For example, if your app needs access to a phone’s GPS, you can do this using a shared API without worrying about platform differences.

However, if your app needs functionality not covered by the built-in APIs, .NET MAUI allows you to write platform-specific code using something called “dependency injection” or “custom renderers“.

This lets you add features unique to each platform while still maintaining a unified codebase for the bulk of your application.

One of the strengths of .NET MAUI is how it separates the business logic (the core functions of your app, such as data handling and backend interaction) from the user interface.

This means the logic you write to handle things like data processing, server communication, and backend interactions can be shared across all platforms.

This not only reduces the need to duplicate efforts but also ensures that your app behaves consistently across devices.

For example, whether a user is on an iPhone or a Windows desktop, the way your app manages data or communicates with the backend remains the same.

This consistency also makes it easier to troubleshoot and fix bugs since you’re dealing with a unified codebase.

In traditional cross-platform development, you’d often have separate projects for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows, which would be difficult to manage.

.NET MAUI simplifies this process by using a single project structure that targets all platforms.

All platform-specific configurations, resources, and dependencies are housed within this single project, making it easier to manage and maintain.

Multi-targeting allows the project to produce different builds for each platform from this one structure.

In this way, you’re not constantly switching between projects or environments, which saves you a lot of time.

Although .NET MAUI allows you to build cross-platform apps using shared code, it also provides full access to native APIs when needed.

If you need platform-specific features that aren’t included in the cross-platform APIs, you can write conditional code or use dependency injection to access native functionality.

For example, you can write code to use Android’s native push notifications, iOS’s biometric authentication, or Windows’s file handling system.

This doesn’t impact the overall cross-platform structure of your app, as you only add these platform-specific pieces when absolutely necessary.

This balance between cross-platform shared code and access to native functionality gives you flexibility without compromising on the native feel of your apps.

.NET MAUI is fully integrated into the .NET ecosystem, meaning you get access to familiar tools such as Visual Studio, .NET libraries, and NuGet packages.

Even with MAUI, you can take advantage of unified debugging, testing, and deployment across all platforms, streamlining the entire development process.

You also have access to hot reload, which lets you see the changes you make to the code in real-time, regardless of the platform you are targeting.

This makes testing and refining the user interface much faster.

The .NET ecosystem provides a seamless experience for version control, automation, and deployment pipelines, making the entire development lifecycle efficient and easy to manage, whether you’re targeting mobile devices or desktops.

Such an ecosystem makes .NET the most preferred tech for custom Enterprise App Development.

Now, you may ask –

“That’s fine for desktop and mobile applications, but what about web applications?”

Well, there’s a solution for that too!

You can use .NET MAUI Blazor for Web Application Development.

Meaning – Using .NET MAUI alongside Blazor framework to build Web Apps.

And this is how it works…

.NET MAUI by itself doesn’t support building web apps, but you can use Blazor, a web framework that allows you to build interactive web UIs using C#.

Here’s how it works 

👉 Blazor WebAssembly runs in the browser via WebAssembly, allowing you to create full web apps with C# instead of JavaScript.

👉 You can share business logic, data models, and services between your .NET MAUI app and Blazor web app, so there’s no need to rewrite core code.

When building cross-platform apps, you can use Blazor Hybrid to combine web and native development.

Blazor Hybrid lets you run Blazor components inside a .NET MAUI app.

This means that parts of your web app’s UI can be reused in your mobile and desktop apps, saving you time.

You write your shared logic once and use Blazor components for both web and .NET MAUI apps.

To get started 

👉 Create a Blazor WebAssembly project using Visual Studio for your web app.

👉 For mobile and desktop apps, create a .NET MAUI project.

👉 Share your business logic and data models between both projects by placing them in a shared library.

👉 Add Blazor components into your MAUI app using BlazorWebView, allowing your web UI components to run in the native app.

Once built, your Blazor web app can be deployed to any web server, just like a regular web application.

Deploy via Azure, GitHub Pages, or any standard web hosting service.

The WebAssembly format ensures your app runs efficiently in any modern browser.

Using Blazor alongside .NET MAUI allows you to build mobile, desktop, and web apps while sharing a single codebase for your app’s core logic and UI components.

Isn’t it a relief that you can build both Desktop and Mobile applications at the same time?

With .NET MAUI, not only do you save a ton of development time, but you also avoid the headache of juggling multiple codebases.

It simplifies cross-platform app development and brings much-needed peace of mind to the ones developing and managing it!

While it doesn’t cover web applications by itself, it still solves a lot of challenges developers faced in the past.

In an era where even AI can help build basic apps, it was crucial for a leading platform like Microsoft .NET to introduce a solution like MAUI.

And who knows?

Maybe someday, we’ll see a version that brings all three platforms – desktop, mobile, and web – into one seamless development process.

Until then, MAUI is a big step forward!

Looking for some experienced .NET developers? Schedule a one-on-one call with a team of experts.