For the iOS side at least:

Avoid embedding in app

1. dev_dependencies could be parsable from .flutter-plugins-dependencies (Strip plugins created from dev_dependencies from release-mode apps #56591)
   The injectPlugins/GeneratedPluginRegistrant code would also need to ignore dev_dependencies.
   

   flutter/packages/flutter_tools/lib/src/plugins.dart

   Lines 599 to 608 in a0be980

   	List<Map<String, dynamic>> _extractPlatformMaps(List<Plugin> plugins, String type) {
   	final List<Map<String, dynamic>> pluginConfigs = <Map<String, dynamic>>[];
   	for (final Plugin p in plugins) {
   	final PluginPlatform platformPlugin = p.platforms[type];
   	if (platformPlugin != null) {
   	pluginConfigs.add(platformPlugin.toMap());
   	}
   	}
   	return pluginConfigs;
   	}

Then the podhelper can exclude those plugins:

return [] if dependencies_hash['plugins'].has_key?('dev_dependency')

2. integration_test can be hard-coded to be ignored in these places.

Embed in test

To add integration_test to the test target, it can be added via CocoaPods:

  target 'RunnerTests' do
    pod 'integration_test'
  end

Or we can figure out how to do this as a Swift Package #72482.

If there's plans to add the test target to the Xcode project template, this embedding can be done automatically.

\cc @dnfield @jonahwilliams

I'd really like to see it fixed. It makes it harder than necessary to develop a Flutter plugin that is intended to use only in integration tests.

@cbracken Just checking in - this functionality is currently working e2e in Android, but not iOS. I'd love to get this into the next (not this) stable release so we can announce at the same time that both Android and iOS support it, but it's not critical.

This is ready to get worked on whenever prioritized; see #163874 (can dedupe)