.NET MAUI: the evolution of Xamarin.Forms

Microsoft describes .NET Multi-platform App UI (.NET MAUI) as the evolution of Xamarin.Forms. It's a framework for building native apps for Android, iOS, macOS and Windows from a single C# (and XAML) codebase.

Supported targets

What changed from Xamarin.Forms

• Single project: one .csproj multi-targets every platform. Fonts, images and the splash screen live in shared Resources folders, and platform code goes in Platforms/.
• Handlers instead of renderers: controls map to native views through lightweight handlers that you can customize without subclassing.
• Part of .NET: MAUI ships as a .NET workload (dotnet workload install maui) and follows the .NET release cadence.
• Modern app startup: a MauiProgram builder with the same dependency injection, configuration and logging you use in ASP.NET Core.
• Blazor Hybrid: BlazorWebView lets you reuse Razor components inside a native app.

Hello, MAUI

public static class MauiProgram
{
    public static MauiApp CreateMauiApp()
    {
        var builder = MauiApp.CreateBuilder();
        builder
            .UseMauiApp<App>()
            .ConfigureFonts(f => f.AddFont("Inter-Regular.ttf", "Inter"));

        builder.Services.AddSingleton<MainViewModel>();
        builder.Services.AddSingleton<MainPage>();
        return builder.Build();
    }
}

When to choose MAUI

• Your team already knows C#/.NET and you want one codebase for mobile and desktop.
• You need native controls and device APIs (camera, sensors, secure storage) in C#.
• You want to share business logic and models with an ASP.NET Core backend.

If you only target the web, Blazor is the simpler choice. If pixel-identical custom UI on every platform matters most, compare MAUI with alternatives such as Avalonia or Uno Platform before committing.