What is Flutter?
As a Brief Introduction, Flutter is not a Programming Language, it’s a Framework, Dart is the Programming Language used by Flutter
Flutter is a Cross-Platform UI Kit that can be used to develop Android, iOS, and Web Apps using a Single Codebase
if you want to know more about you can read Why you should learn Flutter in 2022 Blog
Today we are going to see some popular Flutter Packages among Developers
Flutter Packages
A group of similar types of classes, and interfaces can be simply called a Package
By using Flutter Packages we can add different functionalities easily and we can build our App without developing everything from scratch
pub.dev is the best place to find flutter packages, pub.dev allows developers to publish or share reusable packages with the Flutter Community
When you are installing and Flutter Package, only thing you have to do is
1. Copy the Flutter Command in Installing Section
2. Open Terminal of Any Coding Software and paste the command and hit enter
3. Then we have to import this package to our Dart Pages and do the programming part
So let’s see some most popular flutter packages
1. Url Launcher
Url : url_launcher | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Web, Windows
Url Launcher is a Package that can be used to Open External Links not only for opening Links but this package can also be used to make calls using the phone app, send emails using the email app, and send SMS using the SMS App
You can Open your Links,
- Inside your app,
- Inside a default App ( you can open youtube through Youtube App )
- Can Open Links Java script Enabled and Disabled
- Can Open Url and Close after a Few Seconds
2. Image Picker
Url : image_picker | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
This Plugin is useful when you need to capture photos, Pick photos, or images from Gallery
You can Pick a Single image or multiple images as your need
Please be mind to add read permissions to Storage through the android manifest
3. Shared Preferences
Url : shared_preferences | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Web, Windows
This Package allows us to persist data on memory so that when users get back to your app again you can use those saved data
Example – When a user Logged in to your app you can allow him to use the app again without logging in, so until he gets logged out he won’t need to Log in again
4. Google Fonts
Url : google_fonts | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Web, Windows
This is an essential package when we are more into UI because when developing a better UI, we need to consider the Fonts of the Letters, Google Fonts provides you more than 1000 Different Font types for your Project
You can Download Fonts from the Google Fonts site and can be added them to your project and can use them directly too
But it’s good to use only a few Fonts in your App else it might be a headache for the User of your App
5. Firebase core
Url : firebase_core | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
When we come to the backend, Firebase plays a big role in that, we can use Firebase as a Real-time database for our Flutter app and also
- To Execute Functions,
- To Host Web Apps
- To Add Authentications to App
- Can be used to identify Crashes in the App through Crashlytics
- It provides Cloud and in App Messaging Services
- It allows to Monitor the Performace of the App
So to initialize Firebase in your App, you can use this firebase core
6. Cloud Firestore
Url : cloud_firestore | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
After the initialization of the Firebase using Firebase core package, cloud firestore can be used to access Firestore Database of Firebase
You can write to Storage, and you can read documents from Storage using this package
7. Firebase Storage
Url : firebase_storage | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
Though you add Firebase core and Cloud Firestore packages, you won’t be able to use Firebase Storage to store any images or Files
To use Storage, you have to use this firebase Storage. then you can store, retrieve and delete assets in Storage
8. Cached Network Image
Url : cached_network_image | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
There are mainly two ways of displaying images on the Flutter App. The first one is from Assets and the second one is from Network Images which means through Image links
When we load images using Network Images inside the Flutter App, every time user comes to the app that image has to be downloaded before showing, but when you use Cached Network Images, After the First visit of the image it will be saved in the cache memory so when the user comes next time it will show the image using chaced memory, it saves the Data of the user
9. Fluttertoast
Url : fluttertoast | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Web
This Package can be used to show Toast messages inside the flutter app. and also it provides more customizations too
You can change the color of the Toast, the position of the toast in the App, can add icons to the toast
10. Share Plus
Url : share_plus | Flutter Package (pub.dev)
Supported Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Web, Windows
This Package helps you to implement the share feature on your Flutter App
By using this Package you will be able to implement, Images sharing and text sharing features
