When to use Xamarin.Forms vs Xamarin Native?

Question

I need to make a decision between using Xamarin.Forms vs Xamarin native to develop an app.

I want to go with Xamarin.Forms as UI code will be shared as well.

So what are the technical positives and negatives of using Xamarin.Forms over Xamarin Native?

Answer 1

Xamarin.Forms

Pros

• Create one UI for all platforms
• Use basic components that are available on all platforms (like Buttons, Textfields, Spinners etc.)
• No need to learn all the native UI frameworks
• Fast cross platform development process
• Custom native renderers give you the ability to adjust the appearance and feeling of controls

Cons

• It's still a new framework and still contains bugs
• Especially Windows RT is not yet stable
• It's sometimes slower than accessing the native controls directly
• Custom native renderers have boundaries and are poorly documented

Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, Windows Phone, Windows RT

Pros

• Create one UI per platform
• Easy ability to adjust the platform specific UI features and components
• Get the maximum out of your UI

Cons

• Cross platform development process is much slower
• You need to learn all native UI frameworks
• You may result in having duplicate code (as you describe almost the same UI in three different platform specific ways)

In addition to that Xamarin says on https://xamarin.com/forms:

Which Xamarin approach is best for your app?

Xamarin.Forms is best for:

• Data entry apps
• Prototypes and proofs-of-concept
• Apps that require little platform-specific functionality
• Apps where code sharing is more important than custom UI

Xamarin.iOS & Xamarin.Android are best for:

• Apps that require specialized interactions
• Apps with highly polished design
• Apps that use many platform-specific APIs
• Apps where custom UI is more important than code sharing