Flutter app distributed via CodeMagic to Apple TestFlight crashes on start, works fine when distribited manually into TestFlight

[arnab]

Context

I have a Flutter app that I can manually build, validate and distribute into the iOS AppStore (using XCode). When I do this, the app works fine on TestFlight user's devices.

Problem

However, when I distribute it using CodeMagic, the app gets deployed to TestFlight users devices. When they open the app, it immediately crashes. I have Firebase Crashlytics enabled, but I don't see any crashes related to this, so it's likely not reaching the Flutter code at all.

Crash details

Downloading the crash reports and opening in XCode shows:

What I have tried

I have double-checked all the documentation in https://docs.codemagic.io/flutter-publishing/publishing-to-app-store/ (I am indeed using Automatic Signing).

What am I missing?

Related Links

CodeMagic latest successful build (that distributed the app to TestFlight): https://codemagic.io/app/6402b96ea0d5401c47deafc4/build/6406d444c5b52cc555f0ddde

[rares-lupascu]

same with me on react-native ... i do not know if they are related ... they might be ... just trying to bump this

[arnab]

Hi, We wrote a blog post covering known issues, can you please check the post here and see if it helps to debug the issue further?

@himesh-cm Only the first step applies directly to Flutter (as the code/app is not written in Swift) I believe. And yes, I have tried that (as well as doing multiple builds with different code).

Like I mentioned, when I manually build the .ipa and upload to TestFlight (via Transporter app) it runs fine on TestFlight. But when I let CodeMagic build and distribute to TestFlight, the app crashes on launch in end-user devices.

Based on this, I think there is either (1) something wrong in my CodeMagic configuration (and I have followed the instructions, and it's pretty vanilla flavor of the "Default Workflow" or (2) something is wrong with CodeMagic distribution mechanism.

It would be nice to get some help on this. As without this, CodeMagic is unusable (as the sole purpose is to CI/CD and distribute to the AppStore).

[himesh-cm]

Hi @arnab, I would suggest you to VNC into the machine and run a build for debugging purpose.
it is possible that one of the library maybe crashing. For e.g last week had a customer whose build failed as the project was unable to initiatlize the onesignal framework as this was a known issue, and they were able to apply the fix.

Also you want to keep all the framework, Xcode versions same as local development machine.

[arnab]

Sure, I can and will VNC in tomorrow. But can you share how I can verify such cases (corrupted library)?

Because as I have noted above, the build itself is passing in CodeMagic. It’s even distributing it successfully to TestFlight.

It’s only when TestFlight deploys the app to end-user-devices, and they open up the app - the app crashes.

Can you suggest what to look for when I VNC/SSH in?

[himesh-cm]

When you run the build in Xcode, you should see compile errors.

[rares-lupascu]

@arnab what i am currently trying is this:

• added Firebase Crashlytics
• that managed to capture my app crushing
• the error was related to the env variables (one of them)
• so what i discovered was that my environment variables where in a group but inside the codemagic.yaml i did not include that group ... which i assume means it will not be available during the build but required at runtime

hope this helps

[dtrdic]

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