Background processes

Have you ever wanted to execute Dart code in the background—even if your app wasn't the currently active app? Perhaps you wanted to implement a process that watches the time, or that catches camera movement. In Flutter, you can execute Dart code in the background.

The mechanism for this feature involves setting up an isolate. Isolates are Dart's model for multithreading, though an isolate differs from a conventional thread in that it doesn't share memory with the main program. You'll set up your isolate for background execution using callbacks and a callback dispatcher.

Additionally, the WorkManager plugin enables persistent background processing that keeps tasks scheduled through app restarts and system reboots.

For more information and a geofencing example that uses background execution of Dart code, see the Medium article by Ben Konyi, Executing Dart in the Background with Flutter Plugins and Geofencing. At the end of this article, you'll find links to example code, and relevant documentation for Dart, iOS, and Android.

Unless stated otherwise, the documentation on this site reflects the latest stable version of Flutter. Page last updated on 2024-04-04. View source or report an issue.