Installed Apps

pub package

A Flutter plugin to list installed apps and work with them: get app info, launch, open settings, uninstall, and more.

Android only. On other platforms the methods return their fallback values ([] or null).

Features

  • List installed apps, filtered by system/launchable status, package prefix, package names or platform type (Flutter, React Native, Xamarin, Ionic)
  • Get app info: name, icon, version, install time, category and more
  • Launch an app, open its settings screen, uninstall it
  • Check if an app is installed or is a system app

Use cases

  • App launchers and app drawers
  • VPN split tunneling and per-app network rules
  • Parental control, kiosk and app blocker tools
  • Security and inventory tools that audit installed apps
  • Checking whether a companion app is installed before deep linking to it

Installation

flutter pub add installed_apps

import 'package:installed_apps/installed_apps.dart';

One import gives you InstalledApps, AppInfo, AppCategory and PlatformType.

Works with Flutter 3.10 and newer, and any Android Gradle Plugin and Kotlin version your app uses. See the example app for a full demo.

Quick start


final apps = await InstalledApps.getInstalledApps(withIcon: true);

for (final app in apps) {
  print("${app.name} (${app.packageName}) ${app.getVersionInfo()}");
}

await InstalledApps.startApp(apps.first.packageName);

API

Method Returns Description
getInstalledApps(...) Future<List<AppInfo>> List installed apps, sorted by name
getAppInfo(packageName, {withIcon}) Future<AppInfo?> App details, or null if not installed
startApp(packageName) Future<bool?> Launch an app
openSettings(packageName) void Open the app's system settings screen
uninstallApp(packageName) Future<bool?> Show the uninstall prompt
isAppInstalled(packageName) Future<bool?> Whether the app is installed
isSystemApp(packageName) Future<bool?> Whether the app is a system app
toast(message, isShortLength) void Show an Android toast

getInstalledApps options

All options are optional.

Option Default Description
excludeSystemApps true Hide system apps
excludeNonLaunchableApps true Hide apps without a launcher activity
withIcon false Include icons (AppInfo.icon, PNG bytes). Slower, enable only when needed
packageNamePrefix null Only apps whose package name starts with this (case-insensitive)
packageNames null Only these packages. Not-installed ones are ignored, an empty list returns []
platformType null Only apps built with this platform, e.g. PlatformType.flutter
detectPlatformType true Set false to skip platform detection (faster). AppInfo.platformType is then nativeOrOthers. Ignored when platformType is set 
// Flutter apps only, including system apps
final flutterApps = await InstalledApps.getInstalledApps(
  excludeSystemApps: false,
  platformType: PlatformType.flutter,
);

// Look up specific apps, fast
final known = await InstalledApps.getInstalledApps(
  packageNames: ["com.whatsapp", "com.google.android.gm"],
  detectPlatformType: false,
);

AppInfo

Field Type Notes
name String Display name
packageName String Unique app id
icon Uint8List? Only when requested with withIcon
versionName / versionCode String / int getVersionInfo() gives "1.2.3 (45)"
platformType PlatformType flutter, reactNative, xamarin, ionic, nativeOrOthers
installedTimestamp int Last update time, milliseconds since epoch
isSystemApp bool
isLaunchableApp bool Has a launcher activity
category AppCategory game, audio, video, image, social, news, maps, productivity, accessibility, undefined. Needs Android 8.0 (API 26) or higher, otherwise undefined

AppInfo also has copyWith, and two apps are equal when package name and version match.

Android notes

Permissions

The plugin declares two permissions in its manifest:

  • QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES: needed to list all apps on Android 11+
  • REQUEST_DELETE_PACKAGES: needed for uninstallApp

Google Play restricts QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES and may reject apps that cannot justify it. Either declare the use in your Play Console listing, or remove it in your app manifest (you will then only see a limited set of apps):


<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES" tools:node="remove" />

With multiple flavors, keep the permission for dev builds and remove it in the Play Store flavor's AndroidManifest.xml.

Good to know

  • Methods never throw. On failure, they return [] or null, and log the error with debugPrint.
  • Platform detection is heuristic and can misclassify some apps.
  • Upgrading from 1.x? Since 2.0.0 getInstalledApps takes named arguments.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Issues and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.

flutter pub get
flutter analyze
flutter test

Libraries

app_category
app_info
installed_apps
platform_type