How to Release Your Flutter App on the iOS App Store

Your Flutter app is ready, and you’ve completed all the important pre-release steps. Now it’s time for the final step: publishing it on the App Store and sharing it with the world. But where do you start?

Sure, the Flutter documentation provides a technical guide for building and releasing an iOS app. But publishing your first app involves more than just building and uploading—it’s a process filled with red tape, guidelines, and steps that aren’t always obvious.

If you’re new to this, don’t worry. This article will provide a high-level roadmap for releasing your Flutter app on the App Store. Even if you’re familiar with this process, you may discover a trick or two along the way. 👍

What You’ll Learn:

1. How to enroll in the Apple Developer Program.
2. How to register your App ID in the Apple Developer Portal.
3. How to create your app in App Store Connect.
4. How to prepare your app for review, including metadata, privacy, and compliance.
5. How to create a Privacy Manifest in Xcode.
6. How to update the Xcode project settings, including code signing.
7. How to build, upload, and submit your app for App Store review.

Want a more detailed, hands-on guide? My Flutter in Production course includes a complete module with 20 lessons that cover each step in depth—from account setup to submission and beyond.

Let’s dive in! 🚀

Should You Sell Apps on the App Store?

For many developers, the App Store is the ultimate platform for reaching a high-quality audience. Apple users are far more willing to pay for apps compared to Android users (it’s not even close). And with payments seamlessly linked to their Apple ID, purchasing is frictionless.

However, joining Apple’s walled garden comes with trade-offs:

• 15% revenue cut: Even with the small business program, Apple takes a significant cut of your earnings.
• No direct customer ownership: Apple controls the relationship with your customers, making it harder to connect with them or market additional products.
• App review delays: The app review process can take hours or days—and even longer if your app is rejected, causing delays in your release timeline.

The App Store offers real opportunities, but remember that Apple stands between you and your users. If your app fits Apple’s ecosystem and you’re prepared to work within its constraints, the App Store can be a powerful platform to reach millions of users worldwide.

1. Enroll in the Apple Developer Program

To publish apps on the App Store, you’ll need to join the Apple Developer Program:

• Cost: $99 per year.
• Who can enroll: Individuals or organizations.
• How to enroll: Start the process at developer.apple.com/programs/enroll/.
• Reduce fees: Join the Small Business Program to pay a 15% commission instead of 30% (eligibility applies).

Enrollment Steps

The enrollment process is fairly simple and involves the following steps:

• Start your Enrollment
• Sign in with your Apple ID (or create an account)
• Agree to the Apple Developer Agreement
• Confirm your personal information
• Select your entity type (individual, organization, or others)
• Obtain a D-U-N-S Number using this service (organizations only - can take up to 30 business days, or up to 8 business days for the expedited service)
• Agree to the legal terms
• Purchase your membership
• Complete the verification process

What Happens Next?

Once you’ve submitted all the required information:

• Verification: Apple may take a few days to verify your enrollment.
• Activation: Once verified, you’ll receive an activation email.
• Access to Resources: With your membership, you’ll have access to your Apple Developer Account, documentation, and additional resources.

2. Register Your App ID

After enrolling in the Apple Developer Program, you'll get access to your Apple Developer Account:

The next step is to register your App ID, which uniquely identifies your app within Apple’s ecosystem.

How to Register Your App ID

1. Open the identifiers page of your Apple Developer account.
2. Click + to register a new App ID.
3. Enter an app name, select Explicit App ID, and enter the Bundle ID (e.g., com.yourcompany.yourapp).
4. Select the capabilities your app requires (e.g., Push Notifications, In-App Purchases), then click Continue.
5. Click Register to confirm your App ID.

Note that the Bundle ID must match the Bundle Identifier property in Xcode under Runner > General > Identity:

3. Create your app in App Store Connect

After registering your App ID, the next step is to create your app in App Store Connect.

How to Create a New App in App Store Connect

Go to App Store Connect > Apps, then add a new app:

Fill in the required details:

These include:

• Platforms: Ensure iOS is selected.
• Name: The app name displayed to users on the App Store.
• Primary Language: The default language for your app’s metadata.
• Bundle ID: Select the App ID you registered in the previous step.
• SKU: A unique internal ID for your app (not visible to users).
• User Access: Decide which App Store Connect users can manage the app.

