Flutter is Google’s UI toolkit for building beautiful, native, natively compiled applications for android and iOS.
Many Flutter developers are stuck in the loop of developing their Flutter applications only for only Android because they can not afford a MAC laptop and have no idea of how to develop and deploy iOS applications without a MAC.
Here are some of the ways to deploy iOS applications without a MAC.
Install macOS on Your PC via VirtualBox
Building a Flutter app for iOS requires XCode, and is only available on Mac OS. One of the easiest ways to run Mac on a conventional laptop (non-Mac laptop) is the install it on a Virtual Machine tool, like VirtualBox (free) or VMware (paid).
A virtual machine will provide an environment an operating system can run in as if it’s running on the hardware itself, except it’s. running on top of your hardware and operating system. This is called virtualisation, and it allows you to run Windows on Linux, macOS on any operating system.
Build a Hackintosh
If you want a Mac-compatible computer, but don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars, a Hackintosh can help you code for iOS without buying a Mac.
What is a “Hackintosh”?
For a number of years now, Apple Macs have shipped with Intel processors, the very same ones found in a PC. In fact, quite a number of hardware components are similar on both PC and Mac, aside from the shiny aluminum case.
And some intelligent people have figured out a way to install Mac OS X standard PC hardware, thereby fooling it into thinking it’s a real Mac.
The main benefit is, of course, price. Building your own Hackintosh from a list of pre-vetted components known to be compatible will cost you considerably less than a real Mac.
The downside to all this is that building a Hackintosh is that it’s not for the faint-hearted, it takes some research and some knowledge of building a PC, and an element of trial and error to get a fully working system. Luckily for us, there are a lot of really great resources online to help in building a Hackintosh.
My personal favorite is www.tonymacx86.com, where you’ll find hardware buying guides. It also showcases handy installer tools such as Unibeast and Multibeast, which pretty much create a Hackintosh for you if you have the right hardware.
Use Codemagic
Codemagic according to their website is a tool used to build, test and deliver mobile apps in record time.
If you want to learn more about the background of Codemagic go ahead and read the following article: Nevercode partners with Google and launches a dedicated CI/CD tool for Flutter apps.
Use FlutLab.io
FlutLab.io is a “FREE” online IDE for Flutter. And probably this is the fastest way to play with your first Flutter projects without any installation process or Flutter SDK setup on your computer.
To get Started, Go to FlutLab.io and register a free account, then go to your profile you will see this window
