photo_library_kit: fast Flutter photo gallery & media picker library

pub package pub points likes license: MIT platforms

photo_library_kit is a Flutter plugin for reading the device photo library and video gallery on Android (MediaStore) and iOS (PhotoKit). It is built for speed: paged asset queries, cancellable cached thumbnails, and a live change stream. You can use it to build your own image picker, gallery app, multi-select media picker, or WeChat / Instagram-style picker without loading the whole library into memory.

It covers the same ground as photo_manager, but its API is built around smooth scrolling in very large libraries.

photo_library_kit screenshots: demo home, WeChat-style picker, Instagram-style picker, asset details

Contents

Features

  • 📷 Photos and videos from the device gallery, including albums, Android folders, iOS smart albums, favorites and Live Photos.
  • 📜 Paged queries: AssetPagedList loads 100k+ asset libraries page by page and keeps memory flat with an LRU page cache.
  • ⚡ Fast thumbnails: decoded natively at the exact size, scheduled LIFO so visible cells load first, and cancelled natively when a cell scrolls away.
  • 🖼️ Drop-in widgets: AssetThumbnail and MediaImageProvider work with Image, GridView and Flutter's ImageCache.
  • 🔍 Native filtering by media type, date range and video duration, with sorting.
  • 🔄 Live updates: a debounced change stream with inserted, updated and removed ids; lists refresh themselves without flicker.
  • 🔐 Permissions, including limited access ("Selected Photos" on iOS 14+, partial access on Android 14+).
  • 💾 File access: get the original or edited file, save images and videos to the gallery, and delete assets with the system confirmation dialog.
  • 🧪 Testable: swap in a fake PhotoLibraryPlatform in unit tests.

Screenshots

WeChat-style picker Album switcher Swipe preview
WeChat style multi image picker in Flutter with numbered selection Flutter gallery album list with cover thumbnails and counts Full screen photo preview with zoom and selected strip
Instagram-style new post Post carousel API gallery
Instagram style photo picker in Flutter with square crop preview and multi select Instagram style carousel share page Flutter photo gallery grid with photo and video filters

Installation

dependencies:
  photo_library_kit: ^0.1.0

Android setup

Nothing to add. The plugin declares READ_MEDIA_IMAGES, READ_MEDIA_VIDEO, READ_MEDIA_VISUAL_USER_SELECTED, and the legacy storage permissions with maxSdkVersion. To remove the ones you don't need, use tools:node="remove" in your app manifest. Google Play allows READ_MEDIA_* only for apps whose core feature needs broad media access.

iOS setup

Add these keys to ios/Runner/Info.plist:

<key>NSPhotoLibraryUsageDescription</key>
<string>Pick photos and videos to share.</string>
<key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key>
<string>Save photos to your library.</string>
<!-- Optional: hide the system limited-access alert if you show your own -->
<key>PHPhotoLibraryPreventAutomaticLimitedAccessAlert</key>
<true/>

Minimum iOS 15. CocoaPods and Swift Package Manager are both supported.

Quick start

import 'package:photo_library_kit/photo_library_kit.dart';

final state = await PhotoLibrary.requestPermission();
if (!state.hasAccess) {
  await PhotoLibrary.openSettings();
  return;
}

final albums = await PhotoLibrary.getAlbums(filter: MediaFilter.images);
final recent = albums.first; // the virtual "all photos" album is first
final firstPage = await recent.getAssets(end: 60);

Build a photo grid

A smooth, lazily loaded gallery grid takes about 15 lines:

class Gallery extends StatefulWidget {
  const Gallery({super.key});

  @override
  State<Gallery> createState() => _GalleryState();
}

class _GalleryState extends State<Gallery> {
  final assets = AssetPagedList()..load(); // also watches library changes

  @override
  void dispose() {
    assets.dispose();
    super.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => ListenableBuilder(
        listenable: assets,
        builder: (context, _) => GridView.builder(
          gridDelegate: const SliverGridDelegateWithFixedCrossAxisCount(
            crossAxisCount: 4,
          ),
          itemCount: assets.length,
          itemBuilder: (context, i) {
            final asset = assets[i]; // null while its page loads
            return asset == null
                ? const ColoredBox(color: Colors.black12)
                : AssetThumbnail(asset: asset);
          },
        ),
      );
}

AssetThumbnail picks its pixel size from the layout and the device pixel ratio. It rounds that size into buckets so similar cells share cache entries, fades in only when the image wasn't cached, and cancels the native request on dispose.

Full-screen image preview

Image(image: MediaImageProvider.preview(asset, longestSide: 2048));

Previews are decoded natively with subsampling, so memory scales with the screen size, not the camera resolution. For an instant placeholder, show the cached grid thumbnail underneath; see example/lib/wechat/wechat_preview.dart.

