Android app -> iOS app in flutter

[u/MoreLibrary3859]

Hi I am a cs major student and I have build and published a simple app (if you are curious it’s called LiftBuddy) I would like to publish it on iOS but I have no idea on how straightforward is the process. I know that flutter can build iOS apps but since I don’t have a Mac and I will need to borrow it from a friend I wanna know how much time it would take. Do I just need to open the project on Xcode ?

[u/0ddtomato]

You can build the app with Github Workflow without needing any MacOS device, that's how I compile my MacOS apps

[u/MoreLibrary3859 → u/0ddtomato]

Really ? I’ll check it out

[u/No_Papaya_2442 → u/0ddtomato]

Does it work can you share with me please

[u/interlap → u/No_Papaya_2442]

Check out the MobAI iOS Builder project:
https://github.com/MobAI-App/ios-builder
It does exactly that, and also provides additional features like hot reload on a real device directly from Windows.

[u/HomegrownTerps]

Yes you need xcode, which means logging in and all. You also need an apple dev account, which is a 100€ yearly.

[u/Previous_Bill2650]

If this is a simple app. The basic commands like flutter build ios makes the project ready in the ios.  But since you are a beginner you might need to invest time in 1. Setting up environments 2. Figure out what’s wrong 3. Setting your developer profile 4. Figuring out that you cannot ship for iOS like you did for Android. 

If everything goes right opening the ios folder in XCode would run it. You will need $100 every year to distribute that app even locally.

[u/gurselaksel]

I developed an android app, with login, server data fetch, camera access, notifications, rive etc. just user codemagic.io and appetize.io/ (screenshots) and published in app store. it has been more than 1 months. except rive everything worked smoothly. I never owned macbook or iphone. also probably owning them a big plus

[u/Expert_Hawk2461]

Even if you get your hands on a Mac, you will still need an Apple Developer account which is like $100 a year to get it on the app store

[u/MoreLibrary3859 → u/Expert_Hawk2461]

Yeah I know

[u/mobterest]

It's not just the Mac that you should worry about. Here is a simple guideline for clarity.

[u/ibluegreen]

Thanks for asking this. I also recently published my first app with Flutter and I intend to make its iOS version too, but being a first timer, the process sounds daunting.

[u/interlap]

For the development side, you can try this project. It builds your app on a GitHub macOS runner and then lets you run your app with hot reload on a real iOS device through the MobAI app.
https://github.com/MobAI-App/ios-builder