What options do I have to develop for iOS if I can't afford a Mac?

I think zilch. IIRC, you have to build iOS apps on a mac, even if you use a cross platform tool. You could make a hackintosh though

Wouldn't Xamarin be an option?

Used Mac mini? Probably $300?

Using JS for development?
React native if i remember correctly...

Also c++ development from what I heard my lecturer saying something about that being a thing, though not 100% sure, but he is a pretty good lecturer so I'd say it's a thing.

Use virtual environment.

Do react, web is the power.

Just came to check no one mentioned ionic. Good, carry on.

@JavaRules let me guess, pain in the ass? Never touched it myself

@drRoss i think u still need a mac to build ios apps with xamarin

@BlasterJoni yes and lot of cash if you want to publish the app somewhere with xamarin license

Xamarin needs a mac to build the project. So, yes, you can program it but you cannot build it so no testing and no publishing. There you would have C# for everything.

Go hybrid, maybe? Cordova & Onsen Ui? React? Ionic? There's a lot of frameworks to work. There you would have Html, css, JavaScript and all the libraries you would need. I find annoying the fact with the updates of Cordova and the lack of a standard documentation and answers. It's possible that you'll find yourself in need of a new answer that had not been given yet. Or a huge problem that took you some hours, needed only to remove and add again one Cordova plugin!! Who knew?! I have no experience with other hybrid though

I am sorry to say, but maybe hackintosh? I know. I should burn in hell

A piece of advice. You need Apple developer license to publish your app in the App Store. So, you got to pay. Except of you only want your app as an advertisement of what you can do. Then it's ok. You only need a Mac to build it.

You can program for mac on windows and do something like macincloud.com for building the code. If program xamarin on windows and connect to my remote mac.

I know that a vanilla install of osx mavericks does definitely not exist as a VMware PC guest somewhere on the Internet...

Some searching required ;P

It blows my mind that Apple doesn't have any tools for other OS's. What a bunch of money pinching shits over there 😂

You can install ElCaptain on VirtualBox ..works

@lostinmyworld no testing and publishing? You could use come CI service that allows you to run your code on a Mac environment. CircleCI and Travis do that. Test the code there, and if it passes, deploy the artifacts to github, amazon, whatever.

@SirWindfield You can publish to amazon and the likes instead of the App Store, that's true. The App Store is the most popular and the default of course. Like play store in Android.

I am not familiar with what you mention. I was talking as a result of not being able to build the project and create the .ipa file from the IDE. You got me intrigued, sir. Really really intrigued.

@lostinmyworld those are basically services that are used to test your code. You push something into master/develop what ever, Travis or CircleCI have a webhook installed, get notified, pull the latest changes, and run your unit)/integration tests on a VM. You can use them to build your binaries too. Those builds are normally called artifacts. Those can then later be deployed. I think it is even possible to sign apps on those VMs for osx. That would enable you to publish them on the app store. Theyll build your ipa file.

@bdhobare I am developing Cordova app. Would it be able to build apps for iOS on that?

@code-freak of course u can
Why not

@code-freak yea.Just follow this tutorial to install osx : https://techsviewer.com/how-to-inst...

Then you can install Xcode later.If you have any issues, especially with Apple Id sign in don't hesitate to ask.

Hackintosh? If your current PC supports it you have native performance for 0 cost