What you need

Sadly, different from all the other platforms, there’s at least one thing you need to deploy to iOS: a Mac to compile. The good news is that a Mac or Mac Mini from 2009 is sufficient for now. If you, like me, use such an ancient device, you will not be able to use the iOS simulator to proper test your game, so you will also need an iOS device. If you have better hardware, you might not need that in general, but beware: some services like IAPs or push notifications are not available on the simulator. You should choose something with 64 bit support. You don’t have to own the test device — if someone is willing to lend you an iPhone or iPod for a while, Apple will let you deploy your game on it.

What you do not need

You do not need to pay something to Apple in order to test your game on iOS, these times are over. You can deploy to the iOS simulator without any hassle, and you can deploy to an iOS device connected to your Mac with a so-called “free provisioning profile”. This is for testing purposes and the app will only work for a short time, then you need to compile and deploy again to get it working again.

You still need the costly developer account when you want to publish your game on the app store, or when you want to use Apple’s services like Game Center, IAPs or the push notification service.