The Genesis of App Center
After Apple launched iOS and Google introduced Android, both achieving great results, Microsoft decided to make a move to strengthen its presence in the mobile ecosystem. However, the "Windows Phone" domain did not experience the expected growth in the industry, and market focus shifted towards iOS/Android-based smart devices.
Consequently, Microsoft developed a new strategy to reposition itself in the sector. Instead of competing by introducing new devices, it chose to develop platforms that would serve iOS/Android developers.
This initiative began with Microsoft's release of the "Xamarin" development framework in May 2011. Xamarin provided C#/.NET developers with a cross-platform development environment, enabling them to create iOS and Android applications. This framework quickly became popular, enabling thousands of ".NET developers" to become "mobile developers," and highlighting the need for server-based services. To respond quickly, Microsoft acquired HockeyApp in November 2014, making its first step into cloud-based mobile services. This acquisition was also part of Microsoft's efforts to expand its range of mobile application development tools and services.
In March 2017, Microsoft consolidated all of its mobile-related cloud services, including Xamarin Test Cloud, HockeyApp, and CodePush, with the goal of providing a comprehensive 360-degree suite of tools for mobile developers. This initiative led to the launch of the MS App Center. The development framework "Xamarin," paired with the cloud service "MS App Center," effectively addressed a wide array of needs for mobile developers.
The Rise of App Center
Alongside supporting the Xamarin ecosystem with App Center services, Microsoft also positioned itself as an alternative to Google Firebase and AWS Amplify, thus solidifying its place in the mobile ecosystem.
After a while, Microsoft began to develop "DevOps" features in addition to the "runtime features" on App Center. Starting with "Xamarin" and later extending compilation support to "Native iOS", "Native Android", and "React Native", Microsoft App Center solidified its position in the industry.
As the mobile ecosystem entered a new era, Microsoft accelerated the adoption of App Center by addressing specific challenges such as the lack of specialized CI/CD products for mobile projects and developers' limited access to MAC OS build machine.
App Center offered a comprehensive suite of services (almost for free) like Error Tracking and Reporting, Mobile Analytics, Beta Test Distribution, Push Notifications, Code Push, App Build for Mobile and Windows, etc., which significantly attracted the industry’s interest.
While Microsoft Azure DevOps continued to evolve in the backend DevOps area, MS App Center became more prominent on the mobile front. Integrations between Azure DevOps and MS App Center increased enterprise adoption of App Center.
App Center became a preferred choice for beta distribution among many companies. Over time, it started surpassing Google Firebase and AWS Amplify in this regard.
The Retirement of App Center…
While Microsoft managed sustained success with Xamarin, the usage metrics for App Center were satisfactory. However, App Center was not commercially profitable, and the emergence of alternatives like Xcode Cloud and Appcircle increased competition. The rise of Firebase’s runtime features also created alternatives to App Center, prompting Microsoft to reassess its strategies.
While Microsoft continued to make significant investments in Azure DevOps, it defined a new strategy and began recommending the more corporate solution of the Azure DevOps family instead of App Center. As the DevOps sector began to rise in the early 2020s, Microsoft continued to position Azure DevOps as an alternative to other players in the industry such as GitLab CI, Circle CI, and Jenkins. I'm not even mentioning the acquisition of Github, as that is a completely parallel strategy.
In recent years, MS App Center has increasingly failed to meet the industry's needs. Its lack of support for Flutter, not prioritizing issues on Github, and failing to meet roadmap targets indicated a decline in its priority within Microsoft. However, because it did not produce a solution in the Mobile DevOps area, the closure of MS App Center was not widely anticipated.
Currently, Microsoft is focusing on growing within the Community through Github Actions, while continuing to emphasize Azure DevOps in the Enterprise world. For mobile needs, it is trying to address Runtime features (Error Tracking and Reporting, Mobile Analytics) by directing them towards Azure services for solutions.
Exit Planning from App Center
Considering the services provided by App Center, I would like to share some alternatives:
Build: App Center’s build feature was relatively limited, but it filled a crucial gap especially in Xamarin and Windows builds. For mobile solutions, transitioning to Appcircle Build and Xcode Cloud might be necessary, although custom pipelines will be needed for Xamarin and Windows.
Beta Distribution: One of App Center’s most popular features was its Beta Distribution capability used for distributing mobile packages. Alternatives like Appcircle Testing Distribution and Google Firebase can be considered. If you need more corporate capabilities (SSO/LDAP Login, Pipeline Integration, Reporting, etc.), Appcircle offers a good solution, while Google Firebase can be considered for community-based products.
Analytics & Diagnostics: You can set up your own services in Microsoft Azure, but Google Firebase and AWS Amplify can also be considered. There are many solutions available in this area.
CodePush: For the Code Push feature that App Center offers for React Native projects, you can set up the open source project available on GitHub on your own servers.
Large service providers like Microsoft, Google, and AWS can suddenly shut down their services based on their own strategies. This situation can lead to unexpected results, especially for corporations.
Therefore, I recommend that corporate organizations use reasonably priced, paid services to establish long-term agreements.
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