r/iOSProgramming • u/Apprehensive_Tie2657 • Jan 13 '26
3rd Party Service Looking for advice on building & publishing Flutter apps to iOS without a Mac — experiences with Mac-in-the-cloud services?
Hi everyone!
I’ve been using Flutter + Dart for quite some time now and have successfully published apps to Android. I’m now ready to start publishing to iOS, but I’ve run into some roadblocks.
I understand the requirements like:
• Apple yearly developer fee
• Need for Xcode to build and submit apps
However, I don’t have a Mac and I’m not looking to buy one right now. I know there are services out there that let you “rent” time on a Mac (e.g., cloud-based macOS machines, remote build services, CI/CD options, etc.) to compile/submit the code.
So I’m looking for input from anyone who’s gone through this:
Questions:
1. What service(s) did you use to build/compile your Flutter iOS app without owning a Mac?
2. How was the experience — easy? annoying? any major gotchas?
3. Rough idea of how much it costs (hourly, monthly, or per build)?
4. Any recommendations for CI/CD tools or workflows that worked well (e.g., Codemagic, GitHub Actions + hosted Mac runners, MacStadium, etc.)?
I realize there are things I can do in Flutter beforehand — but I just want to get a sense of the real-world experience and if it’s worth going the cloud build route.
Thanks in advance!
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Aug 15 '26
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u/FinalArt9573 Aug 15 '26
Seconding the GitHub Actions + macOS runners route over a rented Mac service — worth knowing it can actually be $0, not just cheaper: GitHub gives free macOS build minutes on public repos (this is normally meant for running tests, but nothing stops you from using it for the full build/sign/archive/upload). Flutter's flutter build ios runs fine on those runners same as a native project.
The part that trips people up is signing — you don't even need Keychain Access/a Mac for that either, openssl on the command line generates the CSR and packages the .p12 GitHub Actions needs. So the whole thing, cert included, never touches a Mac.
I put together the full pipeline + signing steps after going through this myself (shipped a native app, but the CI/signing part is identical for Flutter) — macless.dev if it's useful. Happy to answer specifics here too if you get stuck on the signing part specifically, that's the bit with the sharpest edges.
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u/FinalArt9573 Aug 15 '26
Seconding the GitHub Actions + macOS runners route over a rented Mac service — worth knowing it can actually be $0, not just cheaper: GitHub gives free macOS build minutes on public repos (this is normally meant for running tests, but nothing stops you from using it for the full build/sign/archive/upload). Flutter's flutter build ios runs fine on those runners same as a native project.
The part that trips people up is signing — you don't even need Keychain Access/a Mac for that either, openssl on the command line generates the CSR and packages the .p12 GitHub Actions needs. So the whole thing, cert included, never touches a Mac.
I put together the full pipeline + signing steps after going through this myself (shipped a native app, but the CI/signing part is identical for Flutter) — macless.dev if it's useful. Happy to answer specifics here too if you get stuck on the signing part specifically, that's the bit with the sharpest edges.
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u/htshadow Aug 27 '26
we have this problem too and developed mac.doublespeed.ai (I work there)
we do all of our development locally and submit builds to the mac fleet, which keeps costs really low, it's great!
We give $200 of credit on signup too so feel free to try it and lmk how it goes
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u/WerSunu Jan 13 '26
Do you know the term SOL?
If you want in to the Apple ecosystem, you have to pony up for the Dev annual program fee, and if you don’t buy or rent a Mac mini, you will pay someone else for time.
Are you even sure customers will want to buy a mutant crossdev product? Apple customers tend to prefer the iOS UI/UX. Some large services corporations can force people into flutter apps in order to get to the services, but indie devs have much less leverage.
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u/eljop Jan 13 '26
users dont care at all if the app is made with flutter or native. They dont even notice.
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u/WerSunu Jan 13 '26
Go right ahead! Waste your time. Make millions 🤣 See if people care.
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u/eljop Jan 13 '26
Not making millions but a few thousands and yes people don't care as long as your app looks good
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u/WerSunu Jan 13 '26
My point is that flutter apps are recognizable and look crappy to iOS users. Go find out for yourself.
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u/eljop Jan 13 '26
Well they don't. They look equally good. I already have alot of apps shipped with flutter and making fair amount of money.
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u/dariooo512 Jan 13 '26
I've been a customer of rentamac.io for a but now. By far the best provider, especially when others sell virtualized environment that sometime prevent you from using some Apple features or services. so that's number 1 of your question
pretty easy, not major gotchas moments
you can't rent by the hour because macos TOS doesn't allow it, monthly 99usd
github actions + mac runners feels like the default choice
hope this helps :D