diff --git a/maven/codenameone-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/codename1/builders/IPhoneBuilder.java b/maven/codenameone-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/codename1/builders/IPhoneBuilder.java
index 12411a9c75..3251cd43ae 100644
--- a/maven/codenameone-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/codename1/builders/IPhoneBuilder.java
+++ b/maven/codenameone-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/codename1/builders/IPhoneBuilder.java
@@ -305,10 +305,12 @@ public boolean build(File sourceZip, BuildRequest request) throws BuildException
             iosPods += (((iosPods.length() > 0) ? ",":"") + "FBSDKCoreKit "+fbPodsVersion+",FBSDKLoginKit "+fbPodsVersion+",FBSDKShareKit "+fbPodsVersion);
         }
         
-        runPods = true;
-        
-        
         String googleAdUnitId = request.getArg("ios.googleAdUnitId", request.getArg("google.adUnitId", null));
+        runPods = (iosPods.length() > 0) ||
+                  (googleAdUnitId != null && googleAdUnitId.length() > 0) ||
+                  "true".equals(request.getArg("ios.useCocoapods", "false")) ||
+                  "true".equals(request.getArg("ios.pods.alwaysRun", "false"));
+
         boolean usePodsForGoogleAds = runPods && googleAdUnitId != null && googleAdUnitId.length() > 0;
         if (usePodsForGoogleAds) {
             iosPods += (((iosPods.length() > 0) ? ",":"") + "Firebase/Core,Firebase/AdMob");
@@ -1527,7 +1529,7 @@ public void usesClassMethod(String cls, String method) {
 
             debug("Building using addLibs="+addLibs);
             try {
-                if (!exec(userDir, env, 420000, "java", "-DsaveUnitTests=" + isUnitTestMode(), "-DfieldNullChecks=" + fieldNullChecks, "-DINCLUDE_NPE_CHECKS=" + includeNullChecks, "-DbundleVersionNumber=" + bundleVersionNumber, "-Xmx384m",
+            if (!exec(userDir, env, 420000, "java", "-DsaveUnitTests=" + isUnitTestMode(), "-DfieldNullChecks=" + fieldNullChecks, "-DINCLUDE_NPE_CHECKS=" + includeNullChecks, "-DbundleVersionNumber=" + bundleVersionNumber, "-Xmx2048m",
                         "-jar", parparVMCompilerJar, "ios",
                         classesDir.getAbsolutePath() + ";" + resDir.getAbsolutePath() + ";" +
                                 buildinRes.getAbsolutePath(),
@@ -1810,9 +1812,12 @@ public void usesClassMethod(String cls, String method) {
                         return false;
                     }
 
-                    if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), podTimeout, pod, "init")) {
-                        log("Failed to run "+pod+" init.  Make sure you have Cocoapods installed.");
-                        return false;
+                    boolean skipPodInstall = "true".equals(request.getArg("ios.pods.skipInstall", "false"));
+                    if (!skipPodInstall) {
+                        if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), podTimeout, pod, "init")) {
+                            log("Failed to run "+pod+" init.  Make sure you have Cocoapods installed.");
+                            return false;
+                        }
                     }
                     File podFile = new File(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), "Podfile");
                     if (!podFile.exists()) {
@@ -1909,23 +1914,25 @@ public void usesClassMethod(String cls, String method) {
                     Map<String,String> podEnv = new HashMap<String,String>();
                     podEnv.put("LANG", "en_US.UTF-8");
 
-                    if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), (File)null, podTimeout, podEnv, pod, "install")) {
-                        // Perhaps we need to update the master repo
-                        log("Failed to exec cocoapods.  Trying to update master repo...");
-                        if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), podTimeout * 3, pod, "repo", "update")) {
-                            log("Failed to update cocoapods master repo.  Trying to clean up spec repos");
+                    if (!skipPodInstall) {
+                        if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), (File)null, podTimeout, podEnv,pod, "install")) {
+                            // Perhaps we need to update the master repo
+                            log("Failed to exec cocoapods.  Trying to update master repo...");
                             if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), podTimeout * 3, pod, "repo", "update")) {
-                                log("Failed to update cocoapods master repo event after cleaning spec repos.");
-                                return false;
+                                log("Failed to update cocoapods master repo.  Trying to clean up spec repos");
+                                if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), podTimeout * 3, pod, "repo", "update")) {
+                                    log("Failed to update cocoapods master repo event after cleaning spec repos.");
+                                    return false;
+                                }
                             }
-                        }
 
