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With the pending release of MonoDroid we have decided to revisit MonoTouch as a possible alternative to gearing up some Objective-C skills. I was wondering if anyone had any experience and would share the gotchas before everyone else hits them. Set to CW, one hurdle per answer please.

MonoTouch allows C# development of iPhone and iPad applications with access to native code libraries.

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There are a handful of games built with MonoTouch, we just started tracking apps built with it recently, you can see them here:

http://monotouch.net/Apps

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I haven't used it, but my biggest reason for not using it is that there's a possibility that Apple could at any time remove all apps made with MonoTouch as it seems to go against the developer agreement:

Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

Having said that though, Unity licenses MonoTouch and they seem to have a decent relationship with Apple.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Yep, that is one of the reasons I have shied away as well. But the though of a triple is making me consider it again. The Mono project states: As MonoTouch does not hide native APIs and is not an abstraction layer, we continue to believe that MonoTouch conforms to the spirit and intent of the terms spelled out in the developer agreement. \$\endgroup\$
    – Larry Smithmier
    Aug 11, 2010 at 18:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ As an update, it looks like Apple updated section 3.1.1 of their aggrement, explicitly allowing platforms such as MonoTouch. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nate
    Sep 21, 2010 at 6:40
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    \$\begingroup\$ Unity does not use MonoTouch, just Mono itself. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nevermind
    Dec 10, 2010 at 6:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ is that not a monopoly of some sort? I have to use a mac to develop, even though there are ways around it. This is why I hate apple to death! \$\endgroup\$
    – Spooks
    Apr 19, 2011 at 18:05

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