Developing iOS Apps on Non-Apple Devices: Legal Minefield

The possibility of building iOS apps on non-Apple devices has long been debated. This post highlights that the primary challenge is legal and licensing, not technical. Apple's Developer Program License Agreement explicitly forbids installing, using, or running iOS SDKs or other Apple software on non-Apple devices. While the Oracle v. Google case altered the copyright landscape regarding reverse engineering for compatibility, the author argues that deploying apps built on non-Apple devices directly to the App Store carries significant legal risk, with Apple retaining the right to terminate violating developer accounts.