iOS Extensions

[VladislavAntonyuk]

Is it possible to create iOS Extensions with .NET MAUI?
(https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/ios/platform/extensions-with-xamarinforms)

[nor0x]

i'm also very interested in the story for iOS extensions with .NET MAUI. i couldn't find anything in the wiki @davidortinau

[kiddailey]

Also casting my vote for this. I cannot migrate from Xamarin to Maui until iOS Extensions are supported. Edit: I've tried digging to find out if this is on the roadmap, but must have missed it if so. Would love for anyone on the team to simply reply and confirm if this is part of the plan or not. Otherwise, I will need to consider moving off of Xamarin/Maui :(

[jfversluis]

According to @davidortinau this should be possible today: https://twitter.com/davidortinau/status/1529970664467226625

Looks like this is the PR that David is referring to: #5218 and it has some instructions on how to use it

[VladislavAntonyuk]

That seems like not exactly what I mean:

the link is about embedding .NET MAUI in platform apps (.NET for Android, .NET for iOS)

[peter-bozovic]

Did anyone find a solution for this ?
Can't find any documentation anywhere on how to implement service notifications on iOS with MAUI :(
Also asked here but with no solution yet:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/889401/how-to-use-service-extension-for-unnotificationser.html

[VladislavAntonyuk]

It doesn't work with MAUI. Use Xamarin

[peter-bozovic]

I'm building Blazor hybrid app, so can't use Xamarin :(

[brandonward34]

This is also the biggest issue holding us back from migrating to Maui as well. iOS extensions are a big part of our applications

[SaqibS]

Adding my +1 - this is our biggest blocker toupgrading, and I don't see this on the .Net 7 roadmap either. We specifically use an "action extension".

[thisisthekap]

The lack of ios extensions blocks everyone from updating to MAUI who is using pictures in ios notifications (using a notification service extension).

[VladislavAntonyuk]

I found a solution, I will publish a solution in the morning!

[VladislavAntonyuk]

https://vladislavantonyuk.azurewebsites.net/articles/Extend-.NET-MAUI-application-with-iOS-Extensions

[kimdohyung1]

Does the above solution from the link work? I've tried the same steps as the repo but wasn't able to build with the notification extension project reference added to the main project file.

[jjustinm4]

Official templates are not created. I created all iOS extension templates for .net MAUI. You can use it from here: https://www.nuget.org/packages/VladislavAntonyuk.DotNetTemplates

Dear @VladislavAntonyuk i tried to create a project using your solution but im having an errror "dotnet new ios-broadcast-upload-extension -n MyProjectName --applicationId com.vladislavantonyuk.myapp.myapp-BroadcastUploadExtension
No templates or subcommands found matching: 'ios-broadcast-upload-extension'.

To list installed templates similar to 'ios-broadcast-upload-extension', run:"

[VladislavAntonyuk]

@jjustinm4 did you install the Nuget package?

[jjustinm4]

@jjustinm4 did you install the Nuget package?

I am actually using command lien from visual studio , so nuget is already a part of it , isnt it ?

[jjustinm4]

@jjustinm4 did you install the Nuget package?

im really new to .NET and IOS so can i run these command just from a CMD window so that i can have a project ?

[VladislavAntonyuk]

In your cmd you need to install NuGet tool, after that all templates will appear. Run the command that you see in NuGet.org: dotnet tools install …

[hetcmnten]

Did anyone success with Notification Service Extension? I tried every link I can find but no success

[jesse-mta]

Same here. Can someone kindly post a sample .NET MAUI iOS app with Notification Service Extension implementation.

[ssbssb-cmd]

same

[KSemenenko]

Because of this issue, I had to switch from MAUI to Xamarin, and now to ReactNative. it is a pity that MS did not have time to make the tools. I hope that in .NET8 this will be fixed.

[VladislavAntonyuk]

Did you try the template I created?
I created all iOS extension templates for .net MAUI. You can use it from here: https://www.nuget.org/packages/VladislavAntonyuk.DotNetTemplates

[KSemenenko]

I appreciate all the work you do. However we needed an iOS extension for screen sharing and a binding for video streaming native sdk, and it didn't work on maui at all.
The video worked in xamarin, but the iOS extensions still didn't work.

[VladislavAntonyuk]

got it, I haven't ported Broadcast Upload Extension. I had some issues with including it in my library template.
I will back to it later

[seangifford]

got it, I haven't ported Broadcast Upload Extension. I had some issues with including it in my library template. I will back to it later

Did you ever get a chance to come back to the Broadcast Upload Extension? Do you have any guidance you can share how we can utilize this Extension from MAUI?

[nejis]

Is there any way to integrate a Share Extension in an Android and Ios Project without spliting theam?

