diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 046f3496a0f..e0ed90b7339 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -221,6 +221,12 @@ lto = true
 # Use binary size optimization, since this is intended for distributed copies of the SDK
 opt-level = "s"
 
+# Profile for the distributed Apple framework. `opt-level = "s"` measured ~33%
+# smaller linked code than `release`.
+[profile.apple-release]
+inherits = "release"
+opt-level = "s"
+
 [profile.profiling]
 inherits = "release"
 # LTO is too slow to compile.
diff --git a/xtask/src/swift.rs b/xtask/src/swift.rs
index 3b44ca776b1..c712d6f3d1e 100644
--- a/xtask/src/swift.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/swift.rs
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ impl SwiftArgs {
                 // The dev profile seems to cause crashes on some platforms so we default to
                 // reldbg (https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk/issues/4009)
                 let profile =
-                    profile.as_deref().unwrap_or(if release { "release" } else { "reldbg" });
+                    profile.as_deref().unwrap_or(if release { "apple-release" } else { "reldbg" });
                 build_xcframework(
                     profile,
                     targets,