Using Flutter from Linux without XCode - ios

I use Linux (Ubuntu 20.04) as my development environment. I was excited about the idea of reusing the same code for Android, iOS and event Web.
But I'm blocked because I'm using Linux and in all tutorials and examples are talking about the necessity of using XCode to things like setting the FireStore configuration.
I'm not an iOS developer, so I don't want to buy a more expensive and less powerful machine to be able to develop and release iOS applications, and looks like still, Flutter is not the solution.
So my question is, how can I develop iOS apps using Flutter without a Mac?

You can also use a CLI tool named Appollo : https://github.com/Appollo-CLI/Appollo
It's a simple python utility that let's you :
Configure XCode
Create an IPA
Test your app in the iOS simulator
Build and publish your app on the App Store
You can install it by running pip install appollo in your terminal. For a full tutorial check their documentation : https://appollo.readthedocs.io/en/master/tutorial/index.html
You can also view a few demo videos on the Appollo YT channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNRrJd4UP0QQRoYF4JOEmA

You can do one of the following:
Use a Mac OS virtual machine.
Use a service to build remotely, like CodeMagic for example.
Get a friend or co-worker to build the app on their Apple machine.
Also check out this:
Is it possible to develop iOS apps with Flutter on a Linux virtual machine?

Related

Can I test my Flutter app from VSCode (Windows) on my physical iPhone device?

I want to deploy my Flutter app on my physical iPhone device from my VSCode desktop application in Widnows. I did it with React Native app in VSCode and Expo Cli on my iPhone device but I would like to do this with my Flutter app.
It's not possible as is. You need a Mac device to develop for iOS.
There are solutions though. You could use a tool like Appollo to achieve it. Appollo is a CLI utility tool that let's you build and test iOS apps.
You can check how to use it on github or from their documentation or you can check a demo from their YouTube channel
This is not possible, you need to have Xcode which is only available on macOS in order to run the app.
You can use VirtualBox with macOS installed as a workaround but it will be very slow
No, that's impossible to do this directly. You need to have Xcode installed to build iOS builds.
You can use cloud-based CI/CD tools to build for iOS.

How to build IOS apps in flutter in windows

I want to develop a application for for my company. I'm using flutter to build it for both android and IOS platform. But I have only windows machine, so I'm only able to build it for Android. Can I build(generate apk) IOS flutter apps in windows machine ?
if yes please explain it well.
You can develop the UI on android itself. However, you need OSX to run an Iphone Simulator. An alternative would be to use a virtual machine with OSX installed. It is not recommended though.
Also, for IOS the build is different. It is not as simple as generating an apk and installing it on your phone. You will need itunes and a legit account to run it.
See more here

How can I connect IOS project created by flutter to firebase? [duplicate]

I am new to developing mobile apps and wanted to try Flutter but I use Windows. Because Flutter doesn't support Windows yet I had the idea to use a virtual machine running Linux to install Flutter. Does this work?
Also in the Flutter setup it says this:
To develop Flutter apps for iOS, you need a Mac with Xcode 7.2 or newer.
Is there a way to develop iOS apps without having a Mac?
Yes, you can develop iOS apps with Linux (or Windows) using Android Studio or Visual Studio Code. The point of Flutter is that you have one code base and can deploy to both Android and iOS. So the development phase is no problem.
In the past you could only deploy iOS apps to the App Store if you had a Mac, but there are some more options now. See the following articles:
How to sign Flutter apps for iOS automatically without a Mac
Developing and debugging Flutter apps for iOS without a Mac
How to develop and distribute iOS apps without Mac with Flutter & Codemagic
Build an iOS app without a Mac or iPhone using Flutter
To test your app on the iOS simulator, though, it is still necessary to have a Mac. However, theoretically the app should have the same behavior for most things as on an Android device, so you wouldn't necessary need to test it using the iOS simulator. I would say long term you would probably want to consider getting a Mac, but it is certainly not necessary in the beginning.
Update: In a recent app I made, my tests passed in the Android emulator but crashed in the iOS simulator. It was a normal bug and nothing specific to iOS, but for some reason the Android simulator didn't crash. So for a production app, you really do need to test it on an iOS device/simulator.
As you point in your question:
To develop Flutter apps for iOS, you need a Mac with Xcode 7.2 or newer.
You can work around by using an external service (like Travis-ci or other) to build your code for iOS. However it's not usable as a developer workflow as that can take several minutes to get the artefact.
You should check out MacOS cloud solutions like MacInCloud. There are CI/CD solution that will support it (e.g. CircleCI and BitRise) however these are not suited for development.
Services like MacInCloud allow you to remote desktop into a Mac where you could conceivably use XCode remotely.
Windows is now partially supported in the way you can edit and publish for Android but you still can't create for IOS where a mac is required (XCode).
More informations https://flutter.io/setup-windows
You can use tools like Appollo to do just that directly from Windows or Linux. Appollo is a python CLI tool.
To install Appollo run pip install appollo, then setup your developer account with Appollo (https://appollo.readthedocs.io/en/master/tutorial/2_configure_app_store_connect.html) once this is done you can start building your app with appollo build start
You can check out a few example videos here : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNRrJd4UP0QQRoYF4JOEmA

How to create and deploy IOS App from windows OS

I'm creating a mobile application. The requirement is that the mobile application should be deployed in Android as well as iOS. I'm able to create the application and deploy it into Android using Ionic. But how do I do that for iOS. Is there a way we can use the Ionic in Windows OS and create app that is compatible with iOS.
Similar to Android Developer Options, is there any settings in IOS phones that will enable us to deploy the IOS app and test it.
You can run Mac OS X on your Windows machine using VMWare player. try searching 'Mavericks Retail VMware Image' in google, you will get download links... Hope it helps.
You need XCode to deploy any IOS application. To get XCode, you need a Mac.
The closeset thing you can do is using RemoteBuild, but you stil need a Mac.
After installing it, you can launch a build directly from Visual Studio.
For more information and a detailed guide, you can follow this link: https://github.com/Microsoft/remotebuild
You need a macOS to test and deploy iOS application on App Store, You can't deploy application directly by using windows OS.
OR
If you want to deploy application using windows OS then you have to use any virtualization software like: Virtual Box,
vMware and install macOs.

How to build ionic 2 ios app on windows 10?

I am new to ionic 2 and i want to build my app to ios version. What requirements need to install on my windows 10 PC? Thanks. I hope you can help me. :)
The only way I can think of is by using Ionic Cloud Services:
Ionic Packages makes it easy to build a native binary of your app in
the cloud. Perfect for developers using Windows that want to build iOS
apps.
This lets you:
Send your packaged app to others
Build your app for platforms not supported by your computer (e.g. iOS builds on Windows)
Build .ipa and .apk files that you can submit to app stores
You can check the prerequisites here and the steps required to build, here.
EDIT:
You can also take a look at this amazing post from Josh Morony.
You can't build it to iOS in Windows. Neither in Linux.
You will need an Mac OS.
Either one running on a real Apple device (iMac, Macbook, Mac Mini), or in an virtual box or you can use a cloud service.

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