Hi I have a question about usage of old flutter packages. I am trying to build a push notification app using Firebase but I am finding very difficulties due to lack of information. I know there are some tutorials that teaches how to use the latest FCM package in flutter but still not very clear for me but I can find a lot of information that works in prior versions. So I am thinking to start using the prior version of FCM to implement push notification and once I find good resources then give it a go but I just want to know what are the risks of using old version of packages?
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I was thinking to developing a windows desktop application with dart and flutter but i don't know how can i integrate Firebase cloud messaging with it. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance
At the moment, there is no Windows desktop support in the firebase_messaging flutter packages. There was a separate effort to develop desktop support for some of the firebase platform that Google had announced in partnership with a company called Invertase, however I haven't heard much about that in the past 6 months and I don't believe that messaging is at the top of the priority list (I know, I want it too)
It looks like the project is still alive and seeing regular commits but for now my suggestion would be, unless you want to use the C++ SDK and develop your own plugin, you might want to curb plans for native Windows push notifications for a little while. (If you decide to make your own plugin, let me know, because again, I want it too!)
Im going to start bluetooth project in flutter, can anyone suggest which package is best for production.
My case is to connect with smartwatches,weightscale,bp devices to get the medical data.
Flutter blue:https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_blue
Flutter reactive ble:https://pub.dev/packages/flutter_reactive_ble
Which ble package that is best is a personal opinion. But I have spent the last four years on making apps that use ble to talk to iOT devices. I have use three different packages:
I used flutter_blue in production about 4 years ago. I was not happy with it(I don't remember exactly why). They made breaking changes that included a switch to RxDart so there where no reason to stay with flutter _blue.
When I started to develop a new app I selected flutter_ble_lib. The reason for that was that the main developers come from the consultant company Polidea. But Polidea was bought by an other company and they stopped developing packages. So I had to change ble package to be able to keep my app upgraded.
I asked google if they had any plans on making a ble package, they said no. But they recommended flutter_reactive_ble. So I have been using flutter_reactive_ble since then. It is Philips Hue that develop it for their smart lamps. The reasons why I prefer flutter_reactive_ble:
I think its the more stable choice because of its developed by Philips hue. It is as good as it get when it comes to stability.
I use the library to tell iOT devises how to connect to internet. It's the probably what this package is made for.
Flutter reactive ble is better since It has lesser reported issues.
please read this disclaimer by flutter_blue team
This library is actively developed alongside production apps, and the
API will evolve as we continue our way to version 1.0.
Please be fully prepared to deal with breaking changes. This package
must be tested on a real device.
Flutter reactive ble is a lot more stable and it's not a newly started project. It's been tested and fixed over a long course of time.
Other good option is flutter_blue_plus. It's a fork of flutter_blue and it's actively maintained.
I started with flutter_blue but last commit was two years ago. Then I decided to switch to flutter_blue_plus
I have a flutter chat app. Companies like Whatsapp & Facebook update their app without forcing users to uninstall or manually uploading the APK again to google play. Is this possible with futter i tried using firebase remote config but it didn't work as i expected ( Changing UI on the go ). Any answer will be appreciated.
WhatsApp and Facebook use React Native with CodePush (if I'm not wrong).
You can't update an app without forcing a user somehow to update the app from a store with Flutter as it compiles to binary and React Native – not
There are multiple things you can do and it is based on what you want to achieve. [From your question your goal is not clear.]
Change Something based on configuration.
If you have configurations defined then you can use Firebase remote config to pass on value to devices and devices should behave according to value that you have set on Firebase Remote config.
Limitation of this approach:
In this approach, don't expect your newly updated code will into existing app. Above approach works, if code is already there in the compiled binary and you just want to switch path.
Binary version update:
If you want to force new app version download then it would require a different approach,
Android: Yes it is possible.
iOS: In-App update is not possible. You can show prompt to user by saying that new version is available and redirect user to new version on Store.
If user has enabled auto-download in iPhone settings then there are chances that app version updated to new version when user come to app.
For implementation look at here: Binary version update
Flutter now has unofficial support for code push using Chimera Flutter Code Push.
Here is a full tutorial
There is an upgrader (mostly for iOS) and in_app_update plugin (for android). I try to implement them both and had a difficulty to do so. I post and issues in both plugin but I got no response. So if anyone use this 2 plugin successfully please can you share step-by-step approach details.
Basically How to update flutter app programmatically in Google Play Store (Android) & App Store (iOS)?
Thanks
I have also tried in_app_update 1.1.11 and upgrader 2.4.0.
For upgrader:
I also don't know how to use Appcast, so I use the iTune api to get my app version in the App Store then pop up the install dialog. However, the iTune api is so slow to update. Therefore I just use Firebase remote config to set the version once the app is published.
For in_app_update:
I also don't know how to use it. I have add the Play Core in app/build.gradle
implementation 'com.google.android.play:core:1.8.0'
Nothing pop up even I downloaded the old version from the Play Store and then publish a new version.
Update:
I found that in_app_update actually work just by following its example code. I don't have any update pop up before because my Android device is Mi 9, seems there is some bug in it. The update pop up can be seen in the release version of other brand of devices
Since I really want to use the Play Store in-app-update, so for android I did use the remote config... waiting for someone to have the guides
currently, I used firebase_remote_config to give update message to application.
But I update firebase manual when always release new version. Is that anyway to check google play store app version number with package name?
There is no official API to check your latest version in the play store. You could do a webcall getting the contents of https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=[appid] and find the version somewhere in the HTML. I cannot really recommend it because the HTML might change overtime. I would suggest keeping it the way it is with a variable in remote_config.
There's no official Playstore API to check the version. You'll have to make API yourself. The API will send the latest version number (and build number) and then the mobile app compares it with itself and displays the message in case update is available.
Since you are already using Firebase, there's one more way (without writing any code).
You send push notifications only to those users who are using old app version. See below :
There's no official way to do it using Flutter. But you can write code in platform wise. Above way is for Android.
Official documentation
click here
medium article click tutorial