When you're done, click Create to finalize the setup.

4. Prepare your App For Review

After clicking Create, you’ll land on the app’s overview page:

Note that entering all the information is long process and you'll need to fill multiple pages:

Here’s what you’ll need to provide and where to find it.

Sections to Complete

• Main Page
  • Preview and Screenshots: up to 3 app previews (optional), and up to 10 screenshots
  • App Metadata: description, keywords, support URL, marketing URL, version, copyright
  • App Review Information: Provide:
    • Sign-in Information: If your app requires login credentials for testing, create a test account and share them here.
    • Contact Information: Provide details for Apple to contact you during the review process.
    • Notes: Add any additional context for the App Review team.

• App Information
  • Localizable Information: your app's name and subtitle
  • General Information: bundle ID, primary and secondary category, content rights information
  • Age Rating: a questionnaire with multiple selections and yes/no questions
  • App Encryption Documentation: specify whether your app uses non-exempt encryption (see tip below for most cases).

• Pricing and Availability
  • Price Schedule: starting price for your app (free or paid)
  • App Availability: countries where your app will be available to purchase or download

• App Privacy
  • Privacy Policy: a link to your app’s Privacy Policy (required).
  • Data Collection: Specify your app’s data collection and usage practices. This is a multi-step process where you’ll need to disclose:
    • Types of data collected (e.g., location, identifiers).
    • How the data is used (e.g., analytics, advertising).
    • Whether the data is linked to user identity or used for tracking.

Tip: If your app doesn’t use non-exempt encryption (this applies to most apps), add a ITSAppUsesNonExemptEncryption key and set the value to NO in your Info.plist file in Xcode. This will prevent extra encryption documentation steps when uploading your builds to App Store Connect. Read this tip for more details.

Before Submitting for Review

Make sure you’ve entered all the required app details. If any information is missing, you’ll see an error when you click Add for Review:

5. Create a Privacy Manifest in Xcode

When you specify your data collection practices in App Store Connect, Apple generates privacy labels for your app, which are displayed on your App Store listing. For example:

Starting November 12, 2024, Apple also requires you to add a Privacy Manifest to your app before submitting it to App Store Connect.

What is a Privacy Manifest?

A Privacy Manifest is a file named PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy that documents your app's data collection practices and API usage. This file helps Apple understand what data your app collects, how it’s used, and why.

How to Create a Privacy Manifest in Xcode

Follow these steps to create a Privacy Manifest for your app:

• Open the ios/Runner.xcworkspace project in Xcode.
• Right-click the Runner folder and select New File from Template...
• Scroll down to the Resource section, choose App Privacy, and click Next.
• Create the file with the default name PrivacyInfo.

What to Add to the Privacy Manifest

Once the file is created, add the following values to the App Privacy Configuration section:

• NSPrivacyTracking: Indicates whether your app uses tracking, as defined by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework.
• NSPrivacyTrackingDomains: Lists internet domains your app uses for tracking purposes.
• NSPrivacyCollectedDataTypes: Details the types of data collected by your app (e.g., location, identifiers).
• NSPrivacyAccessedAPITypes: Describes the APIs your app accesses and the reasons for their use (e.g., User Defaults for local storage).

These should match the data collection types you declared in App Store Connect.

Once all the information is complete, your PrivacyInfo file should look similar to this:

Example File

Here's an example of the completed PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy for one of my apps:

• Example PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy

To learn more, read the official Apple docs about User privacy and data use and Privacy manifest files.

6. Update the Xcode project settings

Before building and submitting your app to App Store Connect, review your Xcode project settings to ensure everything is configured correctly. You can find these settings in Runner > General:

Key Xcode project settings

Here are the key settings you need to review and update:

• Supported Destinations: In addition to iPhone, decide if your app should support iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision
• Minimum Deployment Version: Targeting an iOS version that is 2 years old ensures your app will be compatible with over 90% of devices (source).
• Identity: Double-check the App Category, as it impacts your app’s discoverability on the App Store. Other fields like Display Name, Bundle Identifier, Version, and Build Number are derived from your pubspec.yaml, file, so there should be no need to change them.
• Deployment Info: Review and update the supported orientations based on your app’s design.
• App Icons and Launch Screen: Verify that they look as intended.