-                        if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), (File)null, podTimeout, podEnv,pod, "install")) {
-                            log("Cocoapods failed even after updating master repo");
-                            log("Trying to cleanup spec repos");
                             if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), (File)null, podTimeout, podEnv,pod, "install")) {
-                                log("Cocoapods failed even after cleaning up spec repos.");
-                                return false;
+                                log("Cocoapods failed even after updating master repo");
+                                log("Trying to cleanup spec repos");
+                                if (!exec(new File(tmpFile, "dist"), (File)null, podTimeout, podEnv,pod, "install")) {
+                                    log("Cocoapods failed even after cleaning up spec repos.");
+                                    return false;
+                                }
                             }
                         }
                     }
diff --git a/scripts/build-ios-app.sh b/scripts/build-ios-app.sh
index e88710f21b..82ecf879ae 100755
--- a/scripts/build-ios-app.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-ios-app.sh
@@ -120,27 +120,44 @@ for candidate in "$PROJECT_DIR"/*.xcworkspace; do
     break
   fi
 done
-if [ -z "$WORKSPACE" ]; then
-  bia_log "Failed to locate xcworkspace in $PROJECT_DIR" >&2
-  ls "$PROJECT_DIR" >&2 || true
-  exit 1
+
+if [ -n "$WORKSPACE" ]; then
+  bia_log "Found xcworkspace: $WORKSPACE"
+  BUILD_TYPE_FLAG="-workspace"
+  OUTPUT_PATH="$WORKSPACE"
+else
+  bia_log "No xcworkspace found; looking for xcodeproj"
+  PROJECT=""
+  for candidate in "$PROJECT_DIR"/*.xcodeproj; do
+    if [ -d "$candidate" ]; then
+      PROJECT="$candidate"
+      break
+    fi
+  done
+  if [ -z "$PROJECT" ]; then
+    bia_log "Failed to locate xcworkspace or xcodeproj in $PROJECT_DIR" >&2
+    ls "$PROJECT_DIR" >&2 || true
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  bia_log "Found xcodeproj: $PROJECT"
+  BUILD_TYPE_FLAG="-project"
+  OUTPUT_PATH="$PROJECT"
 fi
-bia_log "Found xcworkspace: $WORKSPACE"
 
 
 # Make these visible to the next GH Actions step
 if [ -n "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-}" ]; then
   {
-    echo "workspace=$WORKSPACE"
+    echo "workspace=$OUTPUT_PATH"
     echo "scheme=HelloCodenameOne"
   } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 fi
 
-bia_log "Emitted outputs -> workspace=$WORKSPACE, scheme=HelloCodenameOne"
+bia_log "Emitted outputs -> workspace=$OUTPUT_PATH, scheme=HelloCodenameOne"
 
 # (Optional) dump xcodebuild -list for debugging
 ARTIFACTS_DIR="${ARTIFACTS_DIR:-$REPO_ROOT/artifacts}"
 mkdir -p "$ARTIFACTS_DIR"
-xcodebuild -workspace "$WORKSPACE" -list > "$ARTIFACTS_DIR/xcodebuild-list.txt" 2>&1 || true
+xcodebuild "$BUILD_TYPE_FLAG" "$OUTPUT_PATH" -list > "$ARTIFACTS_DIR/xcodebuild-list.txt" 2>&1 || true
 
