This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough of releasing a Flutter app to theApp Store.

Before beginning the process of releasing your app, ensure that it meets Apple'sApp Review Guidelines.

In order to publish your app to the App Store, you must first enroll in theApple Developer Program. You can read more about the various membership options in Apple'sChoosing a Membership guide.

Manage your app's life cycle onApp Store Connect (formerly iTunes Connect). You define your app name and description, add screenshots, set pricing, and manage releases to the App Store and TestFlight.

Registering your app involves two steps: registering a unique Bundle ID, and creating an application record on App Store Connect.

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

Every macOS application is associated with a Bundle ID, a unique identifier registered with Apple. To register a Bundle ID for your app, follow these steps:

1. Open theApp IDs page of your developer account.
2. Click+ to create a new Bundle ID.
3. Enter an app name, selectExplicit App ID, and enter an ID.
4. Select the services your app uses, then clickContinue.
5. On the next page, confirm the details and clickRegister to register your Bundle ID.

Register your app on App Store Connect:

1. OpenApp Store Connect in your browser.
2. On the App Store Connect landing page, clickMy Apps.
3. Click+ in the top-left corner of the My Apps page, then selectNew App.
4. Fill in your app details in the form that appears. In the Platforms section, ensure that macOS is checked. Since Flutter does not currently support tvOS, leave that checkbox unchecked. ClickCreate.
5. Navigate to the application details for your app and selectApp Information from the sidebar.
6. In the General Information section, select the Bundle ID you registered in the preceding step.

For a detailed overview, seeAdd an app to your account.

This step covers reviewing the most important settings in the Xcode workspace. For detailed procedures and descriptions, seePrepare for app distribution.

Navigate to your target's settings in Xcode:

1. In Xcode, openRunner.xcworkspace in your app'smacos folder.
2. To view your app's settings, select theRunner project in the Xcode project navigator. Then, in the main view sidebar, select theRunner target.
3. Select theGeneral tab.

Verify the most important settings.

In theIdentity section:

App Category

The app category under which your app will be listed on the Mac App Store. This cannot be none.

Bundle Identifier

The App ID you registered on App Store Connect.

In theDeployment info section:

Deployment Target

The minimum macOS version that your app supports. To check which versions of macOS that Flutter supports deploying to, check out Flutter'sSupported deployment platforms.

In theSigning & Capabilities section:

Automatically manage signing

Whether Xcode should automatically manage app signing and provisioning. This is settrue by default, which should be sufficient for most apps. For more complex scenarios, see theCode Signing Guide.

Team

Select the team associated with your registered Apple Developer account. If required, selectAdd Account..., then update this setting.

TheGeneral tab of your project settings should resemble the following:

For a detailed overview of app signing, seeCreate, export, and delete signing certificates.

The configuration for the product identifiers are centralized inmacos/Runner/Configs/AppInfo.xcconfig. For the app's name, setPRODUCT_NAME, for the copyright setPRODUCT_COPYRIGHT, and finally setPRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER for the app's bundle identifier.

The default version number of the app is1.0.0. To update it, navigate to thepubspec.yaml file and update the following line:

version: 1.0.0+1

The version number is three numbers separated by dots, such as1.0.0 in the example above, followed by an optional build number such as1 in the example above, separated by a+.

Both the version and the build number can be overridden in Flutter's build by specifying--build-name and--build-number, respectively.

In macOS,build-name usesCFBundleShortVersionString whilebuild-number usesCFBundleVersion. Read more about iOS versioning atCore Foundation Keys on the Apple Developer's site.

When a new Flutter app is created, a placeholder icon set is created. This step covers replacing these placeholder icons with your app's icons:

1. Review themacOS App Icon guidelines.
2. In the Xcode project navigator, selectAssets.xcassets in theRunner folder. Update the placeholder icons with your own app icons.
3. Verify the icon has been replaced by running your app usingflutter run -d macos.

This step covers creating a build archive and uploading your build to App Store Connect using Xcode.

During development, you've been building, debugging, and testing withdebug builds. When you're ready to ship your app to users on the App Store or TestFlight, you need to prepare arelease build. At this point, you might considerobfuscating your Dart code to make it more difficult to reverse engineer. Obfuscating your code involves adding a couple flags to your build command.

In Xcode, configure the app version and build:

1. OpenRunner.xcworkspace in your app'smacos folder. To do this from the command line, run the following command from the base directory of your application project.

   open macos/Runner.xcworkspace

   content_copy
2. SelectRunner in the Xcode project navigator, then select theRunner target in the settings view sidebar.
3. In the Identity section, update theVersion to the user-facing version number you wish to publish.
4. In the Identity section, update theBuild identifier to a unique build number used to track this build on App Store Connect. Each upload requires a unique build number.

Finally, create a build archive and upload it to App Store Connect:

1. Create a release Archive of your application. From the base directory of your application project, run the following.

   flutter build macos

   content_copy
2. Open Xcode and selectProduct > Archive to open the archive created in the previous step.
3. Click theValidate App button. If any issues are reported, address them and produce another build. You can reuse the same build ID until you upload an archive.
4. After the archive has been successfully validated, clickDistribute App. You can follow the status of your build in the Activities tab of your app's details page onApp Store Connect.

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, seeUpload an app to App Store Connect.