Tip: use packages like flutter_launcher_icons and flutter_native_splash to generate consistent app icons and launch screens for all platforms.

Code Signing

In addition to the general settings, you’ll need to review the Signing & Capabilities tab:

• Enable Automatic Signing: Ensure Automatically manage signing is enabled.
• Select Your Team: In the dropdown, choose your Team. This allows Xcode to automatically generate the necessary certificate and provisioning profile (if they don’t already exist).

By default, a development certificate is created (rather than a distribution one). This is normal and won’t prevent you from uploading your app to App Store Connect. You can find all your certificates in the Apple Developer Portal.

App Version and Build Number

In Flutter, the version and build number are defined in the pubspec.yaml file under the version key:

version: 0.3.4+18

In App Store Connect, you’ll need to manually set the app version number to match the version in your pubspec.yaml. Here’s how:

1. Go to App Store Connect > My Apps > Your App.
2. Scroll down to the metadata and set the correct version number to match what’s in your pubspec.yaml:

7. Build, upload, and submit your app to App Store Connect

Once you’ve verified your Xcode settings and versioning, it’s time to build your app bundle and upload it to App Store Connect for review.

Building the iOS App Bundle

To build the iOS app bundle, run the following command:

flutter build ipa

Depending on your app’s configuration, you might need to pass additional flags. To see all supported arguments, run: flutter build ipa --help.

If your app supports multiple flavors, specify the flavor using the --flavor flag. For example:

# To build the prod flavor
flutter build ipa --flavor prod -t lib/main_prod.dart --dart-define-from-file=.env.prod

This command will generate an IPA file (iOS App Archive) in the build/ios/ipa/ directory. The IPA is the format used to distribute iOS apps.

Uploading the App Bundle to App Store Connect

There are multiple ways to upload your app bundle, but for first-time uploads, I recommend using the Apple Transporter app. Transporter simplifies the upload process by handling both the upload and validation for you.

How to Use Transporter:

• Open the Apple Transporter app and sign in with your Apple ID.
• Drag and drop the build/ios/ipa/*.ipa file into the app.
• Click Deliver to upload your app bundle:

After a few minutes, Transporter will show the app as Ready for Internal Testing:

Submitting Your App for Review

Go to your app in App Store Connect, scroll down to Build, click the + icon, select your build, and click Done:

Then, click Add for Review at the top of the page, then Submit to App Review:

What Happens Next?

Your app will now enter Apple’s review queue. Apple’s review team will assess your app for compliance with their guidelines. If everything checks out, you’ll receive a notification, and your app will be ready for release!

Wrapping Up

Congratulations! You’ve successfully submitted your iOS app to App Store Connect—the final step before Apple reviews it for release on the App Store. 🎉

What’s Next?

While waiting for App Review, it’s a good idea to get familiar with Apple’s review guidelines and resources to ensure a smooth approval process. Start with the App Review page, which includes helpful documentation like:

• App Review Guidelines
• Human Interface Guidelines
• Guidelines for Using Apple Trademarks and Copyrights
• Submitting for review
• Avoiding common issues

Submitting App Updates to App Store Connect

Once your app is approved, you’ll likely submit updates to add new features and fix bugs. While using the Transporter app works for occasional uploads, it can quickly become tedious if you update your app frequently.

A better solution? Automate the process with a build script that uses the xcrun command to automatically build and upload your app to App Store Connect.

To learn more about this, read:

• iOS App Store: Build and Upload Script

Scaling with CI/CD Pipelines

If you work as part of a team or release updates often, consider setting up CI/CD pipelines to automate your app builds, testing, and releases. CI/CD enables you to:

• Save time by automating repetitive tasks.
• Run specific workflows (e.g. run tests) when certain events are triggered (e.g. when pushing a branch).
• Distribute apps more efficiently via TestFlight or the App Store.

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When it comes to shipping and maintaining apps in production, there are many important aspects to consider:

• Preparing for release: splash screens, flavors, environments, error reporting, analytics, force update, privacy, T&Cs.
• App Submissions: app store metadata & screenshots, compliance, testing vs distribution tracks, dealing with rejections.
• Release automation: CI workflows, environment variables, custom build steps, code signing, uploading to the stores.
• Post-release: error monitoring, bug fixes, addressing user feedback, over-the-air updates, feature flags & A/B testing.

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