lukaskurz / background_location

Flutter background location plugin for Android and iOS

Background Location

A Flutter plugin to get location updates in the background for both Android and iOS (Requires iOS 10.0+). Uses CoreLocation for iOS and FusedLocationProvider for Android

Getting Started

1: Add this to your package's pubspec.yaml file:

dependencies:
  background_location: ^0.13.0

2: Install packages from the command line:

$ flutter packages get

Alternatively, your editor might support flutter packages get. Check the docs for your editor to learn more.

How to use

Import the package where you wanna use it.

import 'package:background_location/background_location.dart';

Request permissions from the user. You can use permission_handler for this

Set the notification title, message and icon (Android only). Use await or .then if you wanna start the location service immediatly after becuase its an asynchronous method

BackgroundLocation.setAndroidNotification(
	title: "Notification title",
        message: "Notification message",
        icon: "@mipmap/ic_launcher",
);

Set the interval between localisations in milliseconds (Android only). Use await or .then if you wanna start the location service immediatly after becuase its an asynchronous method

BackgroundLocation.setAndroidConfiguration(1000);

Start the location service. This will also ask the user for permission if not asked previously by another package.

BackgroundLocation.stopLocationService(); //To ensure that previously started services have been stopped, if desired
BackgroundLocation.startLocationService();

Note: There is currently an open issue (#10) where, if the location service is started multiple times, the location callback will get called repeatedly. This can be worked around by calling BackgroundLocation.stopLocationService(); to stop any previous running services (such as from a previous run of the app) before starting a new one.

Start location service by specifying distanceFilter. Defaults to 0 if not specified

BackgroundLocation.startLocationService(distanceFilter : 10);

You can also force the use of Android LocationManager instead of Google's FusedLocationProvider by setting the forceAndroidLocationManager property to true. If not specified, this defaults to false, which uses FusedLocationProvider if it is available, treating LocationManager as a fallback. This setting has no effect on iOS devices.

BackgroundLocation.startLocationService(forceAndroidLocationManager: true);

getLocationUpdates will trigger everytime the location updates on the device. Provide a callback function to getLocationUpdates to handle location update.

BackgroundLocation.getLocationUpdates((location) {
  print(location);
});

location is a Class exposing the following properties.

double latitude;
double longitude;
double altitude;
double bearing;
double accuracy;
double speed;
double time;
bool isMock;

To stop listening to location changes you can execute.

BackgroundLocation.stopLocationService();

Make sure to delcare all required permissions for both your android and ios app

info.plist

<key>NSLocationAlwaysAndWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to location.</string>
<key>NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to location.</string>
<key>NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription</key>
<string>This app needs access to location.</string>
<key>UIBackgroundModes</key>
<array>
	<string>fetch</string>
	<string>location</string>
</array>

AndroidManifest.xml

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION"/>