Developing for iOS device in Windows environment with Flutter
I'm new to Flutter, was just wondering if it's possible.
I've tried building the demo code using intellij with given instruction (https://flutter.io/setup/). It runs well on android device, but can't find the option to compile and run on my iOS device.
Answer
You can do your main development on Linux or Windows with Android Studio or Visual Studio Code. Then use git to move the code to macOS to test it with Xcode on an iOS simulator/device and deploy it to the App Store.
You could do all development on macOS but you can't do all development on Linux or Windows. I'm not too pleased with Apple for making overpriced machines and then forcing us to buy them. Since I can't afford a fast Apple computer, I am planning to do most of my development on Linux and then just do testing and deployment on my painfully slow Mac Mini.
Update
It seems like there are more possibilities now. Read the following articles:
- Build an iOS app without a Mac or iPhone using Flutter
- How to develop and distribute iOS apps without Mac with Flutter & Codemagic
- How to sign Flutter apps for iOS automatically without a Mac
- Developing and debugging Flutter apps for iOS without a Mac
Personally, I ended up buying a MacBook Pro for way too much money. I have to admit that it is convenient, but I have done very little up to this point that really required it. I'm doing all of my learning and development in Android Studio and usually use the Android emulator. Every now and then I fire up the iOS simulator, but I haven't been required to.
My advice is to keep using your current system (Windows or Linux) for as long as you are learning and even while you are developing your first Flutter apps. Eventually you may appreciate the convenience of having the iOS Simulator and Xcode on the same machine, but there is certainly no rush.