native_home_widgets

pub version license

The most complete Flutter plugin for Home Screen Widgets. Create, configure, and manage home screen widgets entirely from Flutter — no native code required.

Features

  • Multiple Widget Sizes — Small, Medium, Large
  • Rich Content — Progress bars, Battery status, Clock, Weather, Todo lists
  • Interactive Widgets — Click actions, deep links, open specific screens
  • Theming — Dark mode, Light mode, Material You (Android 12+)
  • Accessibility — Semantic labels, hints, RTL support
  • Cross-Platform — Android (Jetpack Glance) + iOS (WidgetKit + SwiftUI)
  • Type-Safe — Full Dart models with serialization
  • Event Streams — React to widget clicks and lifecycle events

Platform Support

Platform Min Version Framework
Android API 21 (6.0+) Jetpack Glance, AppWidgetManager
iOS 16.0+ WidgetKit, SwiftUI, AppIntents

Installation

dependencies:
  native_home_widgets: ^0.5.0

Quick Start

import 'package:native_home_widgets/native_home_widgets.dart';

final widgets = NativeHomeWidgets();

// Save data to be displayed in the widget
await widgets.saveData(
  key: 'title',
  value: 'Hello',
  widgetId: 'my_widget',
);

await widgets.saveData(
  key: 'value',
  value: '42',
  widgetId: 'my_widget',
);

// Trigger widget update
await widgets.update(widgetId: 'my_widget');

API Reference

Data Operations

// Save a value (persisted to DataStore/UserDefaults)
await widgets.saveData(key: 'key', value: 'value', widgetId: 'id');

// Read a value
final value = await widgets.getData<String>(key: 'key', widgetId: 'id');

// Remove a value
await widgets.removeData(key: 'key', widgetId: 'id');

// Clear all data for a widget
await widgets.clearData(widgetId: 'id');

Widget Lifecycle

// Update a specific widget
await widgets.update(widgetId: 'my_widget');

// Update all widgets
await widgets.updateAll();

// Force full timeline reload (iOS)
await widgets.reloadAll();

// Request widget pin (Android 8+)
await widgets.pinWidget();

// Save a deep link for a widget
await widgets.saveDeepLink(
  widgetId: 'my_widget',
  uri: 'myapp://screen/profile',
);

// Open the deep link
await widgets.openDeepLink(widgetId: 'my_widget');

Events

// Start listening to widget events
widgets.startListening();

// Listen for widget clicks
widgets.onWidgetClicked.listen((action) {
  print('Widget ${action.widgetId} clicked: ${action.actionId}');
});

// Listen for widget added/removed
widgets.onWidgetAdded.listen((info) => print('Added: ${info.id}'));
widgets.onWidgetRemoved.listen((info) => print('Removed: ${info.id}'));

Accessibility

await widgets.setAccessibility(
  widgetId: 'my_widget',
  label: 'Shows current temperature',
  value: '72°F',
  hint: 'Tap to refresh',
);

Query

// Get all installed widgets
final installed = await widgets.getInstalledWidgets();

// Check if a specific widget is installed
final isInstalled = await widgets.isWidgetInstalled('my_widget');

HomeWidgetBuilder

The HomeWidgetBuilder widget captures theme and accessibility configuration and sends it to the native platform:

HomeWidgetBuilder(
  widgetId: 'my_widget',
  themeMode: ThemeMode.system,
  useMaterialYou: true,
  semanticLabel: 'Counter showing 5 items',
  child: MyWidgetContent(),
)

Platform Setup

Android

  1. Add to android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:
<receiver
    android:name=".glance.widget.SmallWidgetReceiver"
    android:exported="true">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.appwidget.action.APPWIDGET_UPDATE" />
    </intent-filter>
    <meta-data
        android:name="android.appwidget.provider"
        android:resource="@xml/small_widget_info" />
</receiver>

iOS

  1. Add a Widget Extension target to your Xcode project
  2. Add the widget source files from ios/Classes/widgetkit/ to your extension
  3. Configure an App Group in both targets
  4. Add the App Group identifier to your Info.plist

Architecture

lib/
├── native_home_widgets.dart          # Public API facade
└── src/
    ├── models/                       # Typed data models
    ├── platform_interface/           # Abstract contract + MethodChannel
    ├── streams/                      # Event streams (native → Dart)
    ├── builders/                     # HomeWidgetBuilder widget
    ├── services/                     # Serialization, validation
    ├── exceptions/                   # Typed exceptions
    ├── channels/                     # Method/event channel constants
    └── extensions/                   # Accessibility, localization

android/src/main/kotlin/.../
├── NativeHomeWidgetsPlugin.kt       # MethodChannel handler
├── data/                            # DataStore persistence
├── glance/widget/                   # Glance widget definitions
├── interaction/                     # Click receiver, deep links
└── util/                            # Size resolver, image loader

ios/Classes/
├── NativeHomeWidgetsPlugin.swift    # FlutterPlugin + EventChannel
├── data/                            # UserDefaults + App Groups
├── widgetkit/widget/                # WidgetKit widget definitions
├── interaction/                     # AppIntents, deep links
└── util/                            # Image loader

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Libraries

native_home_widgets
native_home_widgets_web