Installing Flutter in MacOS
Flutter is an open source framework made by Google. It enables a developer to create native cross-platform apps from a single codebase. This means that you can develop Android, iOS, Web, and Desktop apps at the same time in a single codebase.

What is Flutter?
Flutter is an open source framework made by Google. It enables a developer to create native cross-platform apps from a single codebase. This means that you can develop Android, iOS, Web, and Desktop apps at the same time in a single codebase. Flutter is mainly used for developing mobile apps but its use can be extended to developing web and desktop apps.
Flutter Installation
Important: If you’re installing on Apple Silicon (M1 Chips and M2 Chips), you need to have the Rosetta translation environment. You can install this manually by running:
sudo softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license
- Download the Flutter SDK from the installation page. If your mac uses
M1
orM2
related chips, download the Apple Silicon version. However, if your mac usesIntel x86
chips, download the Intel version.

- Extract the files to your Documents folder; it should be located in
/Users/YourUsername/Documents
.
Update your Path
- Open your terminal and run the following command to determine whether you're using
bash
orzsh
:
echo $0
- If the output is
bash
, add flutter to your path by running the following command:
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/Documents/flutter/bin"' >> .bashrc
- If the output is
zsh
, add flutter to your path by running the following command:
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/Documents/flutter/bin"' >> .zshrc
Verifying the Configuration
We have to make sure that Flutter has been configured correctly.
- Open a new terminal (Make sure you open a new terminal after adding Flutter to your PATH)
- Run
flutter doctor
in your terminal.
If the command successfully runs, it will look similar to this:

Android Setup
- Download and install Android Studio.
- Start Android Studio, and go through the ‘Android Studio Setup Wizard’. This installs the latest Android SDK, Android SDK Command-line Tools, and Android SDK Build-Tools, which are required by Flutter when developing for Android.
- Run
flutter doctor
to confirm that Flutter has located your installation of Android Studio. If Flutter cannot locate it, runflutter config --android-studio-dir <directory>
to set the directory that Android Studio is installed to.
Android Virtual Emulator Setup
- Enable VM acceleration on your machine.
- Launch Android Studio, click the AVD Manager icon, and select Create Virtual Device.
- In older versions of Android Studio, you should instead launch
Android Studio > Tools > Android > AVD Manager
and select Create Virtual Device. (The Android submenu is only present when inside an Android project.) - If you do not have a project open, you can choose
Configure > AVD Manager
and select Create Virtual Device. - Choose a device definition and select Next.
- Select one or more system images for the Android versions you want to emulate, and select Next. An
x86
orx86_64
image is recommended. - Under Emulated Performance, select
Hardware - GLES 2.0
to enable hardware acceleration. - Verify the AVD configuration is correct, and select Finish.
For details on the above steps, see Managing AVDs.
Agree to Android Licenses
- Run
flutter doctor --android-licenses
to agree to the licenses - Type
y
for every license agreement that shows up - If it shows an error, you have to install the android sdk command line tools
- Open Android Studio, click on
More Actions
>SDK Manager
>SDK Tools
and click on thecommand-line tools
checkbox. - Click
Apply
and wait for it to install. - Run
flutter doctor --android-licenses
to agree to the licenses
VS Code Setup
- Download and install VS Code
- Once it is opened, open the extensions tab and install the Flutter extension
- Open the Command Palette by pressing
Ctrl + Shift + P
. - Type
New Project
and selectFlutter: New Project
- Select
Application
and type any project name - Select a folder to create the project in and you're ready to go!