---
title: "How to View Logs in Released Flutter Apps"
description: "Learn how to view logcat and Console.app logs for released Flutter apps on Android and iOS without attaching a debugger."
url: https://shorebird.dev/blog/viewing-logs/
---

[Blog](/blog)

[Guides](/blog/category/guides) August 20, 2024 2 min read

# Viewing logs in released apps

How to view logs for an app without a debugger attached.

![](/_astro/bryan-oltman.TgpL39LN_Z15wJDk.webp)

Bryan Oltman

Founding Engineer

Whether you’re using a logging framework or the humble `print` function, logs provide a window into how your app is working (or not working) in real-time. Being able to view logs can help you more quickly locate and fix errors than you would be able to by only observing your app’s behavior.

Developers most often see log output while coding an app, but did you know you can also see logs for release apps without needing to attach a debugger?

## `logcat` for Android

All Android system output can be viewed using the [`logcat`](https://developer.android.com/tools/logcat) command line tool. You can try this out by connecting your Android device via USB and running `adb logcat` in your terminal.

Note: adb will need to be on your path for this to work. If you see an error like `command not found: adb` or `'adb' is not recognized as an internal or external command`, you will need to add `adb` to your PATH. StackOverflow has good answers to help with this for [macOS/Linux](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10303639/adb-command-not-found) and [Windows](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20564514/adb-is-not-recognized-as-an-internal-or-external-command-operable-program-or)

Without any filtering, `adb logcat` is *very* noisy. To show just the output for your Flutter app, you can filter the output using `adb logcat | grep flutter` on macOS/Linux or `adb logcat | findstr flutter` on Windows.

![](/_astro/TerminalLogcat.D0CmwU7J_ZQhsJW.webp)

## Console.app for iOS

macOS includes a utility app named [Console](https://support.apple.com/guide/console/welcome/mac) that shows all system logs.

To open the Console app, type `⌘` + `Space`, type ‘Console’, and press `Enter`.

By default, this shows logs for your Mac, but it can also be used to view logs for your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, etc.

To see system logs, connect your device to your Mac via USB, select it in the left column, and press the “Start” button in the top toolbar.

![](/_astro/EmptyConsoleStartButtonArrow.D1ZqQgDQ_1NEDCU.webp)

Without filtering, these logs are *very* noisy. To filter out logs that are not from your app, type your app’s name in the search bar and press enter (for Flutter apps, this defaults to “Runner”). You can then right-click on “Runner” in the Process column and select “Show Process ‘Runner’”

![](/_astro/ConsoleShowProcessMenu.D8JvK7zY_Z6dauv.webp)

With this filter applied, we are only shown logs that apply to our app.

![](/_astro/ConsolePatchCheckResponse.BZdlgtm5_Z2aNrFX.webp)

## More from the blog

[All posts](/blog)

* Guides Sep 2, 2026 6 min read

  ### [What happens when a patch fails](/blog/what-happens-when-a-patch-fails)

  A close look at how Shorebird patches fail, what your users experience when they do, and what you can do about it.

  ![](/_astro/abhishek-doshi.DveI0bx__ZfWpAX.webp)

  Abhishek Doshi

  Developer Relations Engineer

* Guides Aug 4, 2026 3 min read

  ### [Exploring Shorebird Samples: Real-world use cases for over-the-air updates](/blog/exploring-shorebird-samples)

  A tour of the Shorebird Samples repository: real-world examples for flavors, progressive rollouts, add-to-app, and patchable business logic.

  ![](/_astro/abhishek-doshi.DveI0bx__ZfWpAX.webp)

  Abhishek Doshi

  Developer Relations Engineer

* Guides Jul 30, 2026 4 min read

  ### [Manually control your Shorebird updates](/blog/manual-control-of-your-shorebird-updates)

  Learn how to disable Shorebird's automatic updates and take full manual control over when and how patches roll out to your users.

  ![](/_astro/abhishek-doshi.DveI0bx__ZfWpAX.webp)

  Abhishek Doshi

  Developer Relations Engineer

## Ship your first patch today.

Install the CLI, create a release and send a patch. Free for 5,000 patch installs a month.

[Start for free](https://console.shorebird.dev/login) [Read the quickstart](https://docs.shorebird.dev/getting-started/)

Larger team? [Talk to sales](/talk-to-sales)