Flutter Barcode Scanner SDK #

High-throughput barcode and QR scanner SDK for Flutter apps.

The package provides two native scanning modes:

• FlutterBarcodeScanner.scan(config) opens a full-screen scanner and returns one result.
• FlutterBarcodeScannerView embeds the native scanner in a Flutter layout and emits results through a controller-friendly widget API.

Android uses CameraX with ML Kit Barcode Scanning. iOS uses AVFoundation capture with Apple's Vision framework for decoding. The iOS plugin supports Swift Package Manager and CocoaPods.

When to use this package #

• Decoding happens on-device. No network call is made, and no barcode data leaves the phone.
• No Google Play services requirement. Android decoding uses the bundled ML Kit barcode model, so it works on devices without Play services.
• Native decode paths on both platforms — CameraX with ML Kit on Android, Vision on iOS — rather than a single cross-platform decoder. Both report every barcode in a frame, so the scanner picks the one you aimed at rather than the first one the platform happened to return.
• Both embedded and full-screen modes ship from one package and share their configuration.
• Built for sustained scanning, where a shift means thousands of scans: detection pauses without rebinding the camera, and the example app ships a soak harness that reports memory, dropped frames, and decode latency.
• Not a fit if you need web or desktop support, or barcode generation. This package is Android and iOS, scanning only.

Contents #

• Platform Support
• Installation
• Permissions
• Full-Screen Scanner
• Embedded Scanner
• Format Presets
• Example App
• Recipes
• API Reference
• Compatibility
• Migration
• Troubleshooting
• License

Platform Support #

Installation #

dependencies:
  flutter_barcode_scanner_sdk: ^0.3.0

Then run:

flutter pub get

Permissions #

Android #

The plugin declares android.permission.CAMERA. If your app has a custom manifest merge setup, confirm that the merged app manifest includes:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />

iOS #

Add a camera usage description to ios/Runner/Info.plist:

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app scans barcodes with the camera.</string>

Full-Screen Scanner #

final result = await FlutterBarcodeScanner.scan(
  FlutterBarcodeScannerConfig(
    allowedFormats: FlutterBarcodeScannerFormats.common,
    strings: FlutterBarcodeScannerStrings(title: 'Scan barcode'),
  ),
);

if (result?.isBarcode == true) {
  debugPrint('Scanned ${result!.format.name}: ${result.rawValue}');
}

Embedded Scanner #

final controller = FlutterBarcodeScannerController();

FlutterBarcodeScannerView(
  controller: controller,
  config: FlutterBarcodeScannerConfig(
    allowedFormats: FlutterBarcodeScannerFormats.qrOnly,
  ),
  onScan: (result) {
    if (result.isBarcode) {
      debugPrint(result.rawValue);
    }
  },
);

Validate each scan #

Scanning one code after another is a loop: detect, check it, move on. Return a decision and the scanner runs that loop for you — holding detection while your check runs, showing accepted or rejected feedback, then resuming:

FlutterBarcodeScannerView(
  config: FlutterBarcodeScannerConfig(),
  onScanValidate: (result) async {
    final check = await api.validate(result.rawValue);
    return check.isValid
        ? const ScanDecision.accept(message: 'Accepted')
        : const ScanDecision.reject(message: 'Rejected');
  },
);

A slow or failing check cannot double-scan or wedge the scanner. See RECIPES.md for the guarantees, and for driving pause/resume yourself instead.

Controller actions:

• startCamera() and stopCamera()
• pauseDetection() and resumeDetection()
• toggleFlash([bool? enabled])
• switchCamera([BarcodeCameraLens? lens])
• updateConfig(config)
• dispose()

Format Presets #

Use FlutterBarcodeScannerFormats for common format groups:

FlutterBarcodeScannerConfig(
  allowedFormats: FlutterBarcodeScannerFormats.twoDimensional,
);

Available presets include all, common, oneDimensional, twoDimensional, and qrOnly.

Example App #

The bundled example app demonstrates:

• Full-screen and embedded scanner modes
• The scan → validate → accept/reject loop, with an adjustable decision delay
• The camera-permission states and the route to Settings
• Scan-window shape, aim mode, and confirmation observations
• RTL/LTR strings, flash, camera switching, and the chrome options
• Four measurement harnesses, including a dense-sheet accuracy run

Run it with:

cd example
flutter run

Recipes #

See RECIPES.md for the continuous entry-scanning loop, custom overlays, scan-window geometry, picking the right barcode when several are in frame, error codes, and the platform differences between the Android and iOS engines.

API Reference #

See API_REFERENCE.md for tables covering all public configuration fields, defaults, result fields, controller methods, and supported barcode formats.

Generated Dart API docs are available on pub.flutter-io.cn after publication.

Compatibility #

See COMPATIBILITY.md for supported Flutter, Android, iOS, SwiftPM/CocoaPods, dependency-update, and API-compatibility policies.

Migration #

See MIGRATION.md for the code changes each release needs, newest first.

Troubleshooting #

License #

BSD 3. See LICENSE.