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Building & Distributing to App Stores

This guide explains how to build and distribute the Kelowna Islamic Center Mobile App for both Android and iOS. The app is built with Flutter and connects to Firebase services (Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Messaging, and Cloud Functions).

Prerequisites

  • You fully followed the installation guide and have all the SDKs and development environemnts setup.
  • Have developer access to a Play Store Developer account (for Android)
  • Have developer access to App Store Connect (for iOS)

  • Have connected the application to the production firebase project. You can follow the Installation Guide Firebase Guide again if unsure.

    • google-services.json (Android)
    • GoogleService-Info.plist (iOS)

    Warning

    If these files are misconfigured or not created, Firebase features (authentication, messaging, Firestore, etc.) will not function.

Building for Android

Before beginning this part, ensure you have read and understood the official Flutter Android deployment guide as this is just a short reference adapted from the official guide.

Warning

It advised that you use the official guide for your first deployment and only follow this as a future reference once you are familiar with the full process.

  1. Signing

    1. Create a key.properties file in the root of the android folder.

    2. Add your store password, key passowrd, alias, and path to the keystore file to the key.properties file (you should have all of these provided if you are deploying to the official KIC Play Store listing). This should look something like this:

      storePassword=myStorePassword
keyPassword=myKeyPassword
keyAlias=upload
storeFile=/Users/MyUser/android-keys/upload-keystore.jks

    3. Ensure build.gradle is updated with the signing configuration. This should already be the case and is not required unless you modified the gradle file.

  2. Create a Release Build

    Increment the version name and number in pubspec.yaml. Not doing this will cause Google Play to deny you from releasing the app as the version number will already be existing. This should look something like this if the previous version was 4.1.0+26:

    version: 4.1.1+27

    and then build the release APK file:

    flutter build apk --release

    or, the app bundle (this is recommended for Play Store):

    flutter build appbundle --release

  3. Distribution

    • Create a new release in the Google Play Console
    • Upload the generated AAB or APK file.
    • For testing before release, use Internal Testing.

Building for iOS

Before beginning this part, ensure you have read and understood the official Flutter iOS deployment guide as this is just a short reference adapted from the official guide.

Warning

It advised that you use the official guide for your first deployment and only follow this as a future reference once you are familiar with the full process.

  1. Xcode Configuration

    • Open the generated ios/Runner.xcworkspace in Xcode.
    • Ensure the correct Apple Developer Team is selected.
    • Configure signing and capabilities.

  2. Create a Release Build

    flutter build ios --release

  3. Distribution

  4. Use Xcode’s Archive & Distribute option.

  5. Distribute via TestFlight for internal/external testing.
  6. Submit to the App Store for public distribution.

CI/CD (Future Work)

Currently, builds are performed manually. In the future, CI/CD pipelines should be added through Github Actions to automate:

  • Test runs before builds
  • Automated distribution to Play Store/TestFlight
  • Version bumping