Yup, iOS development can only be done on a Mac. Gotta love Apple’s closed ecosystem forcing developers to own Macs. I run Linux so I was in the same predicament. At the moment, I am using https://www.macincloud.com to build the iOS app and push it to my Apple Developer account.
In regards to time, if you already have the Apple Developer account, maybe a few hours?
Other iOS build options:
- Ionic Appflow
- Azure (I’ve seen tutorials on setting this up)
- GitLab is now offering Macs for builds, last time I knew though it was a closed beta
- AWS EC2 Mac instances - $1.083/hour with a minimum of 24 hours due to Apple’s licensing (thanks Apple…sigh)
For us, the best solution was MacInCloud so we can use the iOS emulator and test out the app. Right now we are using the Pay-As-You-Go plan which is $30 for 30 hours. Only caveat with that plan is the highest Mac OS version is Catalina 10.15.7 which supports xCode 12.4. Anything higher, you need to go with a monthly plan. I am sure it has to do with Apple licensing too. For us, we are still in Beta so not testing on the lastest iOS version isn’t a big deal.