What is Xamarin and why is it used for mobile app development?
Updated May 6, 2026
Short answer
Xamarin is a cross-platform framework by Microsoft that allows developers to build Android and iOS apps using C# and .NET with a shared codebase.
Deep explanation
Xamarin enables developers to write mobile applications in C# while sharing a significant portion of business logic across platforms like Android and iOS. It uses Mono runtime to execute .NET code on mobile devices. Xamarin.Forms further abstracts UI development by allowing a single UI definition to render native controls on each platform. This reduces development time and maintenance overhead while still delivering near-native performance.
Real-world example
A company building a shopping app uses Xamarin to maintain one shared codebase for product listing, cart logic, and authentication across Android and iOS apps.
Common mistakes
- Confusing Xamarin with React Native
- assuming Xamarin apps are always slower than native apps
- not understanding the difference between Xamarin.Native and Xamarin.Forms.
Follow-up questions
- What is the difference between Xamarin.Native and Xamarin.Forms?
- Is Xamarin still actively used today?