Build, deploy and run a Flutter app for iOS from Android Studio on a Linux computer using a remote Mac with an Xcode server or an SSH server?

Question

I use a Debian Linux computer as my main development computer for Flutter apps for Android with Android Studio. When I want to test an app on iOS, I need to pull the Flutter app source code from my source control system (GitLab) on my Apple macOS computer, build, deploy and run from there using Android Studio.

What I would like to do, is avoid the source control pull step in the process and initiate the iOS build, deploy and run on the Apple computer from the Android Studio on the Linux computer.

I consider the build, deploy and execute steps in Android studio as commands. I believe that those commands can be configured maybe through Gradle configuration files. If so, it should be possible to configure Android Studio and Gradle so that my Android Studio on Linux makes use of a remote Apple computer for the build, deploy and run either through an Xcode server or through an SSH server installed on the Mac.

At the moment, when I try a flutter build ios on my Linux machine, I get this expected error message:

Building for iOS is only supported on the Mac.

Does anyone have a solution to make this remote?

Ocarina

Have you got any solution yet ? – Trellis

I have no hunches for now @SyedHamzaHassan . Do you have any idea on your side? Is this something that would also help you? – Ocarina

No @luvzfooball, i am not looking something like this. – Trellis

Answer 1

I know that Odevio does this for building apps. It's a tool that lets you connect to remote Macs. The tool is open source so maybe you can find how they connect to the MacOS machines in their source code : https://github.com/Odevio/Odevio-CLI

Sall

Thanks @'Julien Plaitin' ! This is a very interesting lead. Also, this Appollo solution can be great for open source projects but I haven't found any pricing page. – Ocarina

Hi @luvzfootball, there is no pricing page because Appollo is currently a free tool. – Sall