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I'm slowly learning flutter and building apps for Android and IOS. As my first app I'm just testing a simple checklist app for my family members. I know that if you build it, you can ship it as an apk for android users without the need to do anything Play Store related.

But what about iPhone users? I also don't need to do anything regarding the App Store and I certainly don't want to pay 99USD a year to just learn app development (As I'll maybe buy a mac in the future if I consider using Swift). I heard that it's possible using TestFlight but there was a 90 day build limit and other stuff (probably the license) so I was wondering if there's a way to download apps like .apk files and install them without limitations from apple?

I've also seen that there's .ipa files, but I believe those are just for Jailbroken iPhones.

HenrijsS
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  • You can use TestFlight or an ad-hoc build that you distribute directly to family members (for this option you need to get their device identifiers and build the app for those devices specifically, but presumably that isn't too hard given they are family members). Both of these options require a paid membership of the Apple Developer Program. You also need access to a Mac to build an app for iOS regardless of the language you use. – Paulw11 Jul 06 '20 at 00:02
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    See: [Do you need Mac OS X to develop iPhone apps?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/9570486/295004) Also `.ipa` files are the iOS equivalent of `.apk` files. Or look at [Is it possible to develop iOS apps with Flutter on a Linux virtual machine?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/40567540/295004) Also realize that if you really want to develop iOS app, [Apple's migration to ARM for MacOS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_transition_to_Apple_silicon) may mean Hackintosh have even a shorter lifespan. – Morrison Chang Jul 06 '20 at 00:05
  • @MorrisonChang Apple have said they will continue to sell Intel based Macs along side Apple Silicon Macs for some years. I also expect they will continue to provide macOS updates for Intel for at least 5 years. – Paulw11 Jul 06 '20 at 02:53
  • @Paulw11 MacOS updates doesn't imply Xcode/iOS App Store support for developers. Only time will tell. – Morrison Chang Jul 06 '20 at 03:16

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