diff --git a/Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS/Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS.csproj b/Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS/Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS.csproj
index 0d95ea2..169b2a9 100644
--- a/Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS/Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS.csproj
+++ b/Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS/Laerdal.Dfu.Bindings.iOS.csproj
@@ -9,19 +9,22 @@
     </PropertyGroup>
 
     <PropertyGroup>
-        <TargetFramework>net7.0-ios</TargetFramework>
-
-        <MtouchExtraArgs>-v -v -v -v</MtouchExtraArgs>
-
+        <TargetFramework>net8.0-ios</TargetFramework>
         <IsBindingProject>true</IsBindingProject>
 
+        <IsOSX Condition="      '$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::IsOSPlatform($([System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform]::OSX)))'     == 'true' ">true</IsOSX>
+    </PropertyGroup>
+    
+    <PropertyGroup>
+        <DebugType>full</DebugType>
+        <Optimized>false</Optimized>
+        <MtouchExtraArgs>-v -v -v -v</MtouchExtraArgs>
         <AllowUnsafeBlocks>true</AllowUnsafeBlocks>
-        <MtouchNoSymbolStrip>true</MtouchNoSymbolStrip>
-
-        <!-- https://github.com/Laerdal/Laerdal.Dfu/issues/29#issuecomment-1904057544 -->
         <NoBindingEmbedding>true</NoBindingEmbedding>
+        <MtouchNoSymbolStrip>true</MtouchNoSymbolStrip>
 
-        <IsOSX Condition="      '$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::IsOSPlatform($([System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform]::OSX)))'     == 'true' ">true</IsOSX>
+        <!-- 1. under net8 we need Optimized=false otherwise release builds cause the resulting apps to crash right upon getting launched in the iphone! -->
+        <!-- 2. NoBindingEmbedding=true per https://github.com/Laerdal/Laerdal.Dfu/issues/29#issuecomment-1904057544 -->
     </PropertyGroup>
 
     <!-- ==================== VERSION ==================== -->
diff --git a/Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.SetupBuildEnvironment.sh b/Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.SetupBuildEnvironment.sh
index 55f51ed..58e595b 100755
--- a/Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.SetupBuildEnvironment.sh
+++ b/Laerdal.Scripts/Laerdal.SetupBuildEnvironment.sh
@@ -76,8 +76,7 @@ dotnet                                \
              install                  \
                  maui                 \
                  ios                  \
-                 maui-ios             \
-                 wasm-tools-net7
+                 maui-ios
 #                    --from-rollback-file=https://maui.blob.core.windows.net/metadata/rollbacks/${dotnet_8_workload_version}.json   # we need to install additional packages manually
 declare exitCode=$?
 if [ $exitCode != 0 ]; then
diff --git a/global.json b/global.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3639463
--- /dev/null
+++ b/global.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "sdk": {
+    "version": "8.0.0",
+    "rollForward": "latestFeature",
+    "allowPrerelease": false
+  }
+}