restart_app 1.5.2

A Flutter plugin that helps you to restart the whole Flutter app with a single function call by using native APIs.

Restart app in Flutter

A Flutter plugin that helps you to restart the whole Flutter app with a single function call by using Native APIs.

How to use it?

1. Add the package to pubspec.yaml dependency:

dependencies:
  restart_app: ^1.5.2

2. Import package:

import 'package:restart_app/restart_app.dart';

3. Call the restartApp method wherever you want:

onPressed: () {
	Restart.restartApp(
		/// Web: fill webOrigin only when your new origin differs from the app's origin
		// webOrigin: 'http://example.com',

		/// iOS: customize the local notification shown after the app exits
		notificationTitle: 'Restarting App',
		notificationBody: 'Please tap here to open the app again.',

		/// Android: set to true for a full cold restart (kills the process)
		// forceKill: true,
	);
}

iOS Platform Notes

On iOS, apps cannot restart themselves programmatically due to platform sandboxing. When restartApp() is called, the plugin schedules a local notification and then exits the app via exit(0). The user taps the notification to reopen the app.

This is the closest possible workaround on iOS. It is not a fully automatic restart.

Notification content

Customize the notification shown to the user with notificationTitle and notificationBody:

Restart.restartApp(
  notificationTitle: 'Update applied',
  notificationBody: 'Tap to reopen the app.',
);

Notification permission

The plugin requests notification permission immediately before restarting. If the user has not yet granted permission, iOS will show the system permission prompt at that moment, which can feel abrupt and may result in a denial.

It is strongly recommended to request notification permission earlier in your app's lifecycle, with appropriate context, so it is already granted when restartApp() is called. The permission_handler package can help with this.

If the user has denied notification permission, restartApp() throws a PlatformException with code NOTIFICATION_DENIED. Handle this in your code:

try {
  await Restart.restartApp();
} on PlatformException catch (e) {
  if (e.code == 'NOTIFICATION_DENIED') {
    // Prompt the user to enable notifications in Settings
  }
}

IPA build and provisioning profiles

restart_app uses local notifications only and does not require the Push Notifications capability. It does not add any push-related entitlements to your app.

If you see the error "requires a provisioning profile with the Push Notifications feature" when exporting an IPA, this is caused by another dependency in your project, most commonly firebase_messaging, which requires push notification entitlements. The fix is to ensure your distribution provisioning profile includes the Push Notifications capability. This is unrelated to restart_app.

Calling from a background isolate

Restart.restartApp() uses a platform channel and must be called from the main isolate. Calling it directly from a background isolate will throw:

Bad state: The BackgroundIsolateBinaryMessenger.instance value is invalid
until BackgroundIsolateBinaryMessenger.ensureInitialized is executed.

The recommended pattern is to send a message from your isolate to the main isolate and call restartApp() there:

// In your main isolate, set up a ReceivePort to listen for restart signals:
final receivePort = ReceivePort();
receivePort.listen((message) {
  if (message == 'restart') {
    Restart.restartApp();
  }
});

// Pass the SendPort to your isolate:
await Isolate.spawn(myIsolateFunction, receivePort.sendPort);

// In your isolate, send the signal instead of calling restartApp() directly:
void myIsolateFunction(SendPort sendPort) {
  // ... your background work ...
  sendPort.send('restart');
}

If you need to call platform channels directly from a background isolate for other reasons, you can initialize BackgroundIsolateBinaryMessenger first, but the SendPort pattern above is simpler and more reliable.

Developer

Created by Soroush Yousefpour

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