Build and Release iOS App

This article provides a step-by-step guide for creating a build archive and uploading your build to App Store Connect.

In this guide you will need to run several commands from the terminal. Make sure to cd into your app directory and run all commands from there. Easiest way would be to press ALT+F12 in android studio to open the built in terminal, however you are free to use the terminal of your choice for your OS.

Register app on App Store Connect

  1. Open App Store Connect in your browser.

  2. On the App Store Connect landing page, click My Apps.

  3. Click + in the top-left corner of the My Apps page, then select New App.

  4. Fill in your app details in the form that appears. In the Platforms section, ensure that iOS is checked. Since Flutter does not currently support tvOS, leave that checkbox unchecked.

  5. In Bundle ID field select Bundle Identifier you've entered in Xcode, it should appear here if Automatically manage signing is selected in Xcode. If it does not appear, try logging out and in to app store connect site.

  6. In SKU field you can enter the Bundle Identifier as well, as it's usually already unique to your app.

  7. Click Create.

For a detailed overview of App Store Connect, see the App Store Connect guide.

Update version and builder numbers

Open pubspec.yaml file and update version and builder number if needed. Each upload to app store requires a different build number.

Create a build archive

  1. In the terminal, run the following command: flutter build ipa

  2. Use Apple Transporter to submit the generated build/ios/archive/MyApp.xcarchive app archive file to apple.

  3. You can follow the status of your build in the Activities tab of your app’s details page on App Store Connect.

Make sure to first register your app on App Store Connect, otherwise validate app and distribute app actions will not complete fully.

You should receive an email within 30 minutes notifying you that your build has been validated and is available to release to testers on TestFlight. At this point you can choose whether to release on TestFlight, or go ahead and release your app to the App Store.

For more details, see Upload an app to App Store Connect.

If you can't find something in this guide you can check the official guide from flutter, note that a number of steps from flutter guide can be skipped as they are already done in BeDrive app.