Mobile app development has come a long way. They are distinctive, vast in approach, and the most used stuff in the modern era of digitization. Whether its Android or iOS, mobile apps have time and time found a way to surprise users most authentically.

There are different sets of rules and framework used at the time of mobile app development. One of the highly trusted frameworks in this spree is Flutter.

Flutter is Google’s UI toolkit that is used extensively to create beautiful, natively compiled applications for web, desktop, and mobile using a single codebase. It is useful for,

• The fast development of apps
• Induces expressive and flexible UI
• Boosting native performance

Flutter is one such framework that helps in developing and distributing iOS apps without Mac, but how is this done? Below is a deep insight.

How Flutter helps in developing and distributing iOS apps without Mac

iOS application development includes the development and distribution of apps from macOS machines. When an organization hire mobile app developer, Mac is the only framework they opt for.

The Flutter framework is used for iOS, Android, web, and desktop app. But, at the same time, one can’t run and test the Flutter iOS application on the window. However, we have come up with a solution that will help run and test the Flutter iOS app on the window machine hassle-free.

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An online platform named Flutlab.io is what is needed to create a bundle of iOS and run this particular bundle on appetize.io an online simulator. Some necessary steps should be taken into consideration while using both the platforms to create a bundle of iOS and run it on a simulator.

Follow the mentioned steps

• First thing first, you need to develop your flutter application on VS-code or Android studio and run it on the Android simulator.
• After the first step is done, the next is to create an account on Flutlab.io to create a bundle for iOS. The Flutlab.io is an online IDE that helps in developing Flutter applications. Here, the developers can host their projects, collaborate, and create various builds.
• Once your account is created on Flutlab.io, it is now time to log in and upload your developed Flutter project.
• The next step is to roll back to your profile and click on the upload Zip button on the navigation bar to upload your Flutter project. Here’s one tip to remember, before uploading, delete the build folder from the project source code and ensure that your project folder is compressed to a zip format.
• Once the uploading is done, select your project and what you will see is the text editor where you can make some final changes if needed.
• In the next step, tap on the preferences option as mentioned in the image below,
• From the given window, you can select a platform to take build and select iOS-debug from the drop-down menu and close the preference tab.
• Once you selected the build architecture, you are liable to build the project now. To do so, click on the build project button and wait for the build running time. The figure is given below show’s how it is processed as it will take some time.
• When done, you can see the build downloadable link for the iOS simulator. You need to click on the link to start downloading.
• Now, what you need is a real iPhone to run this build. Another platform is also used to run this build named Appetize.io. With the help of Appetize, you can easily run native apps on the browser simulator.
• Once you open the Appetize window, click on the ‘select file’ button to upload your build that is downloaded from the Futlab.io. The second step states to enter the valid email address and click on the ‘Generate’ button. Once you click the button, the Appetite will send you a link for the simulator.
• In the final step, go to your email inbox where you will receive an email from Appetize.io. Once you click on the link, you will see an iPhone simulator. Now, you just have to tap on Play, and you will see your iOS application running as a real iPhone.

Also Read, Tips for Creating a Better iOS Game Application 

Conclusion

As we know that Flutter is a cross-platform mobile application development framework, and is capable of developing iOS and Android apps from the same source code.

Flutter has eased the task of building and running applications with the aid of Appetize simulator. The framework offers many significant tools that help in building a clone of iOS mobile applications. Therefore, if you don’t have a Mac OS, but still want to develop and distribute iOS applications, Flutter is the way to go.