What is the best way to test FireMonkey app on iOS device?

[brx 1]

Hello, I created an app for Android and now I need to make it available for iOS.

 

I don't have iOS device, so may I ask you if there is a solution (iOS simulator?) regarding that?

What worked best in practice so far?

 

I am following these instructions, but I am kinda new to iOS.
Is this a good starting point? Any article to recommend that might be useful?

https://www.embarcadero.com/starthere/xe5/mobdevsetup/ios/en/index.html

 

I am using Delphi 12 installed on Win10 x64.

 

Thanks

[Sherlock 684]

There is an iOS simulator via XCode available on the Mac you'll need to package and sign the app anyway. But if you don't want to buy a Mac (Minis are quite cheap though), you can rent a Mac online via services like MacInCloud, MacStadium or OakHost just to name a few.

[Fudley 4]

Sherlock thanks for the helpful links

[Rollo62 571]

5 hours ago, brx said:

... if there is a solution (iOS simulator?) regarding that?

What worked best in practice so far?

This depends a bit on what you really need to test in your app.

If you want to test all kinds of dynamic hardware stuff a phone can do, then I would always recommend a real device.

Only that can behave truly by accleration/motion/orientation sensors, touchscreen, phone calls, etc., the simulator can only roughly simulate that.

If your app is mainly a "form" app with controls, not using a lot of specific hardware of the phone, 

then the simulator could be good enough for you.

As far as I know, the debugging doesn't work under iOS simulator too, but still under Macos.

So it is always a good idea to test under Windows/Macos first, and only then check the "view impression" and handling by iOS simulator or device.

 

Edited Tuesday at 04:49 PM by Rollo62

[Hans♫ 79]

If you plan to buy a mac (mini), please note: the simulator only works on ARM processors. All new macs use ARM now, but if you buy an old one, be sure to avoid Intel. The first Mac Mini with M1 (arm) processor was released in 2020.