path_provider_tvos

tvOS implementation of path_provider for flutter-tvos.

Hand-written, maintained tvOS implementation. The upstream path_provider_foundation is a dart:ffi/native-assets plugin that the tvOS toolchain cannot build, so this is not generated output. Verified: exercised on a physical Apple TV via video_player_tvos (14/14).

Usage

dependencies:
  path_provider: ^2.x
  path_provider_tvos: ^0.0.3

⚠️ tvOS is not iOS: only two directories are writable

The tvOS sandbox is far more restrictive than the iOS one. Measured on a physical Apple TV 4K (tvOS 26.5) by writing a file into each directory:

directory on a real Apple TV
tmp ✅ writable
Library/Caches ✅ writable
Documents ❌ exists, but writes are denied
Library/Application Support ❌ does not exist and cannot be created

The tvOS simulator permits all of these writes, so code that works in the simulator can still fail on real hardware. Test storage on a device.

tvOS provides no persistent local storage by platform contract: even Library/Caches is purgeable by the OS at any time. Data that must survive belongs on a server or in iCloud key-value storage.

tvOS support

✅ Supported and writable

  • getTemporaryDirectory() — NSTemporaryDirectory()
  • getApplicationCacheDirectory() — Library/Caches/ (auto-created)

⚠️ Returned, but not writable

  • getApplicationDocumentsDirectory() — app Documents/. Returned for parity with iOS and fine to read from, but writes fail on a real Apple TV. Use getApplicationCacheDirectory() instead. Calling it logs a one-time warning so a later write failure is traceable to the sandbox.
  • getLibraryDirectory() — app Library/. The container itself; write to Library/Caches beneath it.

❌ Not supported on tvOS

  • getApplicationSupportDirectory() → throws MissingPlatformDirectoryException. The tvOS sandbox refuses to create Library/Application Support, so this fails at the call rather than handing back an unusable path.
  • getDownloadsDirectory() → returns null (no user Downloads dir).
  • getExternalStorage* → UnsupportedError (Android-only, same as iOS).

See PORTING_REPORT.md for detail.

Dependency management

Supports both Swift Package Manager and CocoaPods from a single source tree. flutter-tvos wires the right one automatically: apps on Flutter 3.44+ link it via SwiftPM (this package ships a tvos/Package.swift), while CocoaPods-based projects keep using the podspec. No manual setup needed.

Libraries

path_provider_tvos