Add a Flutter screen to an iOS app
This guide describes how to add a single Flutter screen to an existing iOS app.
Start a FlutterEngine and FlutterViewController
#To launch a Flutter screen from an existing iOS app, you start a FlutterEngine and a FlutterViewController.
The FlutterEngine might have the same lifespan as your FlutterViewController or outlive your FlutterViewController.
See Loading sequence and performance for more analysis on the latency and memory trade-offs of pre-warming an engine.
Create a FlutterEngine
#Where you create a FlutterEngine depends on your host app.
In this example, we create a FlutterEngine object inside a SwiftUI Observable object called FlutterDependencies. Pre-warm the engine by calling run(), and then inject this object into a ContentView using the environment() view modifier.
import SwiftUI
import Flutter
// The following library connects plugins with iOS platform code to this app.
import FlutterPluginRegistrant
@Observable
class FlutterDependencies {
let flutterEngine = FlutterEngine(name: "my flutter engine")
init() {
// Runs the default Dart entrypoint with a default Flutter route.
flutterEngine.run()
// Connects plugins with iOS platform code to this app.
GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: self.flutterEngine);
}
}
@main
struct MyApp: App {
// flutterDependencies will be injected through the view environment.
@State var flutterDependencies = FlutterDependencies()
var body: some Scene {
WindowGroup {
ContentView()
.environment(flutterDependencies)
}
}
}As an example, we demonstrate creating a FlutterEngine, exposed as a property, on app startup in the app delegate.
import UIKit
import Flutter
// The following library connects plugins with iOS platform code to this app.
import FlutterPluginRegistrant
@UIApplicationMain
class AppDelegate: FlutterAppDelegate { // More on the FlutterAppDelegate.
lazy var flutterEngine = FlutterEngine(name: "my flutter engine")
override func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
// Runs the default Dart entrypoint with a default Flutter route.
flutterEngine.run();
// Connects plugins with iOS platform code to this app.
GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: self.flutterEngine);
return super.application(application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: launchOptions);
}
}The following example demonstrates creating a FlutterEngine, exposed as a property, on app startup in the app delegate.
@import UIKit;
@import Flutter;
@interface AppDelegate : FlutterAppDelegate // More on the FlutterAppDelegate below.
@property (nonatomic,strong) FlutterEngine *flutterEngine;
@end// The following library connects plugins with iOS platform code to this app.
#import <FlutterPluginRegistrant/GeneratedPluginRegistrant.h>
#import "AppDelegate.h"
@implementation AppDelegate
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey, id> *)launchOptions {
self.flutterEngine = [[FlutterEngine alloc] initWithName:@"my flutter engine"];
// Runs the default Dart entrypoint with a default Flutter route.
[self.flutterEngine run];
// Connects plugins with iOS platform code to this app.
[GeneratedPluginRegistrant registerWithRegistry:self.flutterEngine];
return [super application:application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
}
@endShow a FlutterViewController with your FlutterEngine
#The following example shows a generic ContentView with a NavigationLink hooked to a flutter screen. First, create a FlutterViewControllerRepresentable to represent the FlutterViewController. The FlutterViewController constructor takes the pre-warmed FlutterEngine as an argument, which is injected through the view environment.
import SwiftUI
import Flutter
struct FlutterViewControllerRepresentable: UIViewControllerRepresentable {
// Flutter dependencies are passed in through the view environment.
@Environment(FlutterDependencies.self) var flutterDependencies
func makeUIViewController(context: Context) -> some UIViewController {
return FlutterViewController(
engine: flutterDependencies.flutterEngine,
nibName: nil,
bundle: nil)
}
func updateUIViewController(_ uiViewController: UIViewControllerType, context: Context) {}
}
struct ContentView: View {
var body: some View {
NavigationStack {
NavigationLink("My Flutter Feature") {
FlutterViewControllerRepresentable()
}
}
}
}Now, you have a Flutter screen embedded in your iOS app.
The following example shows a generic ViewController with a UIButton hooked to present a FlutterViewController. The FlutterViewController uses the FlutterEngine instance created in the AppDelegate.
import UIKit
import Flutter
class ViewController: UIViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
// Make a button to call the showFlutter function when pressed.
let button = UIButton(type:UIButton.ButtonType.custom)
button.addTarget(self, action: #selector(showFlutter), for: .touchUpInside)
button.setTitle("Show Flutter!", for: UIControl.State.normal)
button.frame = CGRect(x: 80.0, y: 210.0, width: 160.0, height: 40.0)
button.backgroundColor = UIColor.blue
self.view.addSubview(button)
}
@objc func showFlutter() {
let flutterEngine = (UIApplication.shared.delegate as! AppDelegate).flutterEngine
let flutterViewController =
FlutterViewController(engine: flutterEngine, nibName: nil, bundle: nil)
present(flutterViewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}
}Now, you have a Flutter screen embedded in your iOS app.
