Phillip.Dev

Exporting to iOS using Godot 4.1, for free

Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Unsplash

Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Unsplash

Exporting to iOS using Godot can be a little tricky. At first glance, the Godot documentation for exporting to iOS seems detailed enough. In fact, it is -- nothing is technically wrong.

Part of what might add to the challenge, is not wanting to pay for the Apple Developer Program. Sure, eventually it is needed to list in the App Store, but why pay for that immediately? Regardless of that, the caveats that change with each version change of Xcode and iOS make it more difficult to achieve what should be simple.

Setup

Most everything in the particular setup is the newest, with the iPhone 13 being only slightly dated.

Godot 4.1.1
iOS 16.1.1
iPhone 13 Pro Max
Mac Mini M2 (2023)
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1
Xcode 14.3

Xcode Apple account setup

Open Xcode
Navigate to Settings (from the Xcode menu)
Click on the Accounts button at the top
Add an Apple account by clicking the + button
A team should automatically be created called -Your Name- (Personal Team)

Apple accounts in Xcode

Apple accounts in Xcode

Get the team ID

Open Keychain Access -- usually easiest to just search for it
Navigate to the login keychain on the left
Find Apple Development: and double lick on it
Within this window, the Organizational Unit is the team ID -- make note of this for the Godot export

Team ID in Keychain Access

Export Godot project to iOS

Open Godot with the project to export
Click the Project menu, then click Export
Click the Add button at the top, then click iOS
If the Export Template for iOS hasn't been downloaded, then do that now.
- Click the Manage Export Templates link at the bottom
- Click the Download and Install button on the right
- Click the Close button when the download
Within the Application section set...
- App Store Team ID to the team ID gathered in the previous section
- Export Method Release to Development
- Bundler Identifer -- make it something unique, likely a good idea to start with your email's domain, in reverse.
Click the Export Project button at the bottom
Navigate to a directory to export the project to
Click the Save button

Open & launch via Xcode

Open the exported project in Xcode
Connect the iOS device to the Mac via USB cable
On the iOS device, touch Trust
On the iOS device, enter the device's password to complete the trust relationship
Follow any additional steps (may need to enable developer mode on the iOS device and restart)
In Xcode, select the device by clicking the top menu bar, and then clicking on the device within iOS Device
Hit the start/play button (to the left of the top menu bar)
After the build completes, enter the Mac's password to sign the application
On the iOS device, an "Untrusted Developer" message will pop up. Touch Cancel
On the iOS device...
- Go to the Settings app
- Scroll down to and touch General
- Scroll down to and touch VPN & Device Management
- Touch the Apple Development -your@email.here- button
- On the next screen, touch Trust "Apple Deveopment: -your@email.here-"
- Touch the Trust button
Back on the Mac, click the start/play button again
Take a look on the iOS device!

Success -- its the game!

Conclusion

Seems like a lot of work. But hey-- this saves $99/year on the Apple Developer Program.

Link to article on Medium

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