Shipping to Stores

A Flutter pipeline runs flutter pub get --enforce-lockfile, dart format --output=none --set-exit-if-changed, flutter analyze, flutter test, then flutter build appbundle and flutter build ipa; each exits non-zero on drift, formatting, analyzer issues, failures or build errors.

flutter build ipa archives the app in release mode into an .xcarchive under build/ios/archive, then exports a signed App Store .ipa into build/ios/ipa; you upload that .ipa with Transporter, xcrun altool or Xcode.

The part before + (1.2.3) is the build name, used as Android versionName and iOS CFBundleShortVersionString; the part after + (4) is the build number, used as Android versionCode and iOS CFBundleVersion.

Create an upload keystore with keytool, describe it in android/key.properties (storePassword, keyPassword, keyAlias, storeFile), load that file in android/app/build.gradle.kts, create a release signingConfig from it, and point the release build type at it instead of the debug key.

--flavor selects a native build variant (an Android product flavor, an Xcode scheme) that can change the app ID, name and icon; --dart-define injects compile-time Dart constants such as the API URL. Two installable apps need a flavor; URLs can come from defines or appFlavor.

A distribution certificate is the signing identity, usable only with its private key in the Mac's keychain; a provisioning profile is Apple's file binding an App ID, team, certificate and entitlements. Manual signing fits machines without an Apple account session.

--split-debug-info moves Dart debug symbols out of the app into app.<arch>.symbols files; --obfuscate renames Dart identifiers. Obfuscate requires split-debug-info because those files hold the mapping needed to read obfuscated stack traces.

Store the keystore and certificate as encrypted CI secrets, materialise them only during the job: decode the base64 keystore and write key.properties for Gradle; import the .p12 and profiles into a temporary keychain on the macOS runner, then sign.

Release Dart is AOT-compiled into the binary, so every fix is a new reviewed build; staging limits who meets a bad one. A halt cannot downgrade users who updated: recover with a higher build number or a runtime switch.

Import package:flutter/services.dart and read the appFlavor constant; it equals the --flavor name, or the pubspec's default-flavor when none is passed, and is null when neither is set.

A purpose string is an NS...UsageDescription key, such as NSCameraUsageDescription, in ios/Runner/Info.plist whose text iOS shows in the permission prompt; each protected resource the app uses needs one, and Flutter plugins never add it for you.

Reviewers must reach every feature, so a login wall without working credentials gets the app rejected. Give a demo account in App Store Connect's App Review Information and Play Console's App access, valid on the release build's backend.

flutter.minSdkVersion is the minimum Android API level the Flutter SDK supplies through its Gradle plugin, 24 in Flutter 3.47. Replace it with a higher fixed number when a plugin requires one, or pin it to stop upgrades moving it.

Codemagic and Bitrise are all-in-one Flutter CI services: they select the Flutter version, provide macOS machines, manage signing files and publish to stores or Firebase App Distribution. With GitHub Actions and subosito/flutter-action you script those steps yourself, often with fastlane.

Pin the Flutter SDK by installing an exact release in the pipeline, for example through FVM or an exact version on the setup step; environment: flutter only enforces a lower bound. Cache the pub cache ($HOME/.pub-cache or PUB_CACHE) between runs.

Read it with const String.fromEnvironment('API_URL', defaultValue: ...), or bool.fromEnvironment and int.fromEnvironment. The value is fixed by the compiler, so only a const invocation is guaranteed to see it; ahead-of-time builds have no define table at runtime.

PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy is Apple's privacy manifest, a plist declaring tracking, collected data types and required-reason API use; Flutter's engine framework ships one, plugins ship their own, and the app adds one for its own code.

The app's build.gradle.kts sets targetSdk = flutter.targetSdkVersion, supplied by the Flutter Gradle plugin (36 in Flutter 3.47), so upgrading Flutter raises it. Raising it opts the app into that Android version's behaviour changes, such as enforced edge-to-edge, which you must test.

Gradle's manifest merger folds every plugin's AndroidManifest.xml into the app's, so plugin permissions ship in your bundle. Inspect the merged manifest, then drop unused ones with tools:node="remove", but only when no code path still needs them.

Both forms must declare data collected by everything in the binary, including third-party SDKs. Flutter plugins wrap native SDKs that collect data your Dart code never touches, so the inventory starts from the full dependency tree, not your own calls.

--build-name and --build-number replace the two halves of pubspec's version for one build. Without a + part, Android's versionCode falls back to 1 and iOS's CFBundleVersion falls back to the build name, such as 1.2.3.

You sign uploads with an upload key; Google Play signs the APKs users install with an app signing key it holds. A lost upload keystore is replaced by registering a new upload key, since the key devices trust never left Google.

Flutter's Gradle plugin enables R8 for release builds, and R8 removes or renames JVM classes it cannot see used, such as ones reached by reflection or JNI. Add -keep rules to android/app/proguard-rules.pro, which the plugin applies automatically.

Prefer one main.dart that reads appFlavor and const defines from a per-environment file, validated at startup; separate main_staging.dart entry points chosen with -t work, but duplicate wiring and add a third switch that can disagree with --flavor.

The Xcode project needs a shared scheme whose name matches the flavor, plus build configurations named Debug-staging, Profile-staging and Release-staging assigned to that scheme's actions; per-configuration settings then give the flavor its own bundle ID and name.

Apple requires the UIScene lifecycle for UIKit apps built with the iOS 27 SDK, and a Flutter app that has not adopted it crashes at launch; migration adds a scene manifest to Info.plist and moves plugin registration out of didFinishLaunching.

Save the trace to a file, find the symbols file from that exact build and architecture, and run flutter symbolize -i trace.txt -d app.android-arm64.symbols; without the matching file the trace cannot be decoded.

Apple's minimum-functionality rule rejects apps that are little more than a repackaged website. A Flutter shell around one WebViewWidget looks exactly like that; building core flows as Flutter screens with app-only value such as offline use or notifications helps it pass.

AGP 9 compiles Kotlin itself and knows only its new DSL; Flutter's android.builtInKotlin=false and android.newDsl=false are temporary escape hatches. Migrating removes kotlin-android and kotlinOptions and adds kotlin { compilerOptions { ... } }.