Xamarin Is End of Life: What Migrating to .NET MAUI Really Involves

If your business runs a mobile app built with Xamarin, it is now living on borrowed time. Microsoft ended all support for Xamarin on 1 May 2024. No more fixes, no updates, and most importantly, no security patches. The app on your customers' phones still runs for now, but you can no longer keep it healthy, and the app stores have already moved on without it.

This post explains, in plain terms, what that actually means for your app, what .NET MAUI is, and what a move from Xamarin to MAUI really involves. No jargon and no scare tactics, just the picture you need to plan your next step.

What end of support really means

"End of support" sounds soft, but the effects are concrete:

• No security patches. Any new vulnerability found in Xamarin or its dependencies stays open. For an app that handles logins, payments, or personal data, that risk grows every month.
• You cannot ship updates to the stores. Xamarin is frozen on older Android and iOS build tools. Google Play and the Apple App Store now require newer versions, so you can no longer push updates or bug fixes through the stores. Your app is stuck at whatever version shipped last.
• Things break over time. New phones and operating system versions arrive every year. Without updates, small breakages pile up until parts of your app stop working for real users.

The app does not vanish. It keeps running on devices that already have it. But it slowly decays, and you have no supported way to fix it.

What .NET MAUI is

.NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI) is Microsoft's replacement for Xamarin. It does the same core job, one codebase in C# that builds apps for Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS, but it was rebuilt on modern .NET with better performance, faster startup, and a cleaner project structure. Xamarin.Forms became MAUI, and the old Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS became .NET for Android and .NET for iOS.

In short, MAUI is where Microsoft put all of its mobile investment. Moving there puts your app back on a supported, actively developed platform.

Is it just a version upgrade?

This is the part most people get wrong, so it is worth being honest. Moving from Xamarin to MAUI is a migration project, not a button you press.

Your business logic, the C# that runs your app's actual work, usually carries over with little change. That is the good news, and it is often the majority of the code. The work sits in the platform and interface layer. MAUI was rewritten underneath, so project files, some libraries, and any custom UI code need to be adjusted or rebuilt.

How much work depends on your app:

• Apps built cleanly on Xamarin.Forms have the smoothest path and can reuse most of their code.
• Apps that lean on custom renderers, older third-party libraries, or heavy native code need more hands-on rework, sometimes a partial interface rebuild.

A proper assessment up front tells you which camp your app is in before anyone writes a line of code.

How a migration usually goes

A sensible migration runs in clear stages:

1. Assessment. Review the existing app, its libraries, and its custom code to map the real scope and the risks.
2. Project conversion. Move the solution to the MAUI project structure, using Microsoft's Upgrade Assistant where it helps.
3. Dependency updates. Replace or update any libraries that do not have MAUI-ready versions.
4. Interface rework. Rebuild the parts of the app that relied on Xamarin-specific code.
5. Testing. Check the app across real devices and operating system versions to catch anything the move disturbed.
6. Store resubmission. Ship the updated app to Google Play and the App Store on current build tools.

Done in this order, you keep the surprises small and always know where you stand.

How long and how much does it cost?

There is no honest single number, because it scales with the app. A small, clean Forms app is a modest project. A large app with years of custom code and many dependencies is a bigger one. What matters is getting an assessment first, so the timeline and cost are based on your actual code rather than a guess. Any team that quotes a firm price before seeing your project is guessing.

Why it is worth doing now, not later

Waiting does not save money, it adds cost. Every month on an unsupported framework is a month of unpatched security risk and quiet decay. The store deadlines for Xamarin-built apps have already passed, so you cannot push updates in the meantime. And the longer an app sits frozen, the further its libraries fall behind, which only makes the eventual migration larger. The cheapest time to move was before support ended. The next cheapest is now.

How Softechies can help

Softechies has built mobile and .NET software since 2012, and migrating Xamarin apps to .NET MAUI is work we do regularly. We start with a clear assessment of your existing app, tell you honestly what the move involves for your specific code, and handle the migration through to testing and store resubmission. You get a supported, current app without starting from scratch.

If you are running a Xamarin app and are not sure where to begin, we can help you plan the move.

Frequently asked questions

Will my Xamarin app stop working immediately? No. Existing installs keep running. The problem is that you can no longer update it, patch security issues, or ship it with the changes the app stores now require, so it degrades over time.

Can I reuse my existing code? Usually a good amount of it. Your C# business logic tends to carry over. The interface and platform-specific code is where the real work sits, and how much depends on how the app was built.

Is MAUI the only option? No. Some teams treat a migration as the moment to consider Flutter or React Native instead. MAUI is the most direct path from Xamarin because it shares the same .NET foundation, but the right choice depends on your app and your team. We are happy to talk through the trade-offs.

How do I know how big the job is? Start with an assessment of the current app. That is the only reliable way to size the work before you commit to a timeline or budget.

Ready to move off Xamarin?

If your business still relies on a Xamarin app, the safest next step is a proper assessment of what migrating to .NET MAUI would take. Get in touch with Softechies and we will look at your app and map out a clear, realistic path forward.

You can also see our client reviews and completed projects on our Upwork and Freelancer profiles.