Projects including google_ml_kit do not run on iOS 26 simulator

[josh2112]

Describe your issue. If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Mac architecture: arm64 Xcode version: 26.0.1 Flutter version: 3.38.0 google_mlkit_translation version: 0.13.0

This is easily reproducible with the google_ml_kit example app, or you can reproduce it by creating an empty Flutter project, adding any of the google_ml_kit packages and modifying the Podfile and Runner project as required for google_ml_kit.

This is the error:

Uncategorized (Xcode): Unable to find a destination matching the provided destination specifier:
                { id:F0EF2244-620E-484A-AB85-737E6DC662AF }

        Available destinations for the "Runner" scheme:
                { platform:macOS, arch:arm64, variant:Designed for [iPad,iPhone], id:00006000-000818521EC3801E, name:My Mac }
                { platform:iOS, id:dvtdevice-DVTiPhonePlaceholder-iphoneos:placeholder, name:Any iOS Device }
                { platform:iOS Simulator, id:dvtdevice-DVTiOSDeviceSimulatorPlaceholder-iphonesimulator:placeholder, name:Any
                iOS Simulator Device }


Could not build the application for the simulator.
Error launching application on iPhone 17 Pro.

The simulator with the ID F0EF... does indeed exist and is running. And I was able to build and run this very project in the simulator just fine before adding google_ml_kit.

I believe this is related to the arm7 exclusion requirement but I'm too dumb to understand the details. Here is the most relevant issue I could find.

I'm not sure if this is an issue with google_ml_kit or the underlying Google ML framework. Maybe some smarter people can chime in?

Steps to reproduce.

1. Attempt to run the google_ml_kit example app with an iOS 26 simulator, or...

2. Create an empty Flutter project: flutter create --empty --platforms iOS test_ml_kit.

3. Add google_mlkit_translation (or any ML kit package): flutter pub add google_mlkit_translation.

4. Make the required changes to the Runner project and the podfile as specified here.

5. Start an iOS 26 simulator.

6. Attempt to run the project (flutter run).

What is the expected result?

I expect the example app, or any Flutter app using google_ml_kit, to build and run on an iOS 26 simulator.

Did you try our example app?

Yes

Is it reproducible in the example app?

Yes

Reproducible in which OS?

iOS

Flutter/Dart Version?

Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):
[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.38.0, on macOS 26.0.1 25A362 darwin-arm64, locale en-US)
[✗] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices
    ✗ Unable to locate Android SDK.
      Install Android Studio from: https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html
      On first launch it will assist you in installing the Android SDK components.
      (or visit https://flutter.dev/to/macos-android-setup for detailed instructions).
      If the Android SDK has been installed to a custom location, please use
      `flutter config --android-sdk` to update to that location.

[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 26.0.1)
[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
[✓] Connected device (3 available)
[✓] Network resources

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

Plugin Version?

0.13.0

[tomas-dorda]

+1

[RusKryzhanovskiy]

Same here! I can only build for real devices, but no longer for simulators.

Xcode output: In /Users/admin/Projects/project_name/ios/Pods/MLImage/Frameworks/MLImage.framework/MLImage(GMLImage.o), building for iOS Simulator, but linking in object file built for iOS, file '/Users/admin/Projects/project_name/ios/Pods/MLImage/Frameworks/MLImage.framework/MLImage' for architecture arm64

[RusKryzhanovskiy]

@josh2112 @tomas-dorda this one fixed my issue!

[tomas-dorda]

@josh2112 @tomas-dorda this one fixed my issue!

@RusKryzhanovskiy I tried to run the command but I got

xcodebuild -downloadPlatform iOS -architectureVariant universal
Finding content...
No needed downloadables found for universal

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open for 30 days with no activity.

[josh2112]

I've moved on. Got my company to pay for Google Cloud Translation API. A lot easier than messing with this.

@RusKryzhanovskiy, glad you found a workaround!