The following example shows a generic ViewController with a UIButton hooked to present a FlutterViewController. The FlutterViewController uses the FlutterEngine instance created in the AppDelegate.
@import Flutter;
#import "AppDelegate.h"
#import "ViewController.h"
@implementation ViewController
- (void)viewDidLoad {
[super viewDidLoad];
// Make a button to call the showFlutter function when pressed.
UIButton *button = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom];
[button addTarget:self
action:@selector(showFlutter)
forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[button setTitle:@"Show Flutter!" forState:UIControlStateNormal];
button.backgroundColor = UIColor.blueColor;
button.frame = CGRectMake(80.0, 210.0, 160.0, 40.0);
[self.view addSubview:button];
}
- (void)showFlutter {
FlutterEngine *flutterEngine =
((AppDelegate *)UIApplication.sharedApplication.delegate).flutterEngine;
FlutterViewController *flutterViewController =
[[FlutterViewController alloc] initWithEngine:flutterEngine nibName:nil bundle:nil];
[self presentViewController:flutterViewController animated:YES completion:nil];
}
@endNow, you have a Flutter screen embedded in your iOS app.
Alternatively - Create a FlutterViewController with an implicit FlutterEngine
#As an alternative to the previous example, you can let the FlutterViewController implicitly create its own FlutterEngine without pre-warming one ahead of time.
This is not usually recommended because creating a FlutterEngine on-demand could introduce a noticeable latency between when the FlutterViewController is presented and when it renders its first frame. This could, however, be useful if the Flutter screen is rarely shown, when there are no good heuristics to determine when the Dart VM should be started, and when Flutter doesn't need to persist state between view controllers.
To let the FlutterViewController present without an existing FlutterEngine, omit the FlutterEngine construction, and create the FlutterViewController without an engine reference.
import SwiftUI
import Flutter
struct FlutterViewControllerRepresentable: UIViewControllerRepresentable {
func makeUIViewController(context: Context) -> some UIViewController {
return FlutterViewController(
project: nil,
nibName: nil,
bundle: nil)
}
func updateUIViewController(_ uiViewController: UIViewControllerType, context: Context) {}
}
struct ContentView: View {
var body: some View {
NavigationStack {
NavigationLink("My Flutter Feature") {
FlutterViewControllerRepresentable()
}
}
}
}// Existing code omitted.
func showFlutter() {
let flutterViewController = FlutterViewController(project: nil, nibName: nil, bundle: nil)
present(flutterViewController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}// Existing code omitted.
- (void)showFlutter {
FlutterViewController *flutterViewController =
[[FlutterViewController alloc] initWithProject:nil nibName:nil bundle:nil];
[self presentViewController:flutterViewController animated:YES completion:nil];
}
@endSee Loading sequence and performance for more explorations on latency and memory usage.
Using the FlutterAppDelegate
#Letting your application's UIApplicationDelegate subclass FlutterAppDelegate is recommended but not required.
The FlutterAppDelegate performs functions such as:
- Forwarding application callbacks such as
openURLto plugins such as local_auth. - Keeping the Flutter connection open in debug mode when the phone screen locks.
Creating a FlutterAppDelegate subclass
#Creating a subclass of the FlutterAppDelegate in UIKit apps was shown in the Start a FlutterEngine and FlutterViewController section. In a SwiftUI app, you can create a subclass of the FlutterAppDelegate and annotate it with the Observable() macro as follows:
import SwiftUI
import Flutter
import FlutterPluginRegistrant
@Observable
class AppDelegate: FlutterAppDelegate {
let flutterEngine = FlutterEngine(name: "my flutter engine")
override func application(
_ application: UIApplication,
didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {
// Runs the default Dart entrypoint with a default Flutter route.
flutterEngine.run();
// Used to connect plugins (only if you have plugins with iOS platform code).
GeneratedPluginRegistrant.register(with: self.flutterEngine);
return true;
}
}
@main
struct MyApp: App {
// Use this property wrapper to tell SwiftUI
// it should use the AppDelegate class for the application delegate
@UIApplicationDelegateAdaptor(AppDelegate.self) var appDelegate
var body: some Scene {
WindowGroup {
ContentView()
}
}
}Then, in your view, the AppDelegate is accessible through the view environment.
import SwiftUI
import Flutter
struct FlutterViewControllerRepresentable: UIViewControllerRepresentable {
// Access the AppDelegate through the view environment.
