Xamarin or Xcode?

Hi all.

I was recently asked by my work to create a basic IPAD app to report our processing data, I"m a cook not a programmer however I was a C programmer many years ago however that was in the Win 3.1 and DOS 6.2 era :)

We currently do it on paper and I need to create a basic IPad app which we can use instead.

There are about 10 different paper forms.

The data is pretty basic. Name, Date, Machine, Temperatures, etc.

I have purchased a Mac, Ipad Air, have Xamarin and also Xcode + Swift UI.

As cooks we will fill out our IPAD forms and at the end of the shift we will submit it (somewhere) and in some format. I was thinking maybe just a local excel file and they management can take it from there - I'm not getting paid for this, its a hobby.

My questions are do I:

Use Xamarin or do it in Xcode and Swift (I'm learning Swift now) or what would you suggest would be easiest since I have very little experience with IoS though I'm a quick learner.

Is this something that looks easy but is going to turn into something very complicated?

Each machine has about 4 forms each per shift - what would you suggest would be the best format, tab pages, swiping between forms? Embedded Excel form possible on IPad?

I'm just trying to work out a starting strategy and don't want to have to spend too much time on it.

Thanks for any help you might offer.

Considering your limited experience and the simplicity of the data, have you explored using Xamarin or Xcode with Swift UI, and what factors are influencing your decision between the two for developing the iPad app for reporting processing data?

Given your situation, since you’re already learning Swift and have Xcode, it might be easier to stick with Swift UI for building the app, especially because it’s designed specifically for iOS development and will integrate smoothly with the iPad. Swift UI is also beginner-friendly and might be less complex than Xamarin, which adds an extra layer with cross-platform considerations. If your main goal is just filling out and submitting forms, Swift UI can handle that without too much complexity. Creating forms with text fields, date pickers, and dropdowns should be relatively straightforward. As for how to submit the data, exporting to a local file like Excel or even a simple text file could work well for your needs, especially since it’s more of a hobby project. While it could get more complex as the project grows, starting simple with basic form functionality and then gradually adding features like saving to a file would keep things manageable. Since you’re not being paid for this and want to keep it a hobby, Swift UI might be the least time-consuming route.