[HN Gopher] XCode Cloud Subscriptions Now Available
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       XCode Cloud Subscriptions Now Available
        
       Author : math-dev
       Score  : 68 points
       Date   : 2022-08-30 21:27 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (developer.apple.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (developer.apple.com)
        
       | Apocryphon wrote:
       | Finally, the fruits of the Buddybuild acquisition(?)
        
       | frizlab wrote:
       | It's a small c in Xcode...
        
       | akmarinov wrote:
       | For comparison Bitrise charges 3 tokens per minute on an M1 mac
       | and 10 000 tokens are $500. That gives you 55 hours.
        
         | wetpaws wrote:
         | Bitrise does a lot more than just iOS cicd
        
       | alberth wrote:
       | Dumb question: why does a _cloud_ offering require onprem macOS?
       | 
       | Shouldn't folks on iOS at least be able to access XCode Cloud
        
         | honkdaddy wrote:
         | I can't think of a good reason Apple would want to support
         | developers who want to publish in their (very) walled garden
         | but aren't willing to purchase at least one macOS device. There
         | are services which provide virtual Macs, this isn't meant to be
         | one of them.
        
           | makeitdouble wrote:
           | Education perhaps. Kids in middle school or lower might get
           | iPads and not laptops, and programming can be part of their
           | curriculum.
        
         | jbverschoor wrote:
         | Because of licensing.
        
         | derefr wrote:
         | It's a CI system with XCode as its fat client. There's no XCode
         | for iOS.
        
         | MBCook wrote:
         | Xcode Cloud is a CI/CD setup for complaining and signing Mac
         | and iOS apps. It is not a web or remote development environment
         | like some other companies offer.
         | 
         | Because it can be triggered by pushes into git, you could make
         | changes to existing code from an iPad or PC and get it built.
         | But you can't (realistically) do anything that requires Xcode
         | such as adding new things to your project or messing with xib
         | files.
        
       | keyle wrote:
       | Cough cough, sarcastic old dev here "yeah, that's what XCode
       | needed, cloud CI/CD".
        
       | nikanj wrote:
       | Does this mean one can reasonably develop ios apps without a mac?
        
         | pooper wrote:
         | Sadly, no.
         | 
         | > Xcode Cloud is a continuous integration and delivery service
         | built into Xcode and designed expressly for Apple developers.
         | It accelerates the development and delivery of high-quality
         | apps by bringing together cloud-based tools that help you build
         | apps, run automated tests in parallel, deliver apps to testers,
         | and view and manage user feedback.
         | 
         | This requires xcode, which requires a Mac as far as I know.
        
         | obenn wrote:
         | You still need a Mac with Xcode
        
         | data-ottawa wrote:
         | No, this lets you do automated tests and builds in the cloud.
         | 
         | You'll still need Xcode to create the project, sign it, manage
         | entitlements, load to test flight, etc.
        
           | MBCook wrote:
           | Xcode cloud requires you let Apple handle code signing
           | automatically so you don't have to do it locally, although
           | obviously you still have to have a paid account. Additionally
           | as others have mentioned this can push things to TestFlight
           | for you.
        
           | DelightOne wrote:
           | > load to test flight
           | 
           | The web page says it supports test flight.
        
         | paxys wrote:
         | This is just a CI/CD product. You still need a Mac and the
         | Xcode desktop app.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | candiddevmike wrote:
         | Get a Mac Mini and use VNC along with a GitHub/GitLab runner.
         | Works quite well!
        
           | chrisseaton wrote:
           | > without a mac
           | 
           | > Get a Mac
        
       | homarp wrote:
       | see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32654493
       | 
       | "[author] has been using Xcode Cloud to compile and deploy my
       | rcmd app switcher (https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd) for the past few
       | months, and it's been a great experience.
       | 
       | I liked that with a single "git push" I could compile, archive,
       | deploy to TestFlight, and send for beta review. I even pushed a
       | fix from my iPhone using Working Copy one time while I was on a
       | train.
       | 
       | These are the pricing plans for those interested:
       | 
       | - 25 compute hours/month: Free*
       | 
       | - 100 compute hours/month: $49.99/month
       | 
       | - 250 compute hours/month: $99.99/month
       | 
       | - 1000 compute hours/month: $399.99/month
       | 
       | * Free through December 2023, then $14.99/month if you choose to
       | subscribe at that time. "
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | 25$ or compute hours free a month, I wonder how much tests that
       | is, and any overhead cpu costs?
        
         | codazoda wrote:
         | 3. Free through December 2023, then US$14.99 per month if you
         | choose to subscribe at that time.
        
       | jbverschoor wrote:
       | The first steps to Apple's AWS competitor. Their multi billion
       | contract with Amazon will end soon, so the timing makes perfect
       | sense.
        
         | jasoncartwright wrote:
         | Is that true? Have they been investing the required billions
         | (tens of billions?) in datacenter infrastructure across the
         | globe to do this?
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | Aloha wrote:
         | How does a CI/CD system lead to an AWS competitor?
        
           | altairprime wrote:
           | The pricing is in compute hours, which means that their app-
           | integrated CI/CD offering directly competes with offerings
           | that require you to purchase your own retail-rate AWS EC2 &co
           | compute hours.
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-30 23:00 UTC)