@Environment(AppDelegate.self) var appDelegate
func makeUIViewController(context: Context) -> some UIViewController {
return FlutterViewController(
engine: appDelegate.flutterEngine,
nibName: nil,
bundle: nil)
}
func updateUIViewController(_ uiViewController: UIViewControllerType, context: Context) {}
}
struct ContentView: View {
var body: some View {
NavigationStack {
NavigationLink("My Flutter Feature") {
FlutterViewControllerRepresentable()
}
}
}
}If you can't directly make FlutterAppDelegate a subclass
#If your app delegate can't directly make FlutterAppDelegate a subclass, make your app delegate implement the FlutterAppLifeCycleProvider protocol in order to make sure your plugins receive the necessary callbacks. Otherwise, plugins that depend on these events might have undefined behavior.
For instance:
import Foundation
import Flutter
@Observable
class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate, FlutterAppLifeCycleProvider {
private let lifecycleDelegate = FlutterPluginAppLifeCycleDelegate()
let flutterEngine = FlutterEngine(name: "my flutter engine")
override func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey : Any]? = nil) -> Bool {
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey : Any]? = nil) -> Bool {
flutterEngine.run()
return lifecycleDelegate.application(application, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: launchOptions ?? [:])
}
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken deviceToken: Data) {
lifecycleDelegate.application(application, didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken: deviceToken)
}
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError error: Error) {
lifecycleDelegate.application(application, didFailToRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithError: error)
}
func application(_ application: UIApplication, didReceiveRemoteNotification userInfo: [AnyHashable : Any], fetchCompletionHandler completionHandler: @escaping (UIBackgroundFetchResult) -> Void) {
lifecycleDelegate.application(application, didReceiveRemoteNotification: userInfo, fetchCompletionHandler: completionHandler)
}
func application(_ app: UIApplication, open url: URL, options: [UIApplication.OpenURLOptionsKey : Any] = [:]) -> Bool {
return lifecycleDelegate.application(app, open: url, options: options)
}
func application(_ application: UIApplication, handleOpen url: URL) -> Bool {
return lifecycleDelegate.application(application, handleOpen: url)
}
func application(_ application: UIApplication, open url: URL, sourceApplication: String?, annotation: Any) -> Bool {
return lifecycleDelegate.application(application, open: url, sourceApplication: sourceApplication ?? "", annotation: annotation)
}
func application(_ application: UIApplication, performActionFor shortcutItem: UIApplicationShortcutItem, completionHandler: @escaping (Bool) -> Void) {
lifecycleDelegate.application(application, performActionFor: shortcutItem, completionHandler: completionHandler)
}
func application(_ application: UIApplication, handleEventsForBackgroundURLSession identifier: String, completionHandler: @escaping () -> Void) {
lifecycleDelegate.application(application, handleEventsForBackgroundURLSession: identifier, completionHandler: completionHandler)
}
func application(_ application: UIApplication, performFetchWithCompletionHandler completionHandler: @escaping (UIBackgroundFetchResult) -> Void) {
lifecycleDelegate.application(application, performFetchWithCompletionHandler: completionHandler)
}
func add(_ delegate: FlutterApplicationLifeCycleDelegate) {
lifecycleDelegate.add(delegate)
}
}@import Flutter;
@import UIKit;
@import FlutterPluginRegistrant;
@interface AppDelegate : UIResponder <UIApplicationDelegate, FlutterAppLifeCycleProvider>
@property (strong, nonatomic) UIWindow *window;
@property (nonatomic,strong) FlutterEngine *flutterEngine;
@endThe implementation should delegate mostly to a FlutterPluginAppLifeCycleDelegate:
@interface AppDelegate ()
@property (nonatomic, strong) FlutterPluginAppLifeCycleDelegate* lifeCycleDelegate;
@end
@implementation AppDelegate
- (instancetype)init {
if (self = [super init]) {
_lifeCycleDelegate = [[FlutterPluginAppLifeCycleDelegate alloc] init];
}
return self;
}
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication*)application
didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey, id>*))launchOptions {
self.flutterEngine = [[FlutterEngine alloc] initWithName:@"io.flutter" project:nil];
[self.flutterEngine runWithEntrypoint:nil];
[GeneratedPluginRegistrant registerWithRegistry:self.flutterEngine];
return [_lifeCycleDelegate application:application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
}
// Returns the key window's rootViewController, if it's a FlutterViewController.
// Otherwise, returns nil.
