iOS export

your project so far

Builds/

signed .apk / .aab

Project settings

keystoreiOS moduleXcode projectMetal only

you already havethis lesson adds

iOS is not harder than Android, it is just longer. Unity does not produce an app — it produces an Xcode project that you then build.

animated diagram

Notches, home indicators and tablets — iOS is where safe area finally matters.

What you need

A Mac. There is no supported way to build for iOS without macOS — cloud build services are the only alternative.
Xcode from the App Store, plus the iOS Build Support module in Unity Hub.
A free Apple ID is enough to run on your own device for 7 days. The 99 USD/year Developer Program is required for TestFlight and the App Store.

Player Settings for iOS

1
File▸Build Profiles▸iOS▸Switch Platform.
2
Other Settings → Bundle Identifier: com.yourstudio.yourgame. It must match what you register in Apple's portal.
3
Target minimum iOS Version 13.0 or higher. Architecture ARM64.
4
Fill in every Usage Description you need (camera, microphone, photos). Apple rejects builds with an empty description string.
5
Graphics APIs → Metal only. Remove OpenGLES entirely; Apple deprecated it.

Build → Xcode → device

1
Press Build. Unity writes an Xcode project folder — it does not produce an .ipa.
2
Open Unity-iPhone.xcodeproj in Xcode.
3
Signing & Capabilities → tick Automatically manage signing → choose your Team.
4
Plug in the iPhone, select it as the run target, press ⌘R.
5
On the phone: Settings → General → VPN & Device Management → trust your developer certificate.

Handling the notch properly

reuse the SafeAreaFitter from the touch controls lesson

// Put SafeAreaFitter on every full-screen UI panel.

// Quick check in code
void Start()
{
    Debug.Log($"screen {Screen.width}x{Screen.height}, safe area {Screen.safeArea}");
    // iPhone with a notch: safeArea.y > 0 and height < Screen.height
}

Android vs iOS — what actually differs

✓ Android

Build straight to an APK, install it in seconds, thousands of device variations to support.

✓ iOS

Xcode step, signing, review — but only a handful of devices and a predictable GPU.

TestFlight in four steps

1
In App Store Connect, create the app record with the same Bundle Identifier.
2
In Xcode: Product → Archive, then Distribute App → App Store Connect → Upload.
3
Wait for processing (10–60 minutes), then add internal testers in TestFlight.
4
Internal testers (up to 100) need no review. External testers do need a short review.

That is every lesson — one exercise to go

You can build a scene, script it in C#, animate a character, give it skills and gear, control the camera, dress an environment and ship it to a phone.
The next step is not another tutorial. It is finishing one very small game, all the way to a build someone else installs.
Small means: one scene, one mechanic, five minutes of play. Finish that and you are ahead of most people who start.