flutter_native_badge

pub package pub points likes popularity

A Flutter plugin that wraps native badge APIs on iOS and macOS. Set badge counts, show a red dot indicator, clear badges, and manage notification permissions — all through a simple Dart API.

Features

  • Set badge count — Display a numeric badge on your app icon
  • Show red dot — Show a dot indicator without a number (macOS dock)
  • Clear badge — Remove the badge from your app icon
  • Get badge count — Read the current badge value (iOS only, deprecated API)
  • Request permission — Handle iOS notification permission prompts
  • Platform check — Safely check if the current platform supports badges

Platform Support

Feature iOS macOS
setBadgeCount() ✅ ✅
clearBadgeCount() ✅ ✅
showRedDot() ✅ ✅
getBadgeCount() ⚠️ Deprecated ✅
requestPermission() ✅ ✅ (no-op)

Android support is planned for a future release.

Preview

iOS macOS

Installation

Add flutter_native_badge to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  flutter_native_badge: ^2.0.0

Then run:

flutter pub get

Quick Start

import 'package:flutter_native_badge/flutter_native_badge.dart';

// Check platform support first
if (FlutterNativeBadge.isSupported) {
  // Request permission (shows dialog on iOS)
  await FlutterNativeBadge.requestPermission();

  // Set badge count
  await FlutterNativeBadge.setBadgeCount(5);

  // Clear badge
  await FlutterNativeBadge.clearBadgeCount();
}

API Reference

Check if the platform is supported

bool isSupported = FlutterNativeBadge.isSupported;

Returns true on iOS and macOS, false on all other platforms. Use this before calling any other method to avoid UnsupportedError.

Set badge count

await FlutterNativeBadge.setBadgeCount(5);

On iOS 16+, uses the modern UNUserNotificationCenter.setBadgeCount API. On earlier iOS versions, falls back to applicationIconBadgeNumber.

Show red dot

await FlutterNativeBadge.showRedDot();

Shows a red dot indicator on the app icon without displaying a number. Useful for indicating new content.

Clear badge count

await FlutterNativeBadge.clearBadgeCount();

Removes the badge from the app icon and resets the count to 0.

Get badge count

int badgeCount = await FlutterNativeBadge.getBadgeCount();

⚠️ Deprecated on iOS: This uses the applicationIconBadgeNumber API which Apple has deprecated. There is no replacement in the iOS SDK. Consider managing the count yourself via your backend or local storage.

Request permission

await FlutterNativeBadge.requestPermission();

On iOS, presents the system notification permission dialog. On macOS, this is a no-op.

You can also pass requestPermission: true to any method to request permission inline:

await FlutterNativeBadge.setBadgeCount(5, requestPermission: true);
await FlutterNativeBadge.showRedDot(requestPermission: true);
await FlutterNativeBadge.clearBadgeCount(requestPermission: true);

Permissions

iOS

Badge counts on iOS require notification permissions. Call requestPermission() before setting a badge, or pass requestPermission: true to individual methods.

Add the following to your Info.plist if you haven't already configured push notifications:

<key>UIBackgroundModes</key>
<array>
    <string>remote-notification</string>
</array>

macOS

No special permissions are required. Badge APIs work out of the box on macOS.

Migrating from flutter_app_badger

flutter_app_badger has been discontinued. Here's how to migrate:

// Before (flutter_app_badger)
FlutterAppBadger.updateBadgeCount(5);
FlutterAppBadger.removeBadge();
FlutterAppBadger.isAppBadgeSupported();

// After (flutter_native_badge)
await FlutterNativeBadge.setBadgeCount(5);
await FlutterNativeBadge.clearBadgeCount();
FlutterNativeBadge.isSupported; // synchronous getter

Key differences:

  • flutter_native_badge uses a federated plugin architecture for better maintainability
  • Built-in permission handling with requestPermission parameter
  • showRedDot() for dot-only indicators on macOS
  • Uses modern iOS 16+ badge APIs with automatic fallback
  • Type-safe Pigeon bindings instead of raw method channels

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow the Flutter style guide and submit a PR.

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.

Libraries

flutter_native_badge