arkit_plugin

Note: ARKit is only supported by mobile devices with A9 or later processors (iPhone 6s/7/SE/8/X, iPad 2017/Pro) on iOS 11 and newer. For some features iOS 12 or newer is required. Flutter >=3.19.0 supports iOS 12.0 and newer, if iOS 11 support is needed use the plugin version before 1.1.0.

Usage

Add dependency

Follow the installation instructions from Dart Packages site.

Update Info.plist

ARKit uses the device camera, so do not forget to provide the NSCameraUsageDescription. You may specify it in Info.plist like that:

    <key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
    <string>Describe why your app needs AR here.</string>

Update Podfile

At the top level of the ios folder uncomment the second line in the Podfile and change the iOS minimum version from 9.0 to the appropriate one. The minimum supported iOS version is 13.0.

From:

# platform :ios, '9.0'

To:

platform :ios, '13.0'

NOTE: If when running for the first time you get a cocoapods error, delete the Podfile.lock file in the ios folder. Open the ios folder in the terminal and run:

pod install

Write the app

The simplest code example:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:arkit_plugin/arkit_plugin.dart';
import 'package:vector_math/vector_math_64.dart';

void main() => runApp(MaterialApp(home: MyApp()));

class MyApp extends StatefulWidget {
  @override
  _MyAppState createState() => _MyAppState();
}

class _MyAppState extends State<MyApp> {
  late ARKitController arkitController;

  @override
  void dispose() {
    arkitController.dispose();
    super.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) => Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(title: const Text('ARKit in Flutter')),
      body: ARKitSceneView(onARKitViewCreated: onARKitViewCreated));

  void onARKitViewCreated(ARKitController arkitController) {
    this.arkitController = arkitController;
    final node = ARKitNode(
        geometry: ARKitSphere(radius: 0.1), position: Vector3(0, 0, -0.5));
    this.arkitController.add(node);
  }
}

Result:

Examples

I would highly recommend to review the sample from the Example folder inside the plugin. Some samples rely on this Earth image

Name	Description	Link	Demo
Hello World	The simplest scene with different geometries.	code	twitter
Check configuration	Shows which kinds of AR configuration are supported on the device	code
Earth	Sphere with an image texture and rotation animation.	code	twitter
Tap	Sphere which handles tap event.	code	twitter
Midas	Turns walls, floor, and Earth itself into gold by tap.	code	twitter
Plane Detection	Detects horizontal plane.	code	twitter
Distance tracking	Detects horizontal plane and track distance on it.	code	twitter
Measure	Measures distances	code	twitter
Physics	A sphere and a plane with dynamic and static physics	code	twitter
Image Detection	Detects Earth photo and puts a 3D object near it.	code	twitter
Network Image Detection	Detects Mars photo and puts a 3D object near it.	code
Custom Light	Hello World scene with a custom light spot.	code
Light Estimation	Estimates and applies the light around you.	code	twitter
Custom Object	Place custom object on plane with coaching overlay.	code	twitter
Load .gltf .glb	Load .gltf or .glb from the Flutter assets or the Documents folder.	code
Occlusion	Spheres which are not visible after horizontal and vertical planes.	code	twitter
Manipulation	Custom objects with pinch and rotation events.	code	twitter
Face Tracking	Face mask sample.	code	twitter
Body Tracking	Dash that follows your hand.	code	twitter
Panorama	360 photo.	code	twitter
Video	360 video.	code	twitter
Custom Animation	Custom object animation. Port of https://github.com/eh3rrera/ARKitAnimation	code	twitter
Widget Projection	Flutter widgets in AR	code	twitter
Real Time Updates	Calls a function once per frame	code
Snapshot	Make a photo of AR content	code
Depth Scene Snapshot	Make a photo of the depth scene using LiDAR	code

If you prefer video here is a playlist with "AR in Flutter" videos:

UX advice

You might want to check the device capabilities before establishing an AR session. Review the Check Support sample for the implementation details.

If your app requires placing objects consider using coaching overlays. Review the Custom Object sample for the implementation details.

TrueDepth / Face Tracking

TrueDepth/face-tracking code is not compiled in by default, so most apps are App Store-safe without any extra configuration.

If your app uses face tracking, opt in by enabling the ENABLE_TRUEDEPTH_API Swift flag. Flutter 3.44+ builds plugins with Swift Package Manager, so follow the SPM steps below. The CocoaPods section applies only to older Flutter versions that still build with CocoaPods — if you've configured SPM, you don't need it.

SPM (Flutter 3.44+) — Add a key to ios/Runner/Info.plist:

<key>ARKitFaceTrackingEnabled</key><true/>

Then clear the SwiftPM manifest cache and DerivedData so Xcode re-evaluates the package manifest with the new value:

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/org.swift.swiftpm/manifests
rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData

Important: clearing the manifest cache is required. SwiftPM caches the evaluated Package.swift keyed on the manifest's own contents, so a change to Info.plist alone does not invalidate it — flutter clean and Xcode's Clean Build Folder are not enough on their own.

For monorepos or other layouts where ios/Runner/Info.plist is not found automatically, use an environment variable instead:

# When building from terminal (flutter run / flutter build)
export ARKIT_FACE_TRACKING_ENABLED=1

# When building from Xcode GUI
launchctl setenv ARKIT_FACE_TRACKING_ENABLED 1

Then clear the SwiftPM manifest cache and DerivedData as above.

CocoaPods (older Flutter versions only) — if your project still builds with CocoaