games_services_watchos

The watchOS implementation of games_services.

games_services covers iOS, macOS and Android. This package supplies the wrist, which it does not: watchOS has no method channels, so the upstream MethodChannelGamesServices default cannot work there, and this registers itself in its place and talks to GameKit through exported C symbols over dart:ffi.

Usage

games_services does not include a watchOS implementation, so add this package alongside it; the implementation registers itself.

dependencies:
  games_services: ^5.3.0
  games_services_watchos: ^0.2.0

This release implements games_services_platform_interface 5.x, so it works with games_services 5.x. Version 0.1.0 implements the 4.x interface, for an app that stays on games_services 4.x.

Then use games_services as normal:

try {
  await GameAuth.signIn();
  await GamesServices.submitScore(
    score: Score(iOSLeaderboardID: 'your.leaderboard.id', value: 42),
  );
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  // Not signed in, or GameKit refused the score; e.code says which.
}
final rows = await Leaderboards.loadLeaderboardScores(
  iOSLeaderboardID: 'your.leaderboard.id',
  scope: PlayerScope.global,
  timeScope: TimeScope.allTime,
  maxResults: 10,
);

Sign-in and submission results

signIn and submitScore answer as games_services 5.x does on iOS, so the same code reads them on the wrist and on the phone.

Call	Success	Failure
GameAuth.signIn	completes with "Player authenticated successfully", or "Player already authenticated" when the player already was	a PlatformException: failed_to_authenticate with GameKit's message, or sign_in_unavailable when GameKit has already answered this launch's sign-in and the player is not signed in, since the plugin asks once per launch
GamesServices.submitScore	completes with "Success"	a PlatformException: failed_to_send_score

As on iOS, each exception carries its message in details too. Three things differ from iOS:

• A sign-in waits at most 20 seconds for GameKit's answer. After that it fails with failed_to_authenticate, and says so; GameKit may still sign the player in, which the player stream shows at the plugin's next call.
• A sign-in made while another is in flight waits for that one's answer, where iOS answers "Player already authenticated" at once.
• submitScore never fails with leaderboard_not_found. iOS loads the leaderboard before it submits and reports that code when it finds none; the watch submits without loading it, so GameKit's error for an unknown leaderboard arrives as failed_to_send_score.

Changed in 0.2.0. Version 0.1.0 completed both calls with null on success and with an error message on failure, the convention of games_services 4.x. Code that reads null as success has to change: a result now means success, and a failure arrives as the exception.

What is supported

Interface method	watchOS	Notes
signIn	✅	GKLocalPlayer.authenticateHandler; results as above
player	◐	the live sign-in state and GameKit's alias; changes arrive with the plugin's next call (see below)
submitScore	◐	GKLeaderboard.submitScore, watchOS 7+; results as above. Score.token is ignored: the score goes in with context 0, where iOS sends the token as the context
loadLeaderboardScores	◐	loadEntriesForPlayerScope, watchOS 7+, always on the global, all-time board from rank 1: scope, timeScope and playerCentered are ignored, and at most 100 rows come back. A row's displayScore is the raw score as text, and its timestampMillis is 0
getPlayerScore	◐	the local player's row in the top 100 of the global, all-time board; null when the player is not there. iOS reads the player's own entry at any rank, and answers 0 when there is none

◐: implemented, with the limit its note gives. The other members keep the platform interface's UnimplementedError default rather than returning a plausible-looking empty value; see "Not supported on watchOS" below.

Because there is no system leaderboard UI on watchOS, a watch app draws its own from loadLeaderboardScores.

watchOS specifics worth knowing

• No stable player identifier. gamePlayerID, teamPlayerID and guestIdentifier are all unavailable on watchOS, so the local player's own row is identified by matching rank against the localPlayerEntry GameKit returns alongside the list. scoreHolder.playerID is therefore always null — the upstream model already allows this, since Android omits it for privacy.
• The player stream follows the plugin's calls. GameAuth.player gives each new subscriber the live sign-in state at once, so GameAuth.isSignedIn is always current, and the getters of games_services' Player class work. After that, a subscriber hears of a change when one of this plugin's calls finds it: the native side pushes nothing, so a sign-in that lapses between calls shows at the next call. The PlayerData has GameKit's alias as its displayName; playerID, teamPlayerID, iconImage and the restriction flags are null. Every read of GameAuth.player is the same stream, so a StreamBuilder can read it in build.
• A different authenticateHandler. On watchOS the block takes only an error; the iOS signature with a UIViewController does not exist.
• Failure and emptiness are distinct. loadLeaderboardScores returns null when the read failed and an empty list when the leaderboard has no entries. Collapsing the two makes a broken leaderboard look like an empty one, which is a genuinely hard bug to see. On iOS a failed read throws a PlatformException instead, so code that runs on both handles both.

Not supported on watchOS

These members of games_services_platform_interface 5.3.0 throw or fail on watchOS. PORTING_REPORT.md lists every member under "Interface coverage".

Member	On watchOS	Why
showLeaderboards / showAchievements	fails with UnimplementedError	GKGameCenterViewController does not exist on watchOS
showAccessPoint / hideAccessPoint	fails with UnimplementedError	GKAccessPoint does not exist on watchOS
unlock / increment / loadAchievements / resetAchievements	fails with UnimplementedError	achievements are not implemented yet
setSteps	fails with UnimplementedError	an incremental Play Games achievement; Android only
getPlayerScoreObject	fails with UnimplementedError	not implemented yet; getPlayerScore gives the local score
loadPreviousOccurrence	fails with UnimplementedError	not implemented yet
getAuthCode	throws UnimplementedError when called	a Play Games server code; Android only
getPlayerHiResImage	fails with UnimplementedError	not implemented yet
fetchIdentityVerificationSignature	fails with UnimplementedError	not implemented yet
saveGame / loadGame / deleteGame / getSavedGames	fails with UnimplementedError	GKSavedGame does not exist on watchOS
showSavedGames	fails with UnimplementedError	the Play Games saved-games screen; Android only

Example

The example is games_services' own example app, unchanged, ported with flutter-watchos plugin port --include-example, with its assets/logo.png, which the porter does not copy. Its MIT licence is in example/LICENSE. There are no watchOS deviations. games_services has no integration test; example/integration_test/watchos_games_services_test.dart covers the registration, the FFI linkage, the player stream and how each signed-out call fails.

Status

Sign-in and score submission have been observed working on a physical Apple Watch; leaderboard reads have not yet. See PORTING_REPORT.md for the verification table. Version 0.2.0 changes only Dart code: its results and its player stream have run on the Simulator, not yet on a watch.