bluetooth_dart

Cross-platform Bluetooth Low Energy for Dart, wrapping the Rust btleplug library over dart:ffi. Pure Dart, with no Flutter dependency, so it works in CLI tools as well as Flutter apps (via bluetooth_flutter, which builds the native library for you).

Usage

import 'package:bluetooth_dart/bluetooth_dart.dart';

final bt = Bluetooth.instance;

// Request Bluetooth permission (prompts on macOS/iOS; no-op elsewhere).
if ((await bt.requestPermission()).isUsable) {
  // Scan; the stream emits a device on each discovery/advertisement update.
  final scan = await bt.startScan();
  scan.devices.listen((d) => print('${d.id}  ${d.name}  ${d.rssi} dBm'));
  await Future<void>.delayed(const Duration(seconds: 5));
  await scan.stop();

  // Connect and read a characteristic.
  final p = bt.peripheral(someDeviceId);
  await p.connect();
  final services = await p.discoverServices();
  final value = await p.read('00002a37-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb');
  p.subscribe('00002a37-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb').listen(print);
}

The native library

bluetooth_dart loads bluetooth_core (the Rust crate) over FFI. It does not build it: build it first, or use bluetooth_flutter which builds it automatically via cargokit. Search order:

1. NativeLibrary.overridePath (set in Dart), then $BLUETOOTH_CORE_LIB.
2. The OS loader path / Flutter app bundle.
3. In-repo developer builds under native/bluetooth_core/target/{release,debug}/.

Build it with:

cargo build --manifest-path native/bluetooth_core/Cargo.toml

Pluggable backends

The active BluetoothBackend is chosen from a registry by availability and priority. The FFI backend is the default on native platforms; the web currently falls through to an UnsupportedBackend floor (a Web Bluetooth backend is planned). Register your own with Bluetooth.instance.registerBackend(...).

Status

Android, iOS, Ubuntu 24.04, Linux macOS, Web (on Chrome on macOS, on Chrome on Ubuntu 24.04, and on Chrome and Edge on Windows 11), and Windows 11 are tested.