Filter photos and videos

final filter = MediaFilter(
  types: {MediaType.video},
  minVideoDuration: const Duration(seconds: 3),
  createdAfter: DateTime.now().subtract(const Duration(days: 30)),
  sort: MediaSort.newest,
);

final count = await PhotoLibrary.getAssetCount(filter: filter);
final videos = AssetPagedList(filter: filter)..load();

Filters are compiled to SQL (Android) or NSPredicate (iOS), so only matching rows cross the platform channel.

Files, saving and deleting

final file = await asset.file();                    // display version
final original = await asset.file(original: true);  // unedited original

await PhotoLibrary.saveImage(bytes, filename: 'edit.jpg');
await PhotoLibrary.saveVideo('/path/to/clip.mp4');

final deleted = await PhotoLibrary.deleteAssets([asset]); // system confirms
await PhotoLibrary.clearFileCache(); // removes files exported on iOS

final sub = PhotoLibrary.changes.listen((change) {
  debugPrint('${change.insertedIds.length} new photos');
});

The native observer runs only while the stream has listeners. AssetPagedList uses this stream to refresh itself.

Permissions and limited access

final state = await PhotoLibrary.requestPermission();

switch (state) {
  case PermissionState.authorized:
    break; // full library
  case PermissionState.limited:
    // The user picked specific photos. Let them change the selection:
    await PhotoLibrary.presentLimitedPicker();
  case PermissionState.denied:
  case PermissionState.restricted:
    await PhotoLibrary.openSettings();
  case PermissionState.notDetermined:
    break;
}

Performance

What keeps scrolling at 60/120 fps in large libraries:

Technique Where
Only the count is fetched up front; pages load on demand and are LRU-cached AssetPagedList
Concurrent requests for the same page share one platform call AssetPagedList
Thumbnails decoded natively at the target size (no full-resolution decode) Android ThumbnailLoader, iOS PHCachingImageManager
LIFO queue with a concurrency cap: visible cells first ThumbnailScheduler
Off-screen requests cancelled in Dart and natively ThumbnailScheduler, AssetThumbnail
Cache key includes the modification date: no stale thumbnails after edits MediaImageProvider
Narrow single-pass album query on Android; cached fetch results on iOS native

Tips:

  • Use the same ThumbnailOptions for the grid and the preview placeholder so both hit one ImageCache entry.
  • Increase ImageCache.maximumSize for very dense grids.
  • Call PhotoLibrary.startCaching (iOS) for cells you know will appear next.

Example apps

The example/ app includes three demos:

  • WeChat-style image picker: dark grid, numbered multi-select (up to 9), album drop-down, swipe and zoom preview with a selection strip, and an "Original" toggle. It feeds a Moments-style composer.
  • Instagram-style new post: square crop preview with pinch-to-zoom and a rule-of-thirds grid, pinned album header, multi-select (up to 10), and a carousel share page.
  • API gallery: photo and video filters, albums, metadata and file access.
cd example
flutter run

Platform support

Android iOS
Minimum version 7.0 (API 24) 15.0
Full / limited permission ✅ / ✅ (14+) ✅ / ✅ (14+)
Albums Folders (buckets) Smart albums + user albums
Thumbnails loadThumbnail / ImageDecoder PHCachingImageManager
Change details (ids) ✅ (11+) ✅
Save / delete ✅ (delete dialog on 11+) ✅

Platform notes:

  • On Android, sorting and date filters (createdAfter/createdBefore) use DATE_ADDED, while createdAt reports the capture date when it is known. iOS uses creationDate for all three.
  • MediaFilter.includeGifs works on Android only; PhotoKit has no predicate for GIFs.
  • On iOS, title and mimeType are filled only by getAsset, because they need a slower resource lookup that paging skips.
  • Android 10 can delete only media the app owns, unless the user consents for each item.

FAQ

Is this an alternative to photo_manager? Yes. It covers the same core use cases: albums, assets, thumbnails, files, save and delete, and permissions. The API is built around paging, cancellation and ready-to-use widgets.

How do I build a WeChat-style or Instagram-style image picker in Flutter? Combine AssetPagedList, AssetThumbnail and MediaImageProvider.preview. The example app contains complete implementations of both that you can copy and adapt.

Does it support Android 14 partial photo access and iOS limited library? Yes. Both return PermissionState.limited, and presentLimitedPicker() lets the user change the selection.

How do I show video duration or detect GIFs and Live Photos? Use asset.duration, asset.isGif and asset.isLivePhoto.

How do I unit test code that uses the photo library? Set PhotoLibraryPlatform.instance = MyFakePlatform();. See test/fake_platform.dart.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.

License

MIT © winterzxzz. See LICENSE.

Libraries

photo_library_kit
Fast, ergonomic access to the device photo & video library.