Native Device Kit

Unified Native Hardware Access for Flutter

Native Device Kit is a production-grade Flutter plugin that provides a high-performance, unified API to access native hardware and system-level features on Android and iOS. It abstracts complex platform-specific implementations written in Kotlin and Swift into clean, consistent, and strongly typed Dart APIs, enabling rapid development without sacrificing performance or platform control.

Designed for enterprise, IoT, fintech, healthcare, and industrial applications.

Overview

Flutter does not provide direct access to many low-level device capabilities such as Bluetooth, NFC, USB communication, and proprietary hardware SDKs. Native Device Kit bridges this gap by exposing powerful native APIs in a developer-friendly Dart interface.

It enables:

Native Bluetooth communication
NFC tag reading and writing
USB host and external accessory communication
Dynamic invocation of third-party native SDKs

All through a single unified plugin interface.

Key Features

Bluetooth (BLE)

Device scanning
Device connection and disconnection
Service discovery
Event streaming
Background scanning support (platform dependent)

NFC

NDEF tag reading
NDEF tag writing
Background tag discovery
Session-based NFC handling

USB Communication

USB device enumeration
Device connection management
Android USB Host support
iOS External Accessory support (MFi devices)

Hardware Bridge

Dynamically invoke any native SDK method
Integrate third-party SDKs without modifying plugin core
Ideal for industrial SDKs, scanners, printers, payment terminals, biometric devices

Platform Support

Platform	Minimum Version
Android	API 23+ (6.0)
iOS	12.0+

Installation

Add the dependency in your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  native_device_kit: ^1.0.0

Then run:

flutter pub get

Platform Configuration

Android

Add required permissions in android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:

<manifest ...>

    <!-- Bluetooth -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_SCAN" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.BLUETOOTH_CONNECT" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />

    <!-- NFC -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.NFC" />
    <uses-feature
        android:name="android.hardware.nfc"
        android:required="false" />

    <!-- USB -->
    <uses-feature
        android:name="android.hardware.usb.host"
        android:required="false" />

</manifest>

iOS

Add permission descriptions in ios/Runner/Info.plist:

<dict>

    <key>NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription</key>
    <string>Bluetooth access is required to discover and connect to supported devices.</string>

    <key>NSBluetoothPeripheralUsageDescription</key>
    <string>Bluetooth access is required to connect to supported devices.</string>

    <key>NFCReaderUsageDescription</key>
    <string>NFC access is required to read and write NFC tags.</string>

    <key>UISupportsDocumentBrowser</key>
    <true/>

</dict>

Usage

The plugin exposes a singleton instance:

final kit = NativeDeviceKit.instance;

Bluetooth Module

final bluetooth = NativeDeviceKit.instance.bluetooth;

// Listen for scan and connection events
bluetooth.eventStream.listen((event) {
  print("Bluetooth Event: $event");
});

// Start scanning
await bluetooth.scan();

// Connect to a device
await bluetooth.connect("DEVICE_ID");

// Disconnect
await bluetooth.disconnect("DEVICE_ID");

NFC Module

final nfc = NativeDeviceKit.instance.nfc;

// Listen for discovered tags
nfc.eventStream.listen((event) {
  print("NFC Tag: $event");
});

// Start reading
await nfc.readTag();

// Write data
await nfc.writeTag("Hello from Flutter");

// Stop reading
await nfc.stopReading();

USB Module

final usb = NativeDeviceKit.instance.usb;

// List connected devices
final devices = await usb.getConnectedDevices();

for (var device in devices) {
  print("USB Device: ${device['deviceName']} (${device['deviceId']})");
}

// Open device
await usb.openDevice("DEVICE_ID");

Hardware Bridge (Advanced Usage)

This module allows dynamic invocation of native SDK methods, enabling integration of custom hardware SDKs without modifying plugin core.

final bridge = NativeDeviceKit.instance.bridge;

final result = await bridge.invoke(
  "customNativeMethod",
  {"param": "value"},
);

print("Native Result: $result");

Use cases:

Barcode scanners
Thermal printers
Payment terminals
Biometric hardware
Industrial IoT devices

Architecture Overview

Flutter Application
        ↓
NativeDeviceKit (Dart API Layer)
        ↓
Platform Channels
   (Method + Event Channels)
        ↓
Android (Kotlin)  → Bluetooth, NFC, USB APIs
iOS (Swift)       → CoreBluetooth, CoreNFC, ExternalAccessory

This layered architecture ensures:

Clean API separation
Native-level performance
Platform-specific optimizations
Scalable feature expansion

Recommended Use Cases

IoT and hardware integration apps
Payment and POS terminals
Healthcare monitoring systems
Industrial automation
Warehouse and logistics apps
Enterprise mobility solutions

Roadmap

Classic Bluetooth (BR/EDR) support
USB bulk transfer APIs
Serial communication abstraction
Native printer SDK adapters
Industrial scanner integrations