glass_bottom_navigation

A customizable Liquid Glass bottom navigation bar for Flutter, with native iOS 26 rendering and a Flutter fallback glass effect for Android and older iOS.

Features

• Simple API: pass items, currentIndex, and onTap
• Optional built-in search action via onSearchTap
• Optional leading and trailing glass action buttons such as back, more, close, and custom icon buttons
• iOS 26+ native Liquid Glass bottom bar and action buttons when built with the latest Apple SDK
• Android and iOS < 26 use a Flutter Liquid Glass-style fallback with frosted surfaces, selected-pill effects, and press feedback
• Native SF Symbol support through nativeSymbolName for iOS 26+
• Optional width and height overrides
• Auto layout behavior:
  • Without search: centered bar
  • With search: trailing glass search button layout
• Auto sizing defaults:
  • Width: responsive to device size
  • Height: responsive to device size
• Supports only 2 to 4 navigation items (enforced by assertions)
• Optional GlassBottomNavStyle to customize appearance

Getting started

Add the package:

dependencies:
  glass_bottom_navigation: ^0.2.0

Then import:

import 'package:glass_bottom_navigation/glass_bottom_navigation.dart';

Usage

GlassBottomBar(
  items: const [
    GlassBarItem(
      icon: Icons.home_rounded,
      label: 'Home',
      nativeSymbolName: 'house.fill',
    ),
    GlassBarItem(
      icon: Icons.chat_rounded,
      label: 'Chat',
      nativeSymbolName: 'bubble.left.fill',
    ),
    GlassBarItem(
      icon: Icons.person_rounded,
      label: 'Profile',
      nativeSymbolName: 'person.fill',
    ),
  ],
  currentIndex: currentIndex,
  onTap: (index) => setState(() => currentIndex = index),
  // Optional: if omitted, both are auto-sized responsively.
  width: 300,
  height: 60,
  onSearchTap: () {
    // Optional: if null, no search button is shown.
  },
)

Platform behavior

Platform	Rendering
iOS 26+	Native UIKit/SwiftUI Liquid Glass bar and action buttons
iOS below 26	Flutter-rendered Liquid Glass-style fallback
Android	Flutter-rendered Liquid Glass-style fallback

For iOS 26+ native Liquid Glass rendering, pass nativeSymbolName on GlassBarItem and custom action buttons so UIKit can render SF Symbols. Android and iOS < 26 automatically use the Flutter fallback glass style. Also make sure the host app does not opt into UI compatibility mode. If UIDesignRequiresCompatibility is present in Info.plist, set it to false while testing the latest native design.

To force the Flutter-rendered style on every platform, set actionButtonMode: GlassActionButtonMode.flutter in GlassBottomNavStyle.

Use glass action buttons

Column(
  children: [
    GlassActionButton(
      item: GlassActionButtonItem.back(
        onTap: () => Navigator.maybePop(context),
      ),
    ),
    const Spacer(),
    GlassBottomBar(
      items: items,
      currentIndex: currentIndex,
      onTap: onTap,
    ),
  ],
)

Action buttons can also be grouped anywhere in your layout:

GlassActionButtonRow(
  actions: [
    GlassActionButtonItem.more(onTap: openMenu),
    GlassActionButtonItem(
      type: GlassActionIcon.custom,
      icon: Icons.tune_rounded,
      nativeSymbolName: 'slider.horizontal.3',
      semanticLabel: 'Filters',
      onTap: openFilters,
    ),
  ],
)

Or attached directly beside the bottom bar when the screen has enough width:

GlassBottomBar(
  items: items,
  currentIndex: currentIndex,
  onTap: onTap,
  leadingActions: [
    GlassActionButtonItem.back(onTap: () => Navigator.maybePop(context)),
  ],
  trailingActions: [
    GlassActionButtonItem.more(onTap: openMenu),
  ],
)

Customize style

GlassBottomBar(
  items: items,
  currentIndex: currentIndex,
  onTap: onTap,
  style: const GlassBottomNavStyle(
    accent: Color(0xFF004D40),
    height: 60,
    widthFactor: 0.90,
    actionButtonMode: GlassActionButtonMode.nativeLiquidGlassOnIOS26,
  ),
)

Some useful fallback styling knobs include pillTint, pillBlurSigma, pillFilmStart, pillFilmEnd, selectedStartOpacity, selectedEndOpacity, searchButtonSize, and searchGap.

Example app

A full runnable demo exists in /example and includes:

• 2-tab, 3-tab, and 4-tab setups
• Native iOS 26 Liquid Glass rendering when available
• Android and iOS < 26 Flutter Liquid Glass fallback styling
• Standalone top glass action buttons for back, more, and search
• Bottom navigation used independently from action buttons

Screenshots

Android / Flutter action buttons

Android / Flutter bottom bar

iOS 26 native action buttons

iOS 26 native bottom bar