I’ve been developing native iOS, macOS and Android with Xamarin for years now. I love C# and Xamarin Studio is an incredible IDE.

However, I prefer to work with .xibs and .storyboards in Xcode Interface Builder opposed to Xamarin Studio’s built-in designer.

Within Xamarin Studio you can open these files in Xcode easily using the “Open with…” action menu, but I wanted it to use Xcode by default.

Yesterday I wrote a simple add-in for Xamarin Studio that sets Xcode Interface Builder as the default designer for .xib and .storyboard files.

You can check out the source or just follow these steps to install the add-in and use in Xamarin Studio:

  1. Download the .mpack file of the latest release
  2. Launch Xamarin Studio, open the Xamarin Studio menu and select Add-ins…
  3. In the bottom left of the Add-in Manager dialog, click Install from file…
  4. Choose the .mpack file you downloaded in step 1.
  5. When prompted, select Install

With the add-in installed, double-clicking .xib and .storyboard files will open them in Xcode Interface Builder. Xamarin Studio’s designer can still be used via the “Open with…” action menu.