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Developers Will Soon Get 25 Monthly Hours of Xcode Cloud With Apple Developer Program

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Apple today announced that starting in January 2024, all Apple Developer Program memberships will include 25 compute hours of Xcode Cloud at no additional cost on top of the Developer membership fee.

Xcode-Cloud-icon.jpeg

Xcode Cloud is designed to provide cloud-based tools to developers for building apps, running automated tests, providing apps to testers, and managing user feedback. It was introduced in 2021, and made available to all developers in June 2022.

Since launch, Apple has given developers access to 25 hours of Xcode Cloud per month at no cost, but that was scheduled to end this month. Apple has now decided to continue offering the free compute hours as part of its Developer Program membership.
We're pleased to announce that as of January 2024, all Apple Developer Program memberships will include 25 compute hours per month on Xcode Cloud as a standard, with no additional cost. If you're already subscribed to Xcode Cloud for free, no additional action is required on your part. And if you haven't tried Xcode Cloud yet, now is the perfect time to start building your app for free in just a few minutes.
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Apple initially planned to charge $15 per month for 25 hours, but that tier will be free. 100 compute hours is priced at $50 per month, 250 hours is priced at $100 per month, and 1,000 hours is priced at $400 per month.

Each compute hour is an hour of time used to execute a task in the cloud, such as building an app or running tests. Compute hour usage is tracked through App Store connect and the Apple Developer app.

Article Link: Developers Will Soon Get 25 Monthly Hours of Xcode Cloud With Apple Developer Program
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/07/apple-developer-program-xcode-cloud/
Can someone please explain in 3 sentences a scenario where a developer uses this? Thank you!
 
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hacky said:
Makes sense to offer more benefits to Apple Developer Program members.

Especially when sideloading (which basically means free Apple Developer program) is coming soon.
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Side loading will simply be a delivery method. Shouldn't replace the need to sign a build from an authenticated program member. In the early days of iOS development (and even with formerly allowed Enterprise license member) side loading was not an issue, but always still required a valid signed build. Doubt a free dev program is coming anytime soon.
 
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zahuh said:
Can someone please explain in 3 sentences a scenario where a developer uses this? Thank you!
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For enterprise size applications, this actually gives you a bit more iOS specific control over CI/CD process compared to products like TeamCity. For the one-man dev shop how follows the traditional process of code, build, test, repeat this will not do much really except possibly simplifying automation of your processes a bit easier then Jenkins, CircleCI, TravisCI, etc. or the complexity of writing Fastlane scripts. From an enterprise level however it seems just a little more Apple friendly that GitLab CI/CD, or many of the others out there.
 
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Wish I could use this for Swift / SwiftUI coding on iPad, build and get errors on the cloud, and install over air to iPhone
 
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zahuh said:
Can someone please explain in 3 sentences a scenario where a developer uses this? Thank you!
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Building an application for distribution on TestFlight or the AppStore is a tedious multi-step process. Building it in the Cloud means that a version of Xcode hosted at Apple does all of that work for you, letting you and your local Mac get on with other tasks. It can also run builds automatically, triggered by certain changes in your source code, catching potential build problems as soon as they arise.
 
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While I applaud Apple for doing this, I feel like this is a way to hook people into Xcode Cloud as 25 hours is definitely not enough for most serious developers. I will personally stick with Mac mini.
 
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bodhisattva said:
Side loading will simply be a delivery method. Shouldn't replace the need to sign a build from an authenticated program member. In the early days of iOS development (and even with formerly allowed Enterprise license member) side loading was not an issue, but always still required a valid signed build. Doubt a free dev program is coming anytime soon.
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With alternative app stores coming in iOS together with sideloading it is expected to see those alternative delivery methods which would not require Apple's App Store and Apple's developer program at all.
 
That’s not that great. Developers have already had 25 hours/month.
The build service is slow and expensive once you get past the free hours. It was cheaper for us to buy an M2 Mac Mini and use it as a build machine.
10x faster.
 
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DeepIn2U said:
It is NOT FREE!

one must pay to be an Appke developer every year. That's the basis for being a developer.
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I never said it's free to be in Apple Developer program. I said those 25 Monthly Hours of Xcode Cloud this article is talking about will be free for existing Apple Developers. Being Apple Developer itself is not free, yes. That's why I said Apple must give some additional value for Apple Developer program when there is sideloading and alternative stores where you can publish your apps for free...
 
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