alarm 1.1.6

A simple Flutter alarm manager plugin for both iOS and Android.

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Alarm plugin for iOS and Android

This Flutter plugin provides a simple and easy-to-use interface for setting and canceling alarms on iOS and Android devices. It utilizes the android_alarm_manager_plus plugin for Android and the native iOS AVAudioPlayer class.

Why this plugin ?

As a Flutter developer at Evolum, my CTO and I needed to develop an alarm feature for the new version of our app.

An alarm feature is a great way to increase users engagement.

For the Android part, we used android_alarm_manager_plus plugin, but to be honest it was not very intuitive and incomplete.

Then, for the iOS part, we couldn't find any plugin or tutorial to add this feature.

Another issue we found is that when a user kills the app, all processes are terminated so the alarm may not ring. The workaround we thought about was to show a notification when the user kills the app to warn him that the alarm may not ring. Then, he just has to reopen the app to reschedule the alarm.

Therefore, we decided to write our own plugin to wrap everything and make it easy for everybody.

Under the hood

Android

Uses oneShotAt from the android_alarm_manager_plus plugin with a two-way communication isolated callback to start/stop the alarm.

iOS

Implements invokeMethod to play the alarm audio using AVAudioPlayer. Due to the suspension of asynchronous native code when the app is in the background, we listen for app state changes and check if the player is playing when the app returns to the foreground. If it's the case, it means the alarm is ringing, and it's time to trigger your onRing callback.

Getting Started

iOS installation steps

In order to play audio in background, open your project in Xcode, select your Runner and select the Capabilities tab. Under the Capabilities tab, set the Background Modes switch to ON and select the “Audio, AirPlay, and Picture in Picture” option under the list of available modes.

Android installation steps

In your android/app/build.gradle, make sure you have the following config:

android {
  compileSdkVersion 33
  [...]
  defaultConfig {
    [...]
    multiDexEnabled true
  }
}

After that, add the following to your AndroidManifest.xml within the <manifest></manifest> tags:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK"/>
<!-- For apps with targetSDK=31 (Android 12) -->
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM"/>

Next, within the <application></application> tags, add:

<service
    android:name="dev.fluttercommunity.plus.androidalarmmanager.AlarmService"
    android:permission="android.permission.BIND_JOB_SERVICE"
    android:exported="false"/>
<receiver
    android:name="dev.fluttercommunity.plus.androidalarmmanager.AlarmBroadcastReceiver"
    android:exported="false"/>
<receiver
    android:name="dev.fluttercommunity.plus.androidalarmmanager.RebootBroadcastReceiver"
    android:enabled="false"
    android:exported="false">
    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

Finally, add your audio asset(s) to your project like usual.

How to use

Add to your pubspec.yaml:

flutter pub add alarm

First, you have to initialize the Alarm service in your main function:

await Alarm.init()

Then, you have to define your alarm settings:

final alarmSettings = AlarmSettings(
  id: 42,
  dateTime: dateTime,
  assetAudioPath: 'assets/alarm.mp3',
  loopAudio: true,
  vibrate: true,
  fadeDuration: 3.0,
  notificationTitle: 'This is the title',
  notificationBody: 'This is the body',
  enableNotificationOnKill: true,
);

And finally set the alarm:

await Alarm.set(settings: alarmSettings)

Property	Type	Description
id	int	Unique identifier of the alarm.
alarmDateTime	DateTime	The date and time you want your alarm to ring.
assetAudio	String	The path to you audio asset you want to use as ringtone. Can be a path in your assets folder or a downloaded local file path.
loopAudio	bool	If true, audio will repeat indefinitely until alarm is stopped.
vibrate	bool	If true, device will vibrate indefinitely until alarm is stopped. If [loopAudio] is set to false, vibrations will stop when audio ends.
fadeDuration	double	Duration, in seconds, over which to fade the alarm volume. Set to 0 by default, which means no fade.
notificationTitle	String	The title of the notification triggered when alarm rings if app is on background.
notificationBody	String	The body of the notification.
enableNotificationOnKill	bool	Whether to show a notification when application is killed to warn the user that the alarm he set may not ring. Enabled by default.
stopOnNotificationOpen	bool	Whether to stop the alarm when opening the received notification. Enabled by default.

The notification shown on alarm ring can be disabled simply by ignoring the parameters notificationTitle and notificationBody. However, if you want a notification to be triggered, you will have to provide both of them.

If you enabled enableNotificationOnKill, you can chose your own notification title and body by using this method:

await Alarm.setNotificationOnAppKillContent(title, body)

This is how to stop/cancel your alarm:

await Alarm.stop(id)

This is how to run some code when alarm starts ringing. We implemented it as a stream so even if your app was previously killed, your custom callback can still be triggered.

Alarm.ringStream.stream.listen((_) => yourOnRingCallback());

To avoid unexpected behaviors, if you set an alarm for the same time as an existing one, the new alarm will replace the existing one.

Example app

Don't hesitate to check out the example's code, and take a look at the app:

Alarm behaviour

	Sound	Vibrate	Notification
Locked screen	✅	✅	✅
Silent / Mute	✅	✅	✅
Do not disturb	✅	✅	Silenced
Sleep mode	✅	✅	Silenced
While playing other media	✅	✅	✅
App killed	❌	❌	✅

Silenced: Means that the notification is not shown directly on the top of the screen. You have to go to your notification center to see it.

FAQ

My alarm is not firing on a specific Android device

Some Android manufacturers prefer battery life over proper functionality of your apps. Check out dontkillmyapp.com to find out about more about optimizations done by different vendors, and potential workarounds. Source: https://pub.dev/packages/android_alarm_manager_plus#faq

Why isn't my alarm ringing when the device volume is off?

iOS prevents third-party apps from modifying volumes. If media volume is off, then the alarm is muted. To ensure the alarm rings, users should turn on media volume before setting the alarm. For consistency, we don't add volume checks for Android, maintaining a uniform user experience on both platforms. Feel free to add one in your app is desired.

Feature request

If you have a feature request, just open an issue explaining clearly what you want and if you convince me I will develop it for you.

Contributing

We welcome contributions to this plugin! If you would like to make a change or add a new feature, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository and create a new branch for your changes.
2. Make your changes
3. Run flutter format to ensure that your code is correctly formatted.
4. Submit a pull request with a detailed description of your changes.

These are some features that I have in mind that could be useful:

• Use ffigen and jnigen binding generators to call native code more efficiently instead of using method channels.
• Notification actions: stop and snooze.
• Stop alarm sound when notification is dismissed.
• Add macOS, Windows, Linux and web support.

Thank you for considering contributing to this plugin. Your help is greatly appreciated!

❤️ Let me know if you like the plugin by liking it on pub.dev and starring the repo on Github 🙂