Microsoft has announced the general availability of .NET MAUI, which was first introduced in 2020 as a step in unifying .NET development across devices and platforms. MAUI stands for “Multi-platform App UI,” and enables developers to build cross-platform applications from a single C# codebase. 

“The thin and decoupled UI and layout architecture of .NET MAUI together with single project features enable you to stay focused on one application instead of juggling the unique needs of multiple platforms,” David Ortinau, principal product manager for .NET MAUI at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.  

According to Microsoft, the main goal of .NET MAUI is to “enable you to deliver the best app experience as designed specially by each platform (Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows), while enabling you to craft consistent brand experiences through rich styling and graphics.”

Each platform looks and acts the way you would expect without needing to add additional widgets or styling. 

With .NET MAUI, developers will have access to a toolkit containing over 40 controls, layouts, and pages. In addition, it supports multi-window desktop applications and menu bars, as well as new animation capabilities, borders, corners, shadows, and graphics. 

To support Microsoft’s accessibility goals, .NET MAUI comes with semantic services for controlling automation properties, screen readers, focus, and properties like description, hint, and heading level. 

.NET MAUI will be supported under the current release schedule of 18 months and will have service at the same monthly cadence as .NET does. This also includes workloads for building applications that target Android, Android Wear, CarPlay, iOS, macOS, and tvOS from .NET’s native toolkits, as well as the supporting libraries AndroidX, Facebook, Firebase, Google Play Services, and SkiaSharp. 

There are a number of plugins, libraries, and services from .NET Framework that have been moved to .NET 6 and SDK style projects. Some of the ones available today include Syncfusion’s .NET MAUI Controls, Progress Telerik UI for .NET MAUI, DevExpress, and Grial 4. The next phase of .NET will include more of this move. 

Developers can get started with .NET MAUI through the Visual Studio 2022 Preview on both Windows and Mac. Before getting started, Microsoft recommends developers review their dependencies, the state of Visual Studio support for .NET MAUI, and current known issues. 

“Less platform code, more shared code, consistent standards and patterns, lightweight and performant architecture, mobile and desktop native experiences – this is just the beginning. We look forward to seeing libraries and the broader ecosystem come alongside .NET MAUI in the following months to define a new era of cross-platform application development for .NET developers that empowers you and your organization to achieve more,” Ortinau wrote. 

To learn more, read Microsoft’s blog post about .NET MAUI.