How to Build & Release Flutter app for iOS
Tags: flutter, fluttersdk
Published: 2021-06-20 08:08:56

If you have build flutter app and ready to release on Apple Store, So you are on right place. In this tutorial, you will learn step by step process how to Release flutter iOS app on Apple store. There is some important points that you should be aware before uploading the app on Apple store. You may have heard that apple is very restrict about user privacy & design UI. But don’t worry, I am going to cover the common mistakes that a new developer do during release of first iOS app.

Official flutter document also listed step by step process, that you can follow. You can know more about how to publish flutter app apple store from www.dripcoding.com 

Can i release flutter app on ios without mac? clear answer is no. You can’t release the ios app without mac. if you don’t have macbook then you can test the ios app using emulator only. You should have a macbook to publish the ios app on apple connect.

Flutter app release size? Yes the flutter app size is bigger than native android or ios app size. I will cover this topic how to reduce flutter app size on my next tutorial on www.dripcoding.com

Release Flutter App for iOS Steps by Step guide
Create Apple Developer Account
Register Bundle Identifier
Get App icon & App screenshot ready
App Store Connect Listing Process
Open Project on Xcode & Build
Create Apple Account
Please go to https://developer.apple.com/account and Create apple developer account. Remember apple developer account is associated with your email ID only. So choose right email ID and keep it safe. Apple developer account account cost is $99 per year.

Suppose you are going to release app for your client, it is good practice to create separate account for them to avoid dispute in  future.

Register Bundle Identifier
After you signup on developer program, first thing you need to do is Register a Bundle ID for your app. Every iOS application is associated with a Bundle ID, a unique identifier registered with Apple.

On https://developer.apple.com/account/#/overview  page click on “Certificates Identifiers & Profiles” OR you can directly visit the https://developer.apple.com/account/resources/certificates/list. On left side menu click on “Identifiers” (Screen 1 below).
Click + to create a new Bundle ID. Select “App ID” on next page & click continue.
Select App type – “App” & click continue.
 Next page “Register an App ID” – Add short description about app and select Bundle ID as Explicit and enter an “App Package Name” (Screen 2 below).
On the next page, confirm the details and click Register to register your Bundle ID.
Screen 1 : –

release flutter app for ios

 

Screen 2 :-

flutter release ios app for testflight

 

Create App Icon & ScreenShots
Now you have bundle ID, it’s time to prepare flutter project to fulfilled apple guide lines. We need to create multiple app icons for multiple devices. There is so many online tools available to generate iOS icons. My favourite is https://appicon.co. Just upload 1024×1024 px image & it will generate the all apple icons for you. Download the zip file and extract it. There you can see the folder name as “AppIcon.appiconset” inside “Assets.xcassets” folder. copy this folder and Open flutter project on android studio. Click on iOS folder in project directory  your_project_name/ios/Runner/Assets.xcassets/AppIcon.appiconset. Paste & Replace the copied folder here.

You can also change the splash screen by replacing “LauncherImage” inside “LaunchImage.imageset”. Apple has provided the App Review Guidelines, Please have a look on it, But Don’t go too deep into it.

App Store Connect Listing Process
Now go to Apple Store Connect & go to my App. Click on + icon to create new App. On popup window, write App name, select language , select Bundle ID that we have created in last step and write SKU. Please select full access radio button and click on “Create”.

 

build flutter app

Now on next page, filled all the details. Please be careful when uploading screenshot. Below are the screenshot image dimension.

app screenshot 6.5 display – 1242×2688, 2688×1242, 1284x 2778, 
app screenshot 5.5 display – 1242x 2208, 2208x 1242
app screenshot 12.9 3rd. – 2048×2732, 2732x 2048
app screenshot 12.9 2nd. – 2048×2732, 2732x 2048

Please Remember screenshot images should not contains “flutter debug” tag on right top corner.  You can disable flutter debug tag by writing below code in materialApp.

MaterialApp( debugShowCheckedModeBanner: false,)
Open Project on Xcode & Build
Now it is time to upload app on Apple Connect. Open flutter project in android studio, Go to tool/firebase/ open ios module on XCode. Your flutter project has successfully export into XCode. First test app is running successfully or not in xcode. Connection your iPhone device via USB cable and click on RUN button on top in XCode window. If there is any error in xcode run then close the xcode window and run it on android studio to make the correction in code.

Once you have run the code successfully, On Xcode window, first open is folder icon, click on it.  Navigate to your target’s settings in Xcode:

in the main view sidebar, select the Runner target.
Select the General tab. there you can change app Display name. Remember bundle identifier should be the same that you have created in early stage.
Deployment info section- select device
Signing & Capabilities tab – if you are using xcode first time then it will promote you to login with your Apple Developer id. Just signin it then select TEAM as your developer account. Please checked automatically manage signin.
Rest options are automatically filled for you. Don’t need to make change on it.
Toolbar – Go to Product/Destination/Build (any ios device arm64, armv7)
Toolbar – Go to Product/Archive. Again you will see popup window, click on validate app and keep continue untill you go successful message.
Once app get validated click on Distribute App and again same popup window will appear. Once you go successful upload app on apple store, that means your build is ready to publish.
Note – it will 10-20 minutes to appear build on apple store connect as build. So wait until you can see it.
Now you are ready to “Submit for review”. Click on it, if you missed any field to be filled then one message will be appear on top beside the “submit for review” button. Filled all the necessary details and again submit the app.
You will get email alert whenever the review status will change by apple team. Note – ios app review process is not machine oriented like android app.

I hope you have followed all my instructions carefully, but if suppose you stuck at any point please let me know. Please  whatsapp me at +91-9144040888 or email me at kamal.bunkar@dripcoding.com. I am available for help.