Deployment: Mobile Client

This guide covers the essential pre-release tasks for building and deploying the Flutter News App Mobile Client to the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Note

Before you begin, ensure you have configured the app to connect to your production API server by setting the appEnvironment constant in lib/main.dart to AppEnvironment.production.

Android

1. Update the Package ID

   The Android package ID is a unique identifier for your app. You must change it from the default.

   • Open android/app/build.gradle.
   • Locate the applicationId field and change its value to your own unique ID (e.g., com.yourcompany.newsapp).

2. Change the App Display Name

   • Open android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml.
   • Find the android:label attribute within the <application> tag and update its value to your app’s name.

3. Generate App Icons

   The project uses the flutter_launcher_icons package to generate app icons.

   • Replace the placeholder icon file in your project’s assets folder with your own icon (1024x1024 recommended).
   • Update the flutter_launcher_icons.yaml file if your icon has a different name.
   • Run the following command to generate the icons:

     flutter pub run flutter_launcher_icons

4. Create a Production Keystore

   You must sign your Android app with a private key before uploading it to the Play Store.

   • Follow the official Android documentation to generate a new upload key and keystore.
   • Securely store the generated .jks file and remember your passwords.

5. Configure Gradle for Signing

   • Create a file named android/key.properties (this file is in .gitignore and should not be committed).
   • Add your keystore information to this file:

     storePassword=YOUR_STORE_PASSWORD
     keyPassword=YOUR_KEY_PASSWORD
     keyAlias=YOUR_KEY_ALIAS
     storeFile=path/to/your/keystore.jks

   • Open android/app/build.gradle and ensure the signing configuration section is set up to read from this key.properties file.

6. Build the Release Bundle

   Generate a production-ready Android App Bundle (.aab):

   flutter build appbundle

   The output file will be located at build/app/outputs/bundle/release/app-release.aab. You can now upload this file to the Google Play Console.

iOS

1. Update the Bundle Identifier

   The iOS bundle identifier is a unique ID for your app.

   • Open the project in Xcode (ios/Runner.xcworkspace).
   • In the Project Navigator, select the Runner target.
   • Go to the “General” tab and update the “Bundle Identifier” field to your unique ID (e.g., com.yourcompany.newsapp).

2. Update the Display Name

   • In the same “General” tab in Xcode, update the “Display Name” field to your app’s name.

3. Generate the App Icon Set

   • In Xcode, navigate to Runner/Assets.xcassets and select AppIcon.
   • Drag and drop your prepared app icons (.png files of various required sizes) into the appropriate slots. You can use an online tool to generate these sizes from a single 1024x1024 image.

4. Configure Signing & Capabilities

   • In Xcode, go to the “Signing & Capabilities” tab.
   • Select your development team and ensure a provisioning profile and signing certificate are correctly configured. This is required for deploying to a real device or the App Store. You will need an active Apple Developer account.

5. Build the Release Archive

   Create a build archive to upload to App Store Connect.

   flutter build ipa

   This command will create an .ipa file inside the build/ios/ipa/ directory. You can then upload this archive to App Store Connect using Xcode’s Organizer or the Transporter app for testing via TestFlight or submission to the App Store.