Visual Studio 2022 for Mac Preview 3, and Upcoming Native M1 Processor Support

Jordan Matthiesen

This is an exciting post for us today with several announcements – First, Visual Studio 2022 for Mac Preview 3 is now available with support for the general availability release of .NET 6. Second, our team has been working on native support for the Apple M1 processor, and it will be available soon in a future preview. This post contains additional information on the Visual Studio 2022 for Mac release date as well. Read on for more details, and download the latest preview while you’re at it:

If you’re already using a preview version of Visual Studio 2022 for Mac, you can use the Visual Studio > Check for Updates… menu now to update to the latest release.

Creating a native macOS experience for Visual Studio

In our Preview 1 blog post, we mentioned our goal with Visual Studio 2022 for Mac is to make a modern .NET IDE tailored for the Mac that delivers the productive experience you’ve come to love in Visual Studio. The Visual Studio 2022 for Mac release focuses on:

Providing a truly native macOS experience: We’re re-writing the UI in all native macOS UI to provide a comfortable Mac user experience and provide better support for assistive technologies.

Visual Studio 2022 for Mac with a dark color theme
The Visual Studio 2022 for Mac Dark Theme

Improving the speed and stability of the IDE: With the move to native and moving to the .NET CLR (more details about that in a moment), we’re also improving IDE performance, addressing longstanding UI bugs, and reducing crashes.

Improving the daily Git user experience with a new Git Changes window that is more consistent between the Visual Studio IDEs.

Developing apps using the .NET 6 GA release

Visual Studio 2022 for Mac Preview 3 supports the latest .NET 6 release on the Mac, including support for C# 10 language features. You can use it today to build out apps for the web, cloud, and of course terminal-based console apps.

A C# minimal API app that prints Hello, World when opened via URL
Writing a minimal API with C# 10

 

New Editor Features: subword navigation and new refactorings

A great new feature coming to the editor in this release is subword navigation; a feature recently introduced into Visual Studio 2022 running on Windows. Using the string “HelloWorld” as an example, when you use the Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow and Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow shortcuts the cursor will move between the subwords “Hello” and “World”. Making it easier to move between or select these subwords in your source.

A text editor showing the code "public static CatalogBaseURL" and moving through the words Catalog Base and URL via keyboard.
Navigating subwords in the C# editor.

New code fixes and refactorings

Code fixes and refactorings are the code suggestions the compiler provides through the light bulb and screwdriver icons. To trigger the Quick Actions and Refactorings menu, press Option+Enter. Here are the new suggestions now available with Preview 3:

  • Convert to file-scoped namespace
  • Prefer null check over type check
  • Simplify LINQ expression

To learn more about these new code fixes, see the release notes.

Context menu open on C# code, showing a "convert to file-scoped namespace" refactoring and a preview of the changes it will make to the file.
The new Quick Actions and Refactorings menu in Visual Studio for Mac.

Continuing the move to native macOS UI

This release continues our ongoing work to move the IDE to fully native macOS UI, with 75% of the UI already migrated. This release focused on moving the Git Manage Branches dialog, the Preferences > NuGet screens, and a set of code formatting preferences & project options.

The Visual Studio Preferences menu open to Text Editor Behaviors settings, such as "insert matching braces"
The new preferences UI for Text Editor Behaviors.

 

Coming soon: Running natively on Apple M1 processors via the .NET CLR

Native support for the Apple M1 ARM processor is a top request on the Community site and we’ll be making it happen in upcoming preview releases. To enable this support, we will be moving the IDE to run on the .NET 6 CLR (Common Language Runtime). This is a major architectural change bringing with it improvements for all our users on both Intel and M1 processors. In our initial lab tests we’re already seeing improvements in performance, with large solutions loading in half the amount of time it took in the v8.10 release.

An update on the release date for Visual Studio 2022 for Mac

We plan to release the GA version of Visual Studio 2022 for Mac v17.0 in the first half of 2022. The final release date decision will be driven based on feedback from all of you. This is a major update to the IDE UI and core architecture, and we want to be sure it’s in great shape. As we work toward this goal, we’ll update you along the way and will share a Release Candidate (RC) build as the final date approaches. In the meantime, you can continue to use Visual Studio 2019 for Mac v8.10 to build your apps with .NET 5, Xamarin, Unity, or .NET Core 3.1.

Stay in touch by joining the preview newsletter and sharing your feedback!

