Avalonia brings Linux, browser support to Microsoft's MAUI cross-platform app solution
(2025/11/13)
- Reference: 1763046707
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/13/dotnet_maui_linux_avalonia/
- Source link:
Microsoft's MAUI (Multi-platform App UI), the official .NET solution for cross-platform desktop and mobile apps, will get Linux and browser support via Avalonia, a third-party framework.
MAUI is an evolution of Xamarin Forms, a cross-platform framework for .NET first developed outside Microsoft and acquired in 2016 along with Mono, the first open source implementation of .NET.
The supported platforms for MAUI are Android, iOS, Mac Catalyst, and Windows. Mac Catalyst is Apple's API for running iPad apps on macOS, with some limitations compared to the full AppKit API. On Windows, MAUI uses the WinUI 3 framework.
[1]
Notably absent from this list is Linux, even though .NET runs well on Linux for web applications. Xamarin Forms had preview support for GTK#, a .NET wrapper for GTK, the widget toolkit used by the GNOME desktop, but this was not carried forward to MAUI. Although Linux desktop market share is small versus Windows and Mac, usage is increasing and may be as high as three percent, boosted by Microsoft's determination to make older hardware incompatible with Windows 11. Linux is also widely used for embedded applications.
[2]
Browser-based MAUI running alongside Mac Catalyst MAUI. It appears that even the official sample has chopped-off captions
AvaloniaUI, a company that provides an open source framework for cross-platform .NET applications, has now stepped up to add this support. According to a [3]post from CEO Mike James, the team has been working on a new backend for MAUI that would render the UI using the Avalonia renderer, instead of the native controls used by MAUI. James said that this has been done "with guidance and feedback from engineers in the MAUI ecosystem," implying though not quite stating that the Microsoft developers are supportive. In addition, because Avalonia supports WebAssembly, the new approach will enable MAUI apps to run in the browser.
There is some history behind this technology. Veteran developers will recall the early days of Java desktop applications, and the debate over whether controls should be drawn by the framework, as done by Java Swing, or call the API to display native controls, as done by SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit), first developed by IBM. Using native controls is better for achieving the look and feel of the operating system, but makes cross-platform code more difficult as these controls are not an exact match on different systems.
[4]
[5]
The original Xamarin developers were convinced that native controls gave a superior user experience, and that philosophy has carried through into MAUI. Avalonia, by contrast, draws its own controls. According to James, "not only do you get more platforms and improved performance, your MAUI applications can look and behave consistently whether they are on Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile or running in a browser tab." James said that the Avalonia backend will be usable on all platforms, not just Linux and browser, and claims that performance is better particularly on macOS.
[6]Microsoft ships .NET 10 LTS and Visual Studio 2026, Copilot everywhere
[7]OWASP Top 10: Broken access control still tops app security list
[8]Another chance for JPEG XL? PDF will support format as 'preferred solution'
[9]Fedora council approves policy allowing AI-assisted contributions
The counterargument is that, while Linux support will be welcomed by MAUI developers, it is not the same thing, and those who prefer MAUI because it renders using native controls will be disappointed.
The current status of the project is that a sample of the WebAssembly support is online, but nothing further beyond a signup for preview access promised in the first quarter of 2026.
The business model behind the forthcoming support is not yet stated, except that James expresses the hope that MAUI developers using the Avalonia renderer may switch to AvaloniaUI for future projects.
[10]
Another key Avalonia development is that the project is likely to move away from Skia, an open source 2D graphics library, in favor of Impeller, developed by Google for its Flutter framework. Flutter, like Avalonia, draws its own controls and the team developed Impeller to overcome performance issues with Skia. Avalonia is now [11]going down the same path , with the team creating a .NET wrapper for Impeller, now on GitHub as [12]Nimpeller , though it is early days for the switch. According to the post: "Impeller delivers smooth, consistent performance, higher average frame rates, and reduced VRAM use."®
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[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/13/avalonia-maui.jpg
[3] https://avaloniaui.net/blog/net-maui-is-coming-to-linux-and-the-browser-powered-by-avalonia
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aRYOptBdhFCnASkDJNI7YgAAAUQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/12/net_10_c_14_visual/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/11/new_owasp_top_ten_broken/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/10/another_chance_for_jpeg_xl/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/23/fedora_agrees_policy_allowing_ai_assisted_code_contribs/
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[11] https://avaloniaui.net/blog/avalonia-partners-with-google-s-flutter-t-eam-to-bring-impeller-rendering-to-net
[12] https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/NImpeller
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
MAUI is an evolution of Xamarin Forms, a cross-platform framework for .NET first developed outside Microsoft and acquired in 2016 along with Mono, the first open source implementation of .NET.
