Installing Flutter on MacOS – Initappz Documentation

To install and run Flutter, your development environment must meet these minimum requirements:

Operating Systems: macOS
Disk Space: 2.8 GB (does not include disk space for IDE/tools).
Tools: Flutter uses git for installation and upgrade. We recommend installing Xcode, which includes, but you can also install git separately.

Get the Flutter SDK

Download the following installation bundle to get the latest stable release of the Flutter SDK:flutter_macos_2.10.3-stable.zip
For other release channels, and older builds, see the SDK releases page.

Extract the file in the desired location, for example:

$ cd ~/development
$ unzip ~/Downloads/flutter_macos_2.10.3-stable.zip

Add the flutter tool to your path:
$ export PATH="$PATH:`pwd`/flutter/bin"
This command sets your PATH variable for the current terminal window only. To permanently add Flutter to your path, see Update your path.

You are now ready to run Flutter commands!

Run flutter doctor

Run the following command to see if there are any dependencies you need to install to complete the setup (for verbose output, add the -v flag):

$ flutter doctor

This command checks your environment and displays a report to the terminal window. The Dart SDK is bundled with Flutter; it is not necessary to install Dart separately. Check the output carefully for other software you might need to install or further tasks to perform (shown in bold text).

For example:

[-] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices
    • Android SDK at /Users/obiwan/Library/Android/sdk
    ✗ Android SDK is missing command line tools; download from https://goo.gl/XxQghQ
    • Try re-installing or updating your Android SDK,
      visit https://docs.flutter.dev/setup/#android-setup for detailed instructions.

The following sections describe how to perform these tasks and finish the setup process.

Once you have installed any missing dependencies, run the flutter doctor command again to verify that you’ve set everything up correctly.

Downloading straight from GitHub instead of using an archive

This is only suggested for advanced use cases.

You can also use git directly instead of downloading the prepared archive. For example, to download the stable branch:

$ git clone https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git -b stable

Update your path, and run flutter doctor. That will let you know if there are other dependencies you need to install to use Flutter (e.g. the Android SDK).

If you did not use the archive, Flutter will download necessary development binaries as they are needed (if you used the archive, they are included in the download). You may wish to pre-download these development binaries (for example, you may wish to do this when setting up hermetic build environments, or if you only have intermittent network availability). To do so, run the following command:

$ flutter precache

For additional download options, see flutter help precache.

Warning: The Flutter tool may occasionally download resources from Google servers. By downloading or using the Flutter SDK you agree to the Google Terms of Service.

For example, when installed from GitHub (as opposed to from a prepackaged archive), the Flutter tool will download the Dart SDK from Google servers immediately when first run, as it is used to execute the flutter tool itself. This will also occur when Flutter is upgraded (e.g. by running the flutter upgrade command).

The flutter tool uses Google Analytics to report feature usage statistics and send crash reports. This data is used to help improve Flutter tools over time.

Flutter tool analytics are not sent on the very first run. To disable reporting, run flutter config --no-analytics. To display the current setting, use flutter config. If you opt out of analytics, an opt-out event is sent, and then no further information is sent by the Flutter tool.

Dart tools may also send usage metrics and crash reports to Google. To control the submission of these metrics, use the following options on the dart tool:

--enable-analytics: Enables anonymous analytics.
--disable-analytics: Disables anonymous analytics.

The Google Privacy Policy describes how data is handled by these services.

Update your path

You can update your PATH variable for the current session at the command line, as shown in Get the Flutter SDK. You’ll probably want to update this variable permanently, so you can run flutter commands in any terminal session.

The steps for modifying this variable permanently for all terminal sessions are machine-specific. Typically you add a line to a file that is executed whenever you open a new window. For example:

Determine the path of your clone of the Flutter SDK. You need this in Step 3.
Open (or create) the rc file for your shell. Typing echo $SHELL in your Terminal tells you which shell you’re using. If you’re using Bash, edit $HOME/.bash_profile or $HOME/.bashrc. If you’re using Z shell, edit $HOME/.zshrc. If you’re using a different shell, the file path and filename will be different on your machine.
Add the following line and change [PATH_OF_FLUTTER_GIT_DIRECTORY] to be the path of your clone of the Flutter git repo:
$ export PATH="$PATH:[PATH_OF_FLUTTER_GIT_DIRECTORY]/bin"
Run source $HOME/.<rc file> to refresh the current window, or open a new terminal window to automatically source the file.
Verify that the flutter/bin directory is now in your PATH by running:
$ echo $PATH
Verify that the flutter command is available by running:
$ which flutter

Note: As of Flutter’s 1.19.0 dev release, the Flutter SDK contains the dart command alongside the flutter command so that you can more easily run Dart command-line programs. Downloading the Flutter SDK also downloads the compatible version of Dart, but if you’ve downloaded the Dart SDK separately, make sure that the Flutter version of dart is first in your path, as the two versions might not be compatible. The following command tells you whether the flutter and dart commands originate from the same bin directory and are therefore compatible.

