Building Monal

Software needed to build Monal:

• CocoaPods
• Xcode (only runs on macOS, see below if you don't own a Mac)
• git

Build steps:

1. clone repo

git clone https://github.com/monal-im/Monal.git Monal-IM
cd Monal-IM

2. init and update submodules (localizations)

git submodule update --remote --init

3. install dependencies

cd Monal
pod install

4. open in Xcode and build

open Monal.xcworkspace

Read here how to use logging with the Monal UDP Logger to debug things.

How to build the app without owning a Mac

If you are interested in building Monal but don't have an iOS or Mac hardware, you can virtualize:

• macOS Big Sur (current buildserver)
• macOS Catalina (used for old buildserver)
• Alternative 1
• Alternative 2
• Alternative 3
• macOS Beta ISO as well as the free preview image

Direct download links to all Xcode versions
If you want to connect your physical iPhone to Xcode inside your VM, use this (tested by Monal devs)

Alpha builds (bleeding edge)

If you want to live on the edge and use all new bleeding-edge features that just got implemented, you can use the alpha builds of Monal, too. Just sent the UDID of your device (the serial number visible via lsusb on a Linux system) to [email protected]. Once your device has been added, you can download and install the build. For each new commit to the develop branch a new build will go down the pipeline.

Please be reminded that the alpha builds obviously might be unstable, slower or come with other severe issues.

Read here how to use logging with the Monal UDP Logger to debug things.