Smart Keyboard Insets

A Flutter plugin that provides accurate keyboard height and safe area bottom inset detection on Android and iOS. Built for chat apps: composers that sit right on top of the keyboard, and sticker/emoji panels that open at exactly the keyboard's height.

Why not just use MediaQuery.viewInsets?

For a simple form, MediaQuery.viewInsets.bottom is fine. Chat UIs need more:

	MediaQuery.viewInsets	smart_keyboard_insets
Final keyboard height	Only known once the open animation finishes	Reported as the keyboard starts to open (iOS), and on every layout change (Android)
Sizing a sticker/emoji panel to match the keyboard	Height drops to 0 as soon as the keyboard closes, so the panel jumps	Remember the last keyboardHeight and open the panel at exactly that size
Safe area when the keyboard is hidden	Combine viewInsets and viewPadding yourself	safeAreaBottom included in the same KeyboardMetrics
Access outside build()	Needs a BuildContext	Stream, ValueNotifier, or a one-time getCurrentMetrics() call
Ready-made widgets	None	KeyboardPadding and AnimatedKeyboardPadding

Features

• Keyboard height as soon as the keyboard starts to appear, not after it settles
• Safe area bottom inset calculation
• Works with gesture navigation and 3-button navigation on Android
• Smooth animated transitions with AnimatedKeyboardPadding
• Multiple API styles: Stream, ValueNotifier, and helper widgets
• Proper lifecycle management (no memory leaks)
• Support for custom keyboards and sticker panels

Installation

Add to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  smart_keyboard_insets: ^0.2.0

Usage

Using AnimatedKeyboardPadding (Recommended)

The easiest way to handle keyboard insets with smooth animations:

Scaffold(
  resizeToAvoidBottomInset: false, // Important: disable default behavior
  body: Column(
    children: [
      Expanded(child: MessageList()),
      AnimatedKeyboardPadding(
        child: ComposerWidget(),
      ),
    ],
  ),
)

Using KeyboardPadding (No Animation)

KeyboardPadding(
  child: YourBottomWidget(),
)

Using ValueNotifier

Perfect for building custom sticker/emoji panels that match keyboard height:

ValueListenableBuilder<KeyboardMetrics>(
  valueListenable: SmartKeyboardInsets.instance.metricsNotifier,
  builder: (context, metrics, child) {
    // Use metrics.keyboardHeight to size your sticker panel
    return StickerPanel(
      height: metrics.isKeyboardVisible ? metrics.keyboardHeight : 300,
    );
  },
)

Using Stream

@override
void initState() {
  super.initState();
  SmartKeyboardInsets.instance.metricsStream.listen((metrics) {
    print('Keyboard visible: ${metrics.isKeyboardVisible}');
    print('Keyboard height: ${metrics.keyboardHeight}');
    print('Safe area bottom: ${metrics.safeAreaBottom}');
  });
}

One-Time Query

final metrics = await SmartKeyboardInsets.instance.getCurrentMetrics();
print('Current keyboard height: ${metrics.keyboardHeight}');

KeyboardMetrics

The KeyboardMetrics class contains:

Property	Type	Description
keyboardHeight	double	Keyboard height in logical pixels (0 when hidden)
safeAreaBottom	double	Bottom safe area inset in logical pixels
isKeyboardVisible	bool	Whether the keyboard is currently visible

Platform Support

Platform	Minimum Version
Android	API 21 (Android 5.0)
iOS	iOS 12.0

Important Notes

1. Set resizeToAvoidBottomInset: false on your Scaffold when using KeyboardPadding or AnimatedKeyboardPadding to avoid double padding.

2. For chat apps with reversed lists (reverse: true), you don't need manual scroll handling - the list stays anchored automatically.

3. For sticker/emoji panels, use metricsNotifier to get the keyboard height and size your panel accordingly.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Libraries

animated_keyboard_padding

Provides AnimatedKeyboardPadding, a widget that smoothly animates bottom padding as the keyboard opens and closes.

keyboard_metrics

Provides KeyboardMetrics, the immutable snapshot of keyboard height, safe area bottom inset, and visibility.

keyboard_padding

Provides KeyboardPadding, a widget that applies bottom padding matching the keyboard height or the safe area bottom inset.

smart_keyboard_insets

Smart Keyboard Insets - A Flutter plugin for accurate keyboard height and safe area detection on Android and iOS.