[LogeshM05]

@VladislavAntonyuk Please do one video on how to add service extension and content extension..it will be helpful for many

[fady-intelligencex]

@VladislavAntonyuk (or anyone). I have implemented this and it works, but I do not get the shared url or text in the receiving app. Not even in the share does the debug breakpoint is hit. I have created IDs for both the main app and the extension in the apple developer portal and also created a group and assigned both of them to it.

I have uploaded the solution here: https://ix-pubshare.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/testapp1solution.zip

Basically, I want the main app to be able to receive share Urls and text from other apps through the iOS share function.

[VladislavAntonyuk]

Treat iOS extension as a separate application. It has its own logic. As a suggestion you can run your main app from share extension logic.

[vikher]

I'm encountering a challenge while attempting to generate an IPA build locally using the dotnet publish command within a .NET MAUI project that involves an iOS extension. As .NET MAUI expects a single project structure, managing the requirements of two distinct projects (main app and iOS extension) becomes tricky, particularly concerning provisioning profiles.

The current command I'm using is:

dotnet publish -f $(iOSVersion) -c $(BuildConfiguration) /p:ArchiveOnBuild=true /p:RuntimeIdentifier=ios-arm64 /p:EnableAssemblyILStripping=false /p:CodesignKey=$(CodesignKey) /p:CodesignProvision=$(CodesignProvision)

Challenge:
The problem arises as the dotnet publish command seems to accept only one provisioning profile. However, for the successful build of the iOS extension, it requires a separate provisioning profile distinct from the main app.

Query:
Is there any guidance or workaround available to handle the requirement of multiple provisioning profiles, specifically catering to the iOS extension, within the context of a unified .NET MAUI project structure? How can this limitation of the dotnet publish command be addressed to successfully build the project encompassing both the main app and the iOS extension, each with its respective provisioning profile?

Any insights, suggestions, or best practices to manage this scenario would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[KSemenenko]

Did you try to build on on GitHub or azure devops?

[b12kab]

No, we build manually.

[b12kab]

With a good number of tweaks into the app's and 2 extensions, I think that I'm currently at the position of @vikher. The extensions are now signed.

dotnet build src/extension1.csproj -
dotnet build src/extension2.csproj -

dotnet publish -f net8.0-ios -c Release -p:ArchiveOnBuild=true -p:RuntimeIdentifier=ios-arm64 -p:CodesignKey="key" -p:CodesignProvision="app" src/app.csproj

and get these 2 errors:

/usr/local/share/dotnet/packs/Microsoft.iOS.Sdk/17.2.8004/tools/msbuild/iOS/Xamarin.Shared.targets(1805,3): error : Project bundle identifier 'app.ext1' does not match specified provisioning profile 'app' src/extension1.csproj
/usr/local/share/dotnet/packs/Microsoft.iOS.Sdk/17.2.8004/tools/msbuild/iOS/Xamarin.Shared.targets(1805,3): error : Project bundle identifier 'app.ext2' does not match specified provisioning profile 'app' src/extension2.csproj

Any thoughts anyone?

[b12kab]

Just in case it might help someone; don't compile your extensions alone (as I did above) just do the publish on the main project of the app:

dotnet publish -f net8.0-ios -r ios-arm64 -c Release -p:PublishTrimmed=true -p:ArchiveOnBuild=true src/app.csproj

[deyupopp]

did you find any solution for this? i'm encountering the same

[unamed000]

One of the biggest challenge i'm facing is we developed a Share extension using Xamarin.Forms.

Do we have a way to build the Share extension by using MAUI Xaml yet? Otherwise we can't migrate from Xamarin -> MAUI

[yevgeny-sotnikov]

As .NET MAUI expects a single project structure, managing the requirements of two distinct projects (main app and iOS extension) becomes tricky, particularly concerning provisioning profiles.

@vikher I'll slightly sweeten the pill: Was added support for Multi-Headed MAUI projects (same structure as for Xamarin.Forms):
#7426 (comment)

[Chandrakalavaprani]

@vikher : I am facing the same issue, Have a Notification Service Extension project , therefore two provisioning profiles, Did you find a solution for the publish command issue?

[yevgeny-sotnikov]

I don't have extensions in my project

[AmanGoyal009]

Hello @brandonward34 ,

Did u found any solution of showing Share Extension in MAUI for iOS. As in my case my app name is visible in the extension but when I am trying to open the app then it's not opening and even controls are also not hitting in ShareViewController class.

Please help me if you found some solution . It will help me.

Thanks in advance :)

[FlavioGoncalves-Cayas]

Did anyone get App Groups to work between the host app and the app extension with @VladislavAntonyuks template?
Edit: Nevermind, it works now. Forgot to assign the App Group in the identifier for the extension.