This step covers creating a build archive and uploading your build to App Store Connect using Flutter build commands andCodemagic CLI Tools executed in a terminal in the Flutter project directory.

1. Install the Codemagic CLI tools:

   bash

   pip3 install codemagic-cli-tools

   content_copy

2. You'll need to generate anApp Store Connect API Keywith App Manager access to automate operations with App Store Connect. To makesubsequent commands more concise, set the following environment variables fromthe new key: issuer id, key id, and API key file.

   bash

   export APP_STORE_CONNECT_ISSUER_ID=aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeeeexport APP_STORE_CONNECT_KEY_IDENTIFIER=ABC1234567export APP_STORE_CONNECT_PRIVATE_KEY=`cat /path/to/api/key/AuthKey_XXXYYYZZZ.p8`

   content_copy

3. You need to export or create a Mac App Distribution and a Mac InstallerDistribution certificate to perform code signing and package a build archive.

   If you have existingcertificates, you can export theprivate keys by executing the following command for each certificate:

   bash

   openssl pkcs12 -in <certificate_name>.p12 -nodes -nocerts | openssl rsa -out cert_key

   content_copy

   Or you can create a new private key by executing the following command:

   bash

   ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048 -m PEM -f cert_key -q -N ""

   content_copy

   Later, you can have CLI tools automatically create a new Mac App Distribution andMac Installer Distribution certificate. You can use the same private key foreach new certificate.

4. Fetch the code signing files from App Store Connect:

   bash

   app-store-connect fetch-signing-files YOUR.APP.BUNDLE_ID \    --platform MAC_OS \    --type MAC_APP_STORE \    --certificate-key=@file:/path/to/cert_key \    --create

   content_copy

   Wherecert_key is either your exported Mac App Distribution certificate private keyor a new private key which automatically generates a new certificate.

5. If you do not have a Mac Installer Distribution certificate,you can create a new certificate by executing the following:

   bash

   app-store-connect certificates create \    --type MAC_INSTALLER_DISTRIBUTION \    --certificate-key=@file:/path/to/cert_key \    --save

   content_copy

   Usecert_key of the private key you created earlier.

6. Fetch the Mac Installer Distribution certificates:

   bash

   app-store-connect certificates list \    --type MAC_INSTALLER_DISTRIBUTION \    --certificate-key=@file:/path/to/cert_key \    --save

   content_copy

7. Set up a new temporary keychain to be used for code signing:

   bash

   keychain initialize

   content_copy
   infoRestore Login Keychain!

   After runningkeychain initialize youmust run the following:
   

   keychain use-login

   This sets your login keychain as the default to avoid potentialauthentication issues with apps on your machine.

8. Now add the fetched certificates to your keychain:

   bash

   keychain add-certificates

   content_copy

9. Update the Xcode project settings to use fetched code signing profiles:

   bash

   xcode-project use-profiles

   content_copy

10. Install Flutter dependencies:

    bash

    flutter packages pub get

    content_copy

11. Install CocoaPods dependencies:

    bash

    find . -name "Podfile" -execdir pod install \;

    content_copy

12. Build the Flutter macOS project:

    bash

    flutter build macos --release

    content_copy

13. Package the app:

    bash

    APP_NAME=$(find $(pwd) -name "*.app")PACKAGE_NAME=$(basename "$APP_NAME" .app).pkgxcrun productbuild --component "$APP_NAME" /Applications/ unsigned.pkgINSTALLER_CERT_NAME=$(keychain list-certificates \          | jq '[.[]            | select(.common_name            | contains("Mac Developer Installer"))            | .common_name][0]' \          | xargs)xcrun productsign --sign "$INSTALLER_CERT_NAME" unsigned.pkg "$PACKAGE_NAME"rm -f unsigned.pkg

    content_copy

14. Publish the packaged app to App Store Connect:

    bash

    app-store-connect publish \    --path "$PACKAGE_NAME"

    content_copy

15. As mentioned earlier, don't forget to set your login keychainas the default to avoid authentication issueswith apps on your machine:

    bash

    keychain use-login

    content_copy

TestFlight allows developers to push their apps to internal and external testers. This optional step covers releasing your build on TestFlight.

1. Navigate to the TestFlight tab of your app's application details page onApp Store Connect.
2. SelectInternal Testing in the sidebar.
3. Select the build to publish to testers, then clickSave.
4. Add the email addresses of any internal testers. You can add additional internal users in theUsers and Roles page of App Store Connect, available from the dropdown menu at the top of the page.

Seedistribution guide to prepare an archive for distribution to designated Mac computers.

When you're ready to release your app to the world, follow these steps to submit your app for review and release to the App Store:

1. SelectPricing and Availability from the sidebar of your app's application details page onApp Store Connect and complete the required information.
2. Select the status from the sidebar. If this is the first release of this app, its status is1.0 Prepare for Submission. Complete all required fields.
3. ClickSubmit for Review.

Apple notifies you when their app review process is complete. Your app is released according to the instructions you specified in theVersion Release section.

For more details, seeDistribute an app through the App Store.

TheDistribute your app guide provides a detailed overview of the process of releasing an app to the App Store.

To learn how to package and distribute your Flutter desktop app for macOS the open source way, without using a paid Apple developer account, check out the step-by-stepmacOS packaging guide.