Microsoft releases software to port iOS apps to Windows

Microsoft released an early version of Windows Bridge this week to export iOS software to Windows. The software is released under MIT open source license, as Microsoft wants to get enough feedback before the final version comes out this fall.

The Windows Bridge for iOS, WinObjC for short, provides the ability to port Objective C code to Visual Studio and Windows. The software, which has appeared on GitHub, just doesn’t work flawlessly yet. It is therefore a public test version, warns Microsoft.

The final version of WinObjC is expected to be released this fall. Then all functionalities that Microsoft showed during developer conference Build must have been implemented. Now some functions would be in an early stage or not even in that first stage yet. If you want to try out WinObjC now, you should have at least Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2015.

In time, iOS developers will gain access to all Windows APIs with the Windows Bridge. Microsoft also strives that the Objective C software does not run in a sandbox. That is, original iOS code can run in the same environment alongside regular Windows code and can also work with it, can be deduced from a technical description that has appeared online.

Microsoft is also working on Windows Bridge for Android, which is known as Project Astoria. That software is currently available as a technical preview to developers who have been invited. “We’re inviting more developers every week and will continue to expand our preview program,” said Microsoft, which plans to release the first public test version of Project Astoria this fall.