As we continue to move forward with our preview releases, we want to keep in close contact with developers trying the release. If you’re interested in hearing directly from our team, join our Preview Newsletter – we’ll share updates on what’s new and provide more opportunities for you to give feedback to our team. You can also continue to watch this Visual Studio blog for major preview announcements.

Finally, your feedback is very important to us as we continue to improve the product – please keep those suggestions and problem reports coming! You can use the Help > Report a Problem or Help > Provide a Suggestion menus to share feedback, or go to the Visual Studio for Mac Developer Community site to vote for those that impact you the most.

16 comments

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  • John King 0

    > move to native macOS UI

    what does that means ? move to `swift` or move to `.net6.0-macos`

    • Ali Aslan 0

      I’m wondering the answer to this too

    • Lucian Naie 0

      I think it’s the look and feel.

    • Jordan MatthiesenMicrosoft employee 0

      Good question. In Visual Studio 2022 for Mac, all UI comes from using macOS Cocoa APIs. This means that the actual OS-native UI components are what you use in the application. Today, some of the UI in VSMac is custom drawn using different UI technology and doesn’t use the native OS styling or event model.

      • John King 0

        but how you use it ? using `dotnet6.0-macos`’s implementation or use `swift/Object-C` to write it’s native layer and use .net’s pinvoke to call them,
        or you change to use `swift/Object-C` directly ?

  • Serhii Nedilia 0

    Ayo, Linux edition when?

  • Steve Moro 0

    What happened to support for x64 .net core 3.1. I was using the preview 2 and I was able to debug older Azure Function solutions.
    I did a clean uninstall and re-install of Preview 3 and now after it installs .net 6.0 arm on my M1 Mac I cannot get the UI to see .net core 3.1 after I install it.

    I had to go back to VS2019 🙁

    Let me know if there is a work around.
    Steve

  • Jura B 0

    Hello if I install this version, can I simply update to M1 later or do I have to load another application?

  • Greg Ruth 0

    I’ve been using the preview for quite a while now and I’ve been patiently waiting for the team to resolve the ‘blurry text’ on external displays issue. Any updates on that? Also, is there any ETA on when Code Lens will make its debut appearance?

  • Bobby Jakka 0

    Any update on codelense for visual studio Mac version?

  • McCollough, David M. 0

    Jordan,

    The original blog post said that VS 2022 for Mac Preview could be installed side by side with VS 2019 for Mac.
    Does this not also include the Xamarin Frameworks?

    I noticed a problem since I have both installed where if I update one, then tell the other to update, it has updates. If I update that one then the other one has updates.

    I filed a bug and am being told that the Xamarin frameworks CANNOT be installed side by side.

    If that’s truly the case, then I will have to discontinue testing the beta versions of VS 2022 for Mac.

    For reference, here is the bug I logged.
    https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/conflict-between-vs-2019-for-mac-and-vs-2022-for-m/1598374?from=email

  • prodbyjonny 0

    is there any information on when the next preview release will drop?

    edit: and are there any plans for a xaml designer built in to visual studio for mac in the future?

  • Bob Calco 0

    I am also keen to be able to run Office and Windows 10/11 running on Parallels on the M1, as this has become my preferred development setup for a variety of reasons. I moved to running Windows on Parallels on my Intel-based mac and have been very pleased. My new M1 arrives in 10 days and while I understand that there will be compatibility issues, I am hoping to be able to work on that architecture like I am now sooner rather than later. I can move to VS2022 for Mac for *some* of my projects, but a few are Windows-specific, though I want what I build to work on any architecture that supports Windows, including ARM64. So I guess my question is, is MS also working to make that happen?

    • Igor Laktic 0

      Please let us know how is your experience using yours preferred development setup on M1. I would like to do same, but I am afraid that it will not work.
      I am using now VS2022, 2019, 2017, MSSQL on my Intel MacBook Pro on Bootcamp.

  • Pennington Knickernacker 0

    Why is .Net 5 not supported on M1 chips yet? I guess it’s foolish to even dream about 6?

    Visual Studio Mac 2022 is basically garbage until this happens.

  • Jing Zhe Shan 0

    Hi Team, I am a lifetime window .net dev, recently I bought an M1 Mac and love using it. Tried VS2022, but not as close to my expectation as the Windows version. Not only I can not find where to configure the sort-cut key, but some basic things like after terminating the debugger, the port still opens; font is so blurry after connecting to an external monitor for some reason.

    Don’t get me wrong, I am still a big fan of VisualStudio, but the Mac version needs some love and attention from Microsoft.

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