The supported platforms for MAUI are Android, iOS, Mac Catalyst, and Windows. Mac Catalyst is Apple's API for running iPad apps on macOS, with some limitations compared to the full AppKit API. On Windows, MAUI uses the WinUI 3 framework.
[1]
Notably absent from this list is Linux, even though .NET runs well on Linux for web applications. Xamarin Forms had preview support for GTK#, a .NET wrapper for GTK, the widget toolkit used by the GNOME desktop, but this was not carried forward to MAUI. Although Linux desktop market share is small versus Windows and Mac, usage is increasing and may be as high as three percent, boosted by Microsoft's determination to make older hardware incompatible with Windows 11. Linux is also widely used for embedded applications.
[2]
Browser-based MAUI running alongside Mac Catalyst MAUI. It appears that even the official sample has chopped-off captions
AvaloniaUI, a company that provides an open source framework for cross-platform .NET applications, has now stepped up to add this support. According to a [3]post from CEO Mike James, the team has been working on a new backend for MAUI that would render the UI using the Avalonia renderer, instead of the native controls used by MAUI. James said that this has been done "with guidance and feedback from engineers in the MAUI ecosystem," implying though not quite stating that the Microsoft developers are supportive. In addition, because Avalonia supports WebAssembly, the new approach will enable MAUI apps to run in the browser.
There is some history behind this technology. Veteran developers will recall the early days of Java desktop applications, and the debate over whether controls should be drawn by the framework, as done by Java Swing, or call the API to display native controls, as done by SWT (Standard Widget Toolkit), first developed by IBM. Using native controls is better for achieving the look and feel of the operating system, but makes cross-platform code more difficult as these controls are not an exact match on different systems.
[4]
[5]
The original Xamarin developers were convinced that native controls gave a superior user experience, and that philosophy has carried through into MAUI. Avalonia, by contrast, draws its own controls. According to James, "not only do you get more platforms and improved performance, your MAUI applications can look and behave consistently whether they are on Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile or running in a browser tab." James said that the Avalonia backend will be usable on all platforms, not just Linux and browser, and claims that performance is better particularly on macOS.
[6]Microsoft ships .NET 10 LTS and Visual Studio 2026, Copilot everywhere
[7]OWASP Top 10: Broken access control still tops app security list
[8]Another chance for JPEG XL? PDF will support format as 'preferred solution'
[9]Fedora council approves policy allowing AI-assisted contributions
The counterargument is that, while Linux support will be welcomed by MAUI developers, it is not the same thing, and those who prefer MAUI because it renders using native controls will be disappointed.
The current status of the project is that a sample of the WebAssembly support is online, but nothing further beyond a signup for preview access promised in the first quarter of 2026.
The business model behind the forthcoming support is not yet stated, except that James expresses the hope that MAUI developers using the Avalonia renderer may switch to AvaloniaUI for future projects.
[10]
Another key Avalonia development is that the project is likely to move away from Skia, an open source 2D graphics library, in favor of Impeller, developed by Google for its Flutter framework. Flutter, like Avalonia, draws its own controls and the team developed Impeller to overcome performance issues with Skia. Avalonia is now [11]going down the same path , with the team creating a .NET wrapper for Impeller, now on GitHub as [12]Nimpeller , though it is early days for the switch. According to the post: "Impeller delivers smooth, consistent performance, higher average frame rates, and reduced VRAM use."®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aRYOptBdhFCnASkDJNI7YgAAAUQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/13/avalonia-maui.jpg
[3] https://avaloniaui.net/blog/net-maui-is-coming-to-linux-and-the-browser-powered-by-avalonia
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aRYOptBdhFCnASkDJNI7YgAAAUQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aRYOptBdhFCnASkDJNI7YgAAAUQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/12/net_10_c_14_visual/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/11/new_owasp_top_ten_broken/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/10/another_chance_for_jpeg_xl/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/23/fedora_agrees_policy_allowing_ai_assisted_code_contribs/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aRYOptBdhFCnASkDJNI7YgAAAUQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://avaloniaui.net/blog/avalonia-partners-with-google-s-flutter-t-eam-to-bring-impeller-rendering-to-net
[12] https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/NImpeller
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: What?
abend0c4
People who want to develop cross-platform applications (which is mostly people who used to develop traditional Winforms business applications but don't want necessarily to be dependent on Windows).
Avalonia has actually proved to be reasonably popular while Microsoft has been flailing around, unable to get a grip on its future UI strategy. Given their tardiness and the bitter taste left by the imposition of Windows 11, a more pertinent question might be "what's the point of MAUI?".
What?
Who asked for this? What problem is it trying to solve? I read the article, but it sounds like any other framework waffling promise.