chat_media_picker

Chat attachment picker for Flutter apps using GetX.

• Attachment sheet: Gallery, Camera and Document options sit over your recent photos. Drag it up and the options crossfade into the full gallery (Camera tile first, album switcher, photos and videos, numbered multi-select) while the chat behind dims.
• File picker: the Document option picks any file (or only the extensions you allow) with the system picker.
• Configurable: turn Gallery, Camera and Document on or off, and theme every colour of the sheet (light and dark presets included).
• Camera: full-screen preview, flash, front/back switch, recent-media strip, swipe up for the gallery.
• Editor: swipe between picked items, caption per item, crop (free or fixed ratios), rotate, flip, draw, text, undo. Videos are previewed and captioned.

It doesn't use image_picker or image_cropper. The photo library is read with photo_manager, the preview uses camera, documents use file_picker, and editing is done with dart:ui.

Attach panel	Gallery	Editor	Dark theme

Install

flutter pub add chat_media_picker get

Requires Flutter 3.38 or later. Android and iOS (14.0+, required by file_picker) are supported.

The app must use GetMaterialApp, because the picker navigates with GetX.

Usage

import 'package:chat_media_picker/chat_media_picker.dart';

// Optional, once at startup.
ChatMediaPicker.config = const ChatMediaPickerConfig(
  maxSelection: 10,
  recipientName: 'Sample Chat', // chip next to the send button; null hides it
  enableGallery: true,     // "Gallery" option + photo grid
  enableCamera: true,      // "Camera" option
  enableFilePicker: true,  // "Document" option
  allowMultipleFiles: true,
  allowedFileExtensions: null, // e.g. ['pdf', 'docx']; null = any file
  theme: ChatMediaPickerTheme(), // or ChatMediaPickerTheme.dark()
);

// Attach button → attachment sheet.
final media = await ChatMediaPicker.openGallery();

// Camera button → camera screen.
final shots = await ChatMediaPicker.openCamera();

for (final m in media ?? <PickedMedia>[]) {
  m.file;       // File (edited photos are PNGs in the temp directory)
  m.caption;    // String
  m.isVideo;    // bool
  m.thumbnail;  // Uint8List? poster frame (videos)
  m.duration;   // Duration (videos)
  m.isFile;     // bool: picked with "Document" (no editor, no caption)
  m.fileName;   // original name (files)
  m.size;       // int? bytes (files), see formatFileSize
}

Both methods return null when the user closes the picker. openGallery also returns null right away if all three options are disabled.

Options

Flag	Off means
enableGallery	No Gallery option and no photo grid: the sheet is a compact options panel. Photo access is never asked for, and the camera screen hides its recent strip and gallery button.
enableCamera	No Camera option and no Camera tile in the photo grid. openCamera() still works if you call it yourself.
enableFilePicker	No Document option.

Theme

Every colour of the sheet comes from ChatMediaPickerTheme: background, handle, text, icons, accent (selection badges, send button), option chips and their icon colours, scrim, placeholders, banner, and corner radius.

ChatMediaPickerConfig(
  theme: const ChatMediaPickerTheme.dark().copyWith(
    accentColor: Colors.deepPurple,
    onAccentColor: Colors.white,
  ),
)

The accent colour is also used for the editor's send button. The package also exports VideoView, a simple player for showing a sent video, and formatDuration.

Platform setup

Android (android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml)

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="32" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_VIDEO" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false" />

iOS

Set the deployment target to 14.0 or later (platform :ios, '14.0' in ios/Podfile), then add to ios/Runner/Info.plist:

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>The camera is used to take photos to share in the chat.</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>The microphone is required by the camera plugin.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>Your photo library is used to pick photos and videos to share.</string>
<key>PHPhotoLibraryPreventAutomaticLimitedAccessAlert</key>
<true/>

Notes

• The collapsed panel leaves the chat undimmed and the scrim fades in as the sheet expands. The sheet is a modal route, so it covers your chat's input bar rather than pushing it up.

• With "limited" photo access (Android 14+ / iOS), the sheet shows a banner. Manage lets the user select more items or open Settings, and the sheet reloads when they come back.

• Android shows the system photo picker when the user chooses "Allow limited access". That screen belongs to the OS and can't be customised.

• Camera recording (video) isn't supported yet; the camera takes photos only.