Xamarin Forms to MAUI Migration: Best Practices to Keep in Mind

Cross-platform mobile apps have been quite the rage for a while now. However, more and more companies are looking to modernize these apps. Interestingly, transitioning from Xamarin.Forms to .NET MAUI have become an important step in this journey. Yet, some developers who want to modernize their cross-platform mobile applications may wonder why. You see, .NET MAUI provides a unified platform for developing native apps on different OS. So, embracing MAUI and leveraging its advanced features stands to deliver countless benefits, including a streamlined development process. And let us not forget that .NET MAUI also helps programmers create visually stunning, high-performance apps. What's more, is that these apps can seamlessly integrate with native platform capabilities. Hence, a future-proof and efficient development approach. Despite MAUI's many benefits, the fact remains that the migration process is an onerous undertaking. And it necessitates meticulous planning and execution.

In this blog post, I will discuss the best practices to help you successfully migrate from Xamarin to MAUI.

.NET MAUI: A Quick Overview

MAUI is a cross-platform framework for developing native mobile and desktop applications using C# and XAML. What I mean to say is that this tool facilitates the development of apps that can run on Android and Windows among other such platforms. And all of it using a single shared codebase. As you can imagine, such a unified approach simplifies development and even ensures consistency across multiple platforms.

Switching From Xamarin.Forms to MAUI: Handy Best Practices

• Ensure tech and business strategic alignment: Before you even consider migrating to your app, make sure that you take the time to establish a clear alignment between the technical and business objectives. This, in turn, demands a clear understanding of the company's long-term goals to begin with. Besides that, you will also need to be clear about how a modernized, cross-platform app can help achieve these objectives. It is also of critical importance to assess the migration's technical feasibility. This should include the complexity of the current Xamarin.Forms codebase. Also, adequate resources, such as skilled developers and necessary infrastructure, should be allocated.
• Check codebase: A thorough analysis of the current Xamarin.Forms codebase is also an important step in the migration process. This means, among other things, you must identify the APIs that have been deprecated or modified in.NET MAUI. Based on the assessment, updating the code is critical as well. Then, move on to reviews of platform-specific code sections. The goal here is to see if these code sections can be refactored into shared code or handled with platform-specific features. All of this can help speed up the migration process. Furthermore, take the time to evaluate third-party library compatibility with .NET MAUI. And if the need arises, consider alternative solutions.
• Performance enhancements: Optimizing the performance of the migrated app is critical for providing a consistent user experience. For that, use profiling tools to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize code. Another measure is compressing images to reduce app size and improve loading times. It is a straightforward but effective optimization technique. Lazy loading techniques can also reduce app startup time and improve overall performance.
• Post-migration testing: Rigorous testing is also an essential facet of the migration process if you want to ensure the quality and stability of the migrated application. So, write unit tests to ensure the correctness of individual code components. This helps detect and resolve bugs early in the development process. You can also use UI testing frameworks to automate the testing of user interface elements and interactions.

Final Words

While migrating from Xamarin.Forms to .NET MAUI offer significant advantages like a unified codebase, enhanced performance, and seamless integration with native features, but a thoughtful approach is required. Organizations can ensure a smooth transition by aligning their technical goals with business objectives, conducting a thorough code review, optimizing performance, and performing extensive post-migration testing. Embracing .NET MAUI not only future-proofs your mobile app but also empowers developers to deliver high-quality, cross-platform experiences efficiently. Well, that about sums up the things you need to keep in mind when you decide to migrate Xamarin to MAUI.