This library brings the latest platform-specific networking libraries to Xamarin applications via a custom HttpClient handler. Write your app using System.Net.Http, but drop this library in and it will go drastically faster. This is made possible by two native libraries:

• On iOS, AFNetworking 1.3.3
• On Android, via OkHttp 1.2.1

The good news is, you don't have to know either of these two libraries above, using ModernHttpClient is the most boring thing in the world. Here's how it works:

On iOS:

var httpClient = new HttpClient(new AFNetworkHandler());

On Android:

var httpClient = new HttpClient(new OkHttpNetworkHandler());

Using ModernHttpClient from a PCL is fairly easy with some rigging, especially if you've got some sort of IoC/DI setup - request an HttpClient in your PCL, and register it in your app. However, here's what you can do without any external dependencies:

// In your PCL
public static class HttpClientFactory 
{
    public static Func<HttpClient> Get { get; set; }
    
    static HttpClientFactory()
    {
        Get = (() => new HttpClient());
    }
}

// Somewhere else in your PCL
var client = HttpClientFactory.Get();

// In your iOS app (i.e. the startup of your app)
public static class AppDelegate
{
    public void FinishedLaunching(UIApplication app, NSDictionary options)
    {
        HttpClientFactory.Get = (() => new HttpClient(new AFNetworkHandler()));
    }
}

Check out Michael Ridland's blog post, Implementing ModernHttpClient in MvvmCross, for more information.

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