Xamarin is Dead: What Philippine .NET Teams Need to Do Next

Microsoft's retirement of Xamarin in May 2024 marked the end of an era for cross-platform mobile development. For many Philippine development teams, this was not just a product sunset. It was a signal that the way they have been building mobile apps for the past decade needs to change.

If your team is still running Xamarin.Forms applications, or if you are a C# developer who built your mobile skills on Xamarin, this article is for you. Here's what the retirement means, what your options are, and why .NET MAUI is the clear path forward.

What Happened to Xamarin?

Xamarin was a popular cross-platform mobile development framework that allowed developers to build iOS and Android apps using C# and the .NET ecosystem. Microsoft acquired it in 2016 and deeply integrated it into the Visual Studio toolchain, making it a natural choice for .NET shops looking to extend their skills into mobile.

For years, it was one of the most practical options for enterprise teams, especially in the Philippines, where C# and .NET skills are widely available in the developer talent pool.

But on May 1, 2024, Microsoft officially ended support for Xamarin. This means no more security patches, bug fixes, platform updates, and compatibility guarantees as iOS and Android continue to evolve. Applications built on Xamarin are not broken today, but they are running on borrowed time.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Many teams are still in "wait and see" mode when it comes to Xamarin migration. That's understandable. Migrations are disruptive, time-consuming, expensive, and easy to deprioritize when apps are still technically running. But there are very real risks to staying on Xamarin beyond 2024:

Security vulnerabilities will go unpatched. Without ongoing support from Microsoft, any security issues discovered in the Xamarin runtime or libraries will not be fixed. For teams building apps that handle sensitive data — think banking, healthcare, HR systems — this is a serious compliance and risk concern.

Platform incompatibilities will grow over time. Apple and Google release major OS updates annually. Xamarin is no longer being updated to keep pace. Over the next one to two years, you will increasingly encounter broken features, rendering issues, and API incompatibilities as iOS and Android move forward without Xamarin following.

Third-party libraries are dropping Xamarin support. The broader ecosystem is already shifting to MAUI. NuGet packages, UI component libraries, and community tools are deprecating their Xamarin versions and investing in MAUI-first development. Your dependency list will become harder to maintain.

Talent will become harder to find. New C# developers are being trained on .NET MAUI, not Xamarin. As the developer community moves on, hiring Xamarin-experienced developers will become increasingly difficult and expensive.

What is .NET MAUI and Why Is It the Right Move?

.NET Multi-platform App UI or .NET MAUI is Microsoft's official successor to Xamarin.Forms. It is not a third-party alternative or a workaround. It is the path Microsoft has designed specifically for teams making this transition.

Here is what makes .NET MAUI the right choice for Philippine .NET teams:

1. It uses skills your team already has. If your developers know C# and XAML, they are already most of the way there. .NET MAUI is built on the same language and tooling your team uses every day, just extended to support cross-platform mobile and desktop targets.

   
   

2. It goes beyond mobile. Unlike Xamarin, which focused exclusively on iOS and Android, .NET MAUI targets four platforms from a single codebase: Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. For teams building enterprise tools, this enables desktop deployment without additional development costs.
   

3. It renders native controls on every platform. This is one of MAUI's most important features. Your app doesn't just look native. It is native. Users on Android get Android UI components. Users on iOS get iOS UI components. This matters enormously for user experience and app store performance.
   

4. It is actively maintained and invested in by Microsoft. MAUI ships as part of the .NET release cycle, which means it receives updates, performance improvements, and new features on a predictable schedule. You are building on a framework with a long-term future.
   

5. It integrates with the broader .NET 8 and .NET 9 ecosystem. MAUI apps can share code with ASP.NET Core backends, use Entity Framework Core for data, connect to Azure services, and leverage the full NuGet package ecosystem. For teams already invested in Microsoft technology, this integration is a significant productivity advantage.

How Different Is the Migration from Xamarin to MAUI?

This is the question most teams ask first, and the honest answer is: it depends on how you built your Xamarin app.

If your app was built on Xamarin.Forms with a clean MVVM architecture and good separation of concerns, the migration path to MAUI is relatively straightforward. Microsoft has published official migration guides and tooling to assist with the process. Many of the concepts, such as data binding, navigation, XAML layouts, and dependency injection, carry over directly.

If your app was heavily reliant on Xamarin.Native (formerly Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android) with a lot of platform-specific code, the migration will require more effort. These apps will need to be substantially rearchitected for MAUI.

Regardless of your starting point, migration is not something most teams should attempt without structured upskilling. The tooling has changed, the project structure is different, and there are enough new concepts, such as Shell navigation, MAUI lifecycle management, and multi-window support, that developers need dedicated time to learn the framework properly before they start migrating production code.

What Should Philippine Development Teams Do Right Now?

If your team is still on Xamarin, here is a practical sequence to follow:

Step 1: Audit your current Xamarin applications. Identify which apps are in active development, which are in maintenance mode, and which are business-critical. Prioritize migration based on business impact and security exposure.

Step 2: Assess your team's readiness for .NET MAUI. Do your developers have any exposure to MAUI? Are they familiar with the new project structure, Shell navigation, and the updated dependency injection model? Be honest about the skill gap.

Step 3: Upskill your team before you migrate. This is the step most teams skip, and it is the one that causes the most problems. Attempting to migrate a production application while simultaneously learning MAUI leads to poor architectural decisions, technical debt, and delays. Invest in proper training first.

Step 4: Start migration with a lower-risk application. Don't begin with your most complex or most critical Xamarin app. Choose something with a smaller surface area, migrate it to MAUI, get it to production, and let your team build confidence before tackling the harder projects.

Step 5: Establish MAUI as your standard for all new development. Any new mobile or cross-platform project should start in .NET MAUI from day one. There is no scenario in 2026 or beyond in which starting a new project in Xamarin makes sense.

The Opportunity Behind the Urgency

It's easy to frame Xamarin's retirement purely as a problem to solve. But for teams that move quickly, it's also a genuine competitive opportunity.

Philippine software development companies that upskill their teams in .NET MAUI now will be better positioned to win new mobile development projects, offer migration services to clients still on Xamarin, and attract developers who want to work with modern tooling. The window to move quickly while competitors are still hesitating is open right now, but it won't stay open forever.

The retirement of Xamarin is not a crisis. It is a transition. And, as with most technology transitions, the teams that prepare deliberately and invest in their people will come out ahead.

Get trained on .NET MAUI

At Invictus Technology Solutions, we offer a hands-on, three-day .NET MAUI development training program designed specifically for C# and .NET developers in the Philippines. Our curriculum covers everything from the fundamentals of MAUI architecture to REST API integration, local data storage with SQLite, and .NET MAUI Blazor — all taught by a senior Filipino .NET practitioner with real-world project experience.

Whether you're an individual developer looking to modernize your skills or an IT manager preparing your team for migration, our program is built to get you productive in MAUI as quickly as possible.

Get in touch with us at hello@ivtstechnology.asia or call 0917 798 1811 to learn more about our upcoming schedules and corporate training options.