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Flutter Installation Guide for macOS Apple Silicon
Flutter Installation Guide for macOS Apple Silicon
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Flutter Installation Guide for macOS Apple Silicon

Flutter Installation Guide for macOS Apple Silicon

Tags
Flutter
Series
Published
June 30, 2025
Platform
hashnode
Medium
Author
Ruby Chu

What you need ?

  • Download Google Chrome (as most people has it on their laptop, so i’ll skip this)
  • Download Flutter SDK
  • Download VS Code
  • Download Xcode
  • Download Android Studio

Download Flutter SDK

  • Download versions under Stable Channel (macOS)
  • x64 for Mac with Intel chip; arm64 for Mac with Apple Silicon
  • Run these 2 lines to create a folder called directory
$ cd /Users/rubychew
$ mkdir Development
  • Move the flutter zip to this folder, then unzip it (Once unzip, you can trash that)
  • Don’t remove this flutter folder as long as you’re still developing with Flutter ~ Your Mac need this!

Setup Flutter Path

  • Why set path? See here.
  • Create a ~/.zshenv file on your computer
$ create'~/.zshenv'
  • Run this line to edit this file
$ vim ~/.zshenv
  • Paste this line in the file
export PATH=$HOME/Development/flutter_3.22.0/bin:$PATH
  • Press esc
  • Press shift + :
  • Type wq
  • Press enter
  • Run this line
$ exec $SHELL

Install Homebrew

  • Open terminal and run this
$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Install iTerm2

brew install iterm2
  • add iterm2 to your zsh shell environment
(echo; echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users/rubychew/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
 
exec $SHELL
 

Setup Xcode & License

  • If using Macbook Apple Silicon, do run this line below
$ sudo softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license
  • Run this 2 lines to complete Xcode license & setup
$ sudo sh -c 'xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer && xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch'
$ sudo xcodebuild -license

Install rbenv (Ruby version manager)

$ brew install rbenv
  • Run this line to edit ~/.zshrc file
$ vim ~/.zshenv
  • If don’t have this file in your computer, run this to create it
$ create'~/.zshrc'
  • Open ~/.zshrc and add these 2 lines
export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"
eval "$(rbenv init -)"
  • Run this command on the terminal
$ exec $SHELL
 

Upgrade Ruby version on Macbook

  • Check the Ruby versions that can be installed (only stable versions are displayed)
$ rbenv install -l
  • Install Ruby with the specified version.
$ rbenv install 3.2.2
  • Change Ruby version for Global env
 $ rbenv global 3.2.2
  • Check Ruby version
$ rbenv version

# Return output 
>> 3.2.2 ( set by / home / account /. rbenv / version )
  • Check Ruby version on your computer. If the output is the same as below, it means good to go next step.
$ ruby -v
>> ruby 3.2.2 (2023-03-30 revision e51014f9c0) [arm64-darwin23]

Install Cocoapods

This is like the most tricky steps among all these installation 😟
$ sudo gem install cocoapods

Android SDK Manager Install

  • Open Android Studio
  • Go to Settings >> Search sdk >> Select Android SDK
  • Go to SDK Tools Tab
  • Download and select Android SDK Command-line Tools (latest)
  • Click Apply, and wait for the download to be finish
  • Then, you can run this
$ flutter doctor --android-licenses
 

Check Development Setup

  • run flutter doctor or flutter docotor -v (to see more details)
  • Btw, if using Android Studio preview, flutter won’t be able to capture version number. That’s normal.
"Unable to determine Android Studio version" in flutter doctor when Android Studio is installed via Flatpak

Xcode Useful Tools

  • DB Browser for SQLite (Visualize CoreData DB)
$ brew install --cask db-browser-for-sqlite
  • Xcodes (manage Xcode versions on Mac)
$ brew install --cask xcodes

References

Flutter Official Installation Doc
Ruby Installations
Homebew, iTerms & oh-my-zsh Installtion
Android Studio SDK Manager
 
Copyright 2025 Ruby Chu