Navigate to a new screen and back

Most apps contain several screens for displaying different types of information. For example, an app might have a screen that displays products. When the user taps the image of a product, a new screen displays details about the product.

In Android, a route is equivalent to an Activity. In iOS, a route is equivalent to a ViewController. In Flutter, a route is just a widget.

This recipe uses the Navigator to navigate to a new route.

The next few sections show how to navigate between two routes, using these steps:

1. Create two routes.
2. Navigate to the second route using Navigator.push().
3. Return to the first route using Navigator.pop().

First, create two routes to work with. Since this is a basic example, each route contains only a single button. Tapping the button on the first route navigates to the second route. Tapping the button on the second route returns to the first route.

First, set up the visual structure:

class FirstRoute extends StatelessWidget {
  const FirstRoute({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: const Text('First Route'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: ElevatedButton(
          child: const Text('Open route'),
          onPressed: () {
            // Navigate to second route when tapped.
          },
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

class SecondRoute extends StatelessWidget {
  const SecondRoute({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: const Text('Second Route'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: ElevatedButton(
          onPressed: () {
            // Navigate back to first route when tapped.
          },
          child: const Text('Go back!'),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

To switch to a new route, use the Navigator.push() method. The push() method adds a Route to the stack of routes managed by the Navigator. Where does the Route come from? You can create your own, or use a MaterialPageRoute, which is useful because it transitions to the new route using a platform-specific animation.

In the build() method of the FirstRoute widget, update the onPressed() callback:

// Within the `FirstRoute` widget:
onPressed: () {
  Navigator.push(
    context,
    MaterialPageRoute(builder: (context) => const SecondRoute()),
  );
}

How do you close the second route and return to the first? By using the Navigator.pop() method. The pop() method removes the current Route from the stack of routes managed by the Navigator.

To implement a return to the original route, update the onPressed() callback in the SecondRoute widget:

// Within the SecondRoute widget
onPressed: () {
  Navigator.pop(context);
}

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(const MaterialApp(
    title: 'Navigation Basics',
    home: FirstRoute(),
  ));
}

class FirstRoute extends StatelessWidget {
  const FirstRoute({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: const Text('First Route'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: ElevatedButton(
          child: const Text('Open route'),
          onPressed: () {
            Navigator.push(
              context,
              MaterialPageRoute(builder: (context) => const SecondRoute()),
            );
          },
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

class SecondRoute extends StatelessWidget {
  const SecondRoute({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: const Text('Second Route'),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: ElevatedButton(
          onPressed: () {
            Navigator.pop(context);
          },
          child: const Text('Go back!'),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

In the previous example you learned how to navigate between screens using the MaterialPageRoute from Material Components. However, in Flutter you are not limited to Material design language, instead, you also have access to Cupertino (iOS-style) widgets.

Implementing navigation with Cupertino widgets follows the same steps as when using MaterialPageRoute, but instead you use CupertinoPageRoute which provides an iOS-style transition animation.

In the following example, these widgets have been replaced:

• MaterialApp replaced by CupertinoApp.
• Scaffold replaced by CupertinoPageScaffold.
• ElevatedButton replaced by CupertinoButton.

This way, the example follows the current iOS design language.

import 'package:flutter/cupertino.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(const CupertinoApp(
    title: 'Navigation Basics',
    home: FirstRoute(),
  ));
}

class FirstRoute extends StatelessWidget {
  const FirstRoute({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return CupertinoPageScaffold(
      navigationBar: const CupertinoNavigationBar(
        middle: Text('First Route'),
      ),
      child: Center(
        child: CupertinoButton(
          child: const Text('Open route'),
          onPressed: () {
            Navigator.push(
              context,
              CupertinoPageRoute(builder: (context) => const SecondRoute()),
            );
          },
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

class SecondRoute extends StatelessWidget {
  const SecondRoute({super.key});

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return CupertinoPageScaffold(
      navigationBar: const CupertinoNavigationBar(
        middle: Text('Second Route'),
      ),
      child: Center(
        child: CupertinoButton(
          onPressed: () {
            Navigator.pop(context);
          },
          child: const Text('Go back!'),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Unless stated otherwise, the documentation on this site reflects the latest stable version of Flutter. Page last updated on 2024-06-26. View source or report an issue.