 exit 0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/run-ios-ui-tests.sh b/scripts/run-ios-ui-tests.sh
index 2b319798a4..85336956e3 100755
--- a/scripts/run-ios-ui-tests.sh
+++ b/scripts/run-ios-ui-tests.sh
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ if [ -z "$REQUESTED_SCHEME" ]; then
   if [[ "$WORKSPACE_PATH" == *.xcworkspace ]]; then
     REQUESTED_SCHEME="$(basename "$WORKSPACE_PATH" .xcworkspace)"
   else
-    REQUESTED_SCHEME="$(basename "$WORKSPACE_PATH")"
+    REQUESTED_SCHEME="$(basename "$WORKSPACE_PATH" .xcodeproj)"
   fi
 fi
 SCHEME="$REQUESTED_SCHEME"
@@ -97,8 +97,17 @@ mkdir -p "$SCREENSHOT_RAW_DIR" "$SCREENSHOT_PREVIEW_DIR"
 export CN1SS_OUTPUT_DIR="$SCREENSHOT_RAW_DIR"
 export CN1SS_PREVIEW_DIR="$SCREENSHOT_PREVIEW_DIR"
 
+# Determine build argument (workspace vs project)
+if [[ "$WORKSPACE_PATH" == *.xcodeproj ]]; then
+  BUILD_TYPE_FLAG="-project"
+  # For project files, shared schemes are inside the .xcodeproj directory
+  SCHEME_FILE="$WORKSPACE_PATH/xcshareddata/xcschemes/$SCHEME.xcscheme"
+else
+  BUILD_TYPE_FLAG="-workspace"
+  SCHEME_FILE="$WORKSPACE_PATH/xcshareddata/xcschemes/$SCHEME.xcscheme"
+fi
+
 # Patch scheme env vars to point to our runtime dirs
-SCHEME_FILE="$WORKSPACE_PATH/xcshareddata/xcschemes/$SCHEME.xcscheme"
 if [ -f "$SCHEME_FILE" ]; then
   if sed --version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     # GNU sed
@@ -163,7 +172,7 @@ normalize_destination() {
 auto_select_destination() {
   local show_dest rc=0 best_line="" best_key="" line payload platform id name os priority key part value
   set +e
-  show_dest="$(xcodebuild -workspace "$WORKSPACE_PATH" -scheme "$SCHEME" -sdk iphonesimulator -showdestinations 2>/dev/null)"
+  show_dest="$(xcodebuild "$BUILD_TYPE_FLAG" "$WORKSPACE_PATH" -scheme "$SCHEME" -sdk iphonesimulator -showdestinations 2>/dev/null)"
   rc=$?
   set -e
 
@@ -348,7 +357,7 @@ BUILD_LOG="$ARTIFACTS_DIR/xcodebuild-build.log"
 ri_log "Building simulator app with xcodebuild"
 COMPILE_START=$(date +%s)
 if ! xcodebuild \
-  -workspace "$WORKSPACE_PATH" \
+  "$BUILD_TYPE_FLAG" "$WORKSPACE_PATH" \
   -scheme "$SCHEME" \
   -sdk iphonesimulator \
   -configuration Debug \
@@ -363,7 +372,7 @@ COMPILE_END=$(date +%s)
 COMPILATION_TIME=$((COMPILE_END - COMPILE_START))
 ri_log "Compilation time: ${COMPILATION_TIME}s"
 
-BUILD_SETTINGS="$(xcodebuild -workspace "$WORKSPACE_PATH" -scheme "$SCHEME" -sdk iphonesimulator -configuration Debug -showBuildSettings 2>/dev/null || true)"
+BUILD_SETTINGS="$(xcodebuild "$BUILD_TYPE_FLAG" "$WORKSPACE_PATH" -scheme "$SCHEME" -sdk iphonesimulator -configuration Debug -showBuildSettings 2>/dev/null || true)"
 TARGET_BUILD_DIR="$(printf '%s\n' "$BUILD_SETTINGS" | awk -F' = ' '/ TARGET_BUILD_DIR /{print $2; exit}')"
 WRAPPER_NAME="$(printf '%s\n' "$BUILD_SETTINGS" | awk -F' = ' '/ WRAPPER_NAME /{print $2; exit}')"
 if [ -z "$WRAPPER_NAME" ]; then