Summary

When using Pair to Mac to connect Visual Studio on Windows to a MacInCloud server, an enforced version check against the installed Xcode version runs before allowing builds to proceed. If the Xcode version on the server is newer than what the .NET framework officially supports, builds may fail during the validation phase, even though the toolchain itself is fully functional.

Symptoms

• Build fails with an error referencing an unsupported or unrecognized Xcode version
• The error occurs before compilation begins, during the validation phase
• The project builds successfully when paired to a Mac running an earlier version of Xcode

Example error:

This version of .NET for iOS (26.2.10197) requires Xcode 26.2. The current version of Xcode is 26.3. Either install Xcode 26.2, or use a different version of .NET for iOS. See https://aka.ms/xcode-requirements for more information.

Workaround

The fix depends on your framework. The general approach is to disable the Xcode version validation in your project configuration.

.NET MAUI

You need to add a setting to your project file (.csproj) that tells .NET to skip the Xcode version check. Here's how:

1. In Visual Studio, go to the Solution Explorer panel on the right side.
2. Find your project (it will have a .csproj extension, e.g. MyApp.csproj). Right-click on it and select Edit Project File. This opens the file as XML text.
3. Look for an existing <PropertyGroup>section near the top of the file. It will look something like this:

   <PropertyGroup>
       <TargetFrameworks>net10.0-ios;net10.0-android</TargetFrameworks>
       <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
       ...
   </PropertyGroup>

   
   

4. Add the following line inside that <PropertyGroup> block, before the closing </PropertyGroup>tag 

   <ValidateXcodeVersion>false</ValidateXcodeVersion>

5. Your <PropertyGroup>should now look something like this:

   <PropertyGroup>
       <TargetFrameworks>net10.0-ios;net10.0-android</TargetFrameworks>
       <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
       ...
       <ValidateXcodeVersion>false</ValidateXcodeVersion>
   </PropertyGroup>

6. Save the file (Ctrl + S).
7. Rebuild your project. The Xcode version error should no longer appear.

Notes

• These workarounds do not affect build output or app functionality — they only skip the version compatibility check.
• MacInCloud keeps Xcode up to date to support the latest iOS/macOS SDKs. Occasionally, frameworks lag behind in officially supporting the newest Xcode release.
• This article will be updated as new framework-specific workarounds are identified.

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