- (FlutterViewController*)rootFlutterViewController {
UIViewController* viewController = [UIApplication sharedApplication].keyWindow.rootViewController;
if ([viewController isKindOfClass:[FlutterViewController class]]) {
return (FlutterViewController*)viewController;
}
return nil;
}
- (void)application:(UIApplication*)application
didRegisterUserNotificationSettings:(UIUserNotificationSettings*)notificationSettings {
[_lifeCycleDelegate application:application
didRegisterUserNotificationSettings:notificationSettings];
}
- (void)application:(UIApplication*)application
didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:(NSData*)deviceToken {
[_lifeCycleDelegate application:application
didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:deviceToken];
}
- (void)application:(UIApplication*)application
didReceiveRemoteNotification:(NSDictionary*)userInfo
fetchCompletionHandler:(void (^)(UIBackgroundFetchResult result))completionHandler {
[_lifeCycleDelegate application:application
didReceiveRemoteNotification:userInfo
fetchCompletionHandler:completionHandler];
}
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication*)application
openURL:(NSURL*)url
options:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey, id>*)options {
return [_lifeCycleDelegate application:application openURL:url options:options];
}
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication*)application handleOpenURL:(NSURL*)url {
return [_lifeCycleDelegate application:application handleOpenURL:url];
}
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication*)application
openURL:(NSURL*)url
sourceApplication:(NSString*)sourceApplication
annotation:(id)annotation {
return [_lifeCycleDelegate application:application
openURL:url
sourceApplication:sourceApplication
annotation:annotation];
}
- (void)application:(UIApplication*)application
performActionForShortcutItem:(UIApplicationShortcutItem*)shortcutItem
completionHandler:(void (^)(BOOL succeeded))completionHandler {
[_lifeCycleDelegate application:application
performActionForShortcutItem:shortcutItem
completionHandler:completionHandler];
}
- (void)application:(UIApplication*)application
handleEventsForBackgroundURLSession:(nonnull NSString*)identifier
completionHandler:(nonnull void (^)(void))completionHandler {
[_lifeCycleDelegate application:application
handleEventsForBackgroundURLSession:identifier
completionHandler:completionHandler];
}
- (void)application:(UIApplication*)application
performFetchWithCompletionHandler:(void (^)(UIBackgroundFetchResult result))completionHandler {
[_lifeCycleDelegate application:application performFetchWithCompletionHandler:completionHandler];
}
- (void)addApplicationLifeCycleDelegate:(NSObject<FlutterPlugin>*)delegate {
[_lifeCycleDelegate addDelegate:delegate];
}
@endLaunch options
#The examples demonstrate running Flutter using the default launch settings.
In order to customize your Flutter runtime, you can also specify the Dart entrypoint, library, and route.
Dart entrypoint
#Calling run on a FlutterEngine, by default, runs the main() Dart function of your lib/main.dart file.
You can also run a different entrypoint function by using runWithEntrypoint with an NSString specifying a different Dart function.
Dart library
#In addition to specifying a Dart function, you can specify an entrypoint function in a specific file.
For instance the following runs myOtherEntrypoint() in lib/other_file.dart instead of main() in lib/main.dart:
flutterEngine.run(withEntrypoint: "myOtherEntrypoint", libraryURI: "other_file.dart")[flutterEngine runWithEntrypoint:@"myOtherEntrypoint" libraryURI:@"other_file.dart"];Route
#Starting in Flutter version 1.22, an initial route can be set for your Flutter WidgetsApp when constructing the FlutterEngine or the FlutterViewController.
let flutterEngine = FlutterEngine()
// FlutterDefaultDartEntrypoint is the same as nil, which will run main().
engine.run(
withEntrypoint: "main", initialRoute: "/onboarding")FlutterEngine *flutterEngine = [[FlutterEngine alloc] init];
// FlutterDefaultDartEntrypoint is the same as nil, which will run main().
[flutterEngine runWithEntrypoint:FlutterDefaultDartEntrypoint
initialRoute:@"/onboarding"];This code sets your dart:ui's PlatformDispatcher.defaultRouteName to "/onboarding" instead of "/".
Alternatively, to construct a FlutterViewController directly without pre-warming a FlutterEngine:
let flutterViewController = FlutterViewController(
project: nil, initialRoute: "/onboarding", nibName: nil, bundle: nil)FlutterViewController* flutterViewController =
[[FlutterViewController alloc] initWithProject:nil
initialRoute:@"/onboarding"
nibName:nil
bundle:nil];See Navigation and routing for more about Flutter's routes.
Other
#The previous example only illustrates a few ways to customize how a Flutter instance is initiated. Using platform channels, you're free to push data or prepare your Flutter environment in any way you'd like, before presenting the Flutter UI using a FlutterViewController.
Unless stated otherwise, the documentation on this site reflects the latest stable version of Flutter. Page last updated on 2024-11-20. View source or report an issue.