[chrismmay]

I took the same journey you are undertaking. It's quite doable. You'll need a macbook to make a native iphone app. You'll need to sign up for Apple Developer which costs $100 a year. You could go the web route, but you then you won't really be learning native development for iOS and Android. Java for Android and Swift for iOS are the way to go in my opinion. If you can afford (or already have) a MacBook, like others have said, there is no reason not to dive right in and start working. When I started I licensed AppCode from JetBrains because I was used to IntelliJ. Eventually though I switched to XCode like everyone else. One thing though, make sure your Mac has at least 256GB of RAM not just 128GB because XCode and all the updates will fill that up very quickly.

[rvz]

> One thing though, make sure your Mac has at least 256GB of RAM not just 128GB because XCode and all the updates will fill that up very quickly.

I'm sure you meant disk space instead of RAM perhaps? I think it would be overkill to obtain a Mac with 256 GB or 1 TB of RAM just to create iOS Apps. ;)

[chrismmay]

Yup, sorry, my mistake.

[eugeniub]

> Java for Android

Even though OP said they are a Java developer, I would strongly urge going with Kotlin for Android at this point. Kotlin replaced Java as the default language for native Android development in 2017, and new code samples are being written in Kotlin. At the very least, start with Java, and ease your way into Kotlin, since it's 100% interoperable with Java. Aside from being the default Android langauge, Kotlin has many other benefits.

[listenallyall]

Also, Kotlin on the server is better than ever and would likely boost OP's productivity as well.

[james-skemp]

On the other hand, you (OP) should develop an app that's best for you. So if you're using an Android device, I might recommend skipping iPhone development.

Benefit is that you can develop on Windows, Mac, or Linux, won't have to buy an iDevice or two, or a new machine.

[bcrosby95]

Note that mac minis are viable options if you don't want to shell out the $$$ for a macbook.

[keyle]

I second this, the latest mac minis are little beasts.

[cerberusss]

And their resale value is truly magnificent.

[RussianCow]

> One thing though, make sure your Mac has at least 256GB of RAM not just 128GB because XCode and all the updates will fill that up very quickly.

Surely you mean disk space, not RAM?

[mosselman]

Of course he does.

[saagarjha]

> You'll need to sign up for Apple Developer which costs $100 a year.

Only once you’d like to publish your app on the App Store.

[OGWhales]

> You'll need a macbook to make a native iphone app

I did not realize this. Sad :(