  $ which flutter dart
  /path-to-flutter-sdk/bin/flutter
  /usr/local/bin/dart

As shown above, the two commands don’t come from the same bin directory. Update your path to use commands from /path-to-flutter-sdk/bin before commands from /usr/local/bin (in this case). After updating your shell for the change to take effect, running the which command again should show that the flutter and dart commands now come from the same directory.

  $ which flutter dart
  /path-to-flutter-sdk/bin/flutter
  /path-to-flutter-sdk/bin/dart

To learn more about the dart command, run dart -h from the command line, or see the dart tool page.

Platform setup

macOS supports developing Flutter apps in iOS, Android, and the web (technical preview release). Complete at least one of the platform setup steps now, to be able to build and run your first Flutter app.

iOS setup

Install Xcode

To develop Flutter apps for iOS, you need a Mac with Xcode installed.

Install the latest stable version of Xcode (using web download or the Mac App Store).
Configure the Xcode command-line tools to use the newly-installed version of Xcode by running the following from the command line:
$ sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer $ sudo xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch
This is the correct path for most cases, when you want to use the latest version of Xcode. If you need to use a different version, specify that path instead.
Make sure the Xcode license agreement is signed by either opening Xcode once and confirming or running sudo xcodebuild -license from the command line.

Versions older than the latest stable version may still work, but are not recommended for Flutter development. Using old versions of Xcode to target bitcode is not supported, and is likely not to work.

With Xcode, you’ll be able to run Flutter apps on an iOS device or on the simulator.

Set up the iOS simulator

To prepare to run and test your Flutter app on the iOS simulator, follow these steps:

On your Mac, find the Simulator via Spotlight or by using the following command:
$ open -a Simulator
Make sure your simulator is using a 64-bit device (iPhone 5s or later). You can check the device by viewing the settings in the simulator’s Hardware > Device or File > Open Simulator menus.
Depending on your development machine’s screen size, simulated high-screen-density iOS devices might overflow your screen. Grab the corner of the simulator and drag it to change the scale. You can also use the Window > Physical Size or Window > Pixel Accurate options if your computer’s resolution is high enough.
- If you are using a version of Xcode older than 9.1, you should instead set the device scale in the Window > Scale menu.

Create and run a simple Flutter app

To create your first Flutter app and test your setup, follow these steps:

Create a new Flutter app by running the following from the command line:
$ flutter create my_app
A my_app directory is created, containing Flutter’s starter app. Enter this directory:

$ cd my_app
To launch the app in the Simulator, ensure that the Simulator is running and enter:
$ flutter run

Deploy to iOS devices

To deploy your Flutter app to a physical iOS device you’ll need to set up physical device deployment in Xcode and an Apple Developer account. If your app is using Flutter plugins, you will also need the third-party CocoaPods dependency manager.

You can skip this step if your apps do not depend on Flutter plugins with native iOS code. Install and set up CocoaPods by running the following commands:
Note: The default version of Ruby requires sudo to install the CocoaPods gem. If you are using a Ruby Version manager, you may need to run without sudo.
Follow the Xcode signing flow to provision your project:
1. Open the default Xcode workspace in your project by running open ios/Runner.xcworkspace in a terminal window from your Flutter project directory.
2. Select the device you intend to deploy to in the device drop-down menu next to the run button.
3. Select the Runner project in the left navigation panel.
4. In the Runner target settings page, make sure your Development Team is selected under Signing & Capabilities > Team.When you select a team, Xcode creates and downloads a Development Certificate, registers your device with your account, and creates and downloads a provisioning profile (if needed).
  - To start your first iOS development project, you might need to sign into Xcode with your Apple ID. Development and testing is supported for any Apple ID. Enrolling in the Apple Developer Program is required to distribute your app to the App Store. For details about membership types, see Choosing a Membership.
  - The first time you use an attached physical device for iOS development, you need to trust both your Mac and the Development Certificate on that device. Select Trust in the dialog prompt when first connecting the iOS device to your Mac.
    Then, go to the Settings app on the iOS device, select General > Device Management and trust your Certificate. For first time users, you may need to select General > Profiles > Device Management instead.
  - If automatic signing fails in Xcode, verify that the project’s General > Identity > Bundle Identifier value is unique.
Start your app by running flutter run or clicking the Run button in Xcode.