Flutter Inactive Timer

A Flutter plugin for detecting user inactivity in desktop applications (Windows and macOS). This plugin provides customizable timeout and notification thresholds, making it ideal for implementing security features like automatic logout or session timeouts.

Features

  • 🖥️ Supports Windows and macOS platforms
  • ⏱️ Customizable inactivity timeout duration
  • 🔔 Configurable notification threshold before timeout occurs
  • 🔁 onActive callback for reacting when the user returns from inactivity
  • 🔄 Easy-to-use API to start, stop, and dispose monitoring
  • 🧹 dispose() for deterministic teardown (no leaked timers)
  • 🛡️ Option to require explicit user confirmation to continue session

Installation

Add this to your package's pubspec.yaml file:

dependencies:
  flutter_inactive_timer: ^2.0.0

Upgrading from 1.x? See Migrating to 2.0.0 below.

Usage

Basic Setup

import 'package:flutter_inactive_timer/flutter_inactive_timer.dart';

// Create an instance with custom settings
final inactivityTimer = FlutterInactiveTimer(
  timeoutDuration: 300, // 5 minutes in seconds
  notificationPer: 80, // Show notification when 80% of timeout has elapsed
  onInactiveDetected: () {
    // Handle inactive timeout, e.g., log out the user
    print('User inactive for too long. Session expired.');
  },
  onNotification: () {
    // Handle pre-timeout notification, e.g., show a warning dialog
    print('Warning: Session will expire soon due to inactivity.');
  },
  onActive: () {
    // Optional: handle the user returning after a notification was shown
    // (e.g., dismiss the warning dialog/snackbar)
    print('User is active again.');
  },
);

// Start monitoring
await inactivityTimer.startMonitoring();

// Pause monitoring (can be resumed later with startMonitoring())
inactivityTimer.stopMonitoring();

// Permanently tear down when you're done with the instance
inactivityTimer.dispose();

stopMonitoring() is a pause — you can call startMonitoring() again. dispose() is permanent — it cancels the timer and releases the instance so it can be garbage collected; a disposed timer cannot be restarted. Always dispose() from your widget's State.dispose.

Advanced Usage

Reacting to User Return (onActive)

onActive fires once when the user becomes active again after a notification has already been delivered. It lets you clean up any UI state that was put in place by onNotification (a warning banner, a dimmed overlay, a status label, etc.) without having to track it yourself.

final inactivityTimer = FlutterInactiveTimer(
  timeoutDuration: 300,
  notificationPer: 80,
  onNotification: () => setState(() => _status = 'Almost inactive'),
  onActive: () => setState(() => _status = 'Active'),
  onInactiveDetected: () => setState(() => _status = 'Session expired'),
);

When does it fire?

  • requireExplicitContinue: false (default): fires automatically as soon as the plugin detects fresh input (bounded to a ~500ms detection latency).
  • requireExplicitContinue: true: fires when you call continueSession().

It does not fire if no notification was pending (for example, resetting the timer during normal activity will not call onActive).

Explicit Continue Mode

You can require users to explicitly confirm they want to continue their session after receiving a notification:

final inactivityTimer = FlutterInactiveTimer(
  timeoutDuration: 300,
  notificationPer: 80,
  onInactiveDetected: handleTimeout,
  onNotification: showWarningDialog,
  requireExplicitContinue: true, // Require explicit user action to continue
);

When using requireExplicitContinue: true, you'll need to call continueSession() method when the user confirms they want to continue:

// Example using a dialog with a continue button
void showWarningDialog() {
  showDialog(
    context: context,
    builder: (context) => AlertDialog(
      title: Text('Session Expiring Soon'),
      content: Text('Your session will expire due to inactivity. Do you want to continue?'),
      actions: [
        TextButton(
          onPressed: () {
            Navigator.pop(context);
            inactivityTimer.continueSession(); // Explicitly continue the session
          },
          child: Text('Continue Session'),
        ),
      ],
    ),
  );
}

Lifecycle Management

Tie the timer to your widget's lifecycle. Use dispose() (not just stopMonitoring()) in State.dispose so the recurring timer doesn't keep the instance — and any state its callbacks capture — alive:

@override
void initState() {
  super.initState();
  inactivityTimer = FlutterInactiveTimer(/* ... */);
  inactivityTimer.startMonitoring();
}

@override
void dispose() {
  inactivityTimer.dispose(); // permanent teardown; releases the timer
  super.dispose();
}

If you rebuild the timer with new settings, dispose() the old instance before replacing it so its timer callback stops holding the previous object:

void reconfigure() {
  inactivityTimer.dispose();
  inactivityTimer = FlutterInactiveTimer(/* new settings */);
  inactivityTimer.startMonitoring();
}

Example

Check the /example directory for a complete example application demonstrating all features. The example includes:

  • Single mode demo showing basic timeout functionality
  • Multi-mode demo showing how to use multiple independent timers
  • Complete UI for configuring and testing timer settings
  • Examples for both Windows and macOS platforms

Platform Support

Platform Support
Windows ✅
macOS ✅
Linux ❌
Web ❌
Android ❌
iOS ❌

How It Works

Each platform computes an idle duration — the milliseconds since the user's last keyboard or mouse input — and exposes it to Dart through a single getIdleDuration() method channel call:

  • On Windows, it derives idle time from the Win32 GetLastInputInfo and GetTickCount64 APIs.
  • On macOS, it reads IOKit's HIDIdleTime.

The Dart side never subtracts two separate clock readings, which avoids a class of wraparound bugs (see ADR-0001). The scheduling and notification rules live in a pure, unit-tested InactivityPolicy.

Roadmap

  • Improve configuration options
  • Add support for additional platforms in the future

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. Timer not triggering: Make sure your app is running on a supported platform (Windows or macOS).
  2. Inconsistent behavior: Make sure startMonitoring() is called before expecting the timer to work.
  3. macOS permission issues: Some macOS environments might require additional permissions for input monitoring.

Migrating to 2.0.0

2.0.0 is a behavior- and API-compatible upgrade for typical app usage — the FlutterInactiveTimer constructor and its callbacks are unchanged. Two things to know:

  • Recommended: switch State.dispose from stopMonitoring() to dispose() (see Lifecycle Management). dispose() is the new, permanent teardown that prevents leaked timers.
  • Only if you wrote a custom platform implementation: the method channel contract changed. Implement getIdleDuration() (milliseconds since last input) instead of the old getSystemTickCount() + getLastInputTime() pair.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Libraries

flutter_inactive_timer
flutter_inactive_timer_method_channel
flutter_inactive_timer_platform_interface