Migirating from Xamarin.Android to .NET - .NET vs MAUI?

Andrew S Bissada 5 Reputation points
2023-11-30T20:39:21.33+00:00

I have read all of the documentation on the Microsoft website. However, I am unclear on the following:

Can I make an Android app in .NET 8 WITHOUT having to use MAUI controls?

This is unclear in the documentation because, on this page for example, it talks about creating a .NET Android app, but the page is categorized under MAUI: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/maui/migration/native-projects?view=net-maui-8.0

We understand that Xamarin will not be supported in the near future so we are looking to migrate and looking for the most seamless solution.

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  1. Rob Caplan - MSFT 5,412 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2023-11-30T22:40:44.87+00:00

    The migration path from Xamarin.Android (Native UI) is to .Net for Android (Native UI), which is part of the overall Maui project, so you'll still be using Maui even if you're not using the Maui UI controls. You found the right docs.

    Since you're coming Native UI and not from Forms, you won't use the Maui UI controls (the successor to Xamarin.Forms), but you may use the Maui essentials classes (the successor to Xamarin.Essentials).

    See Xamarin.Android project migration and Migrate Xamarin.Essentials code in .NET Android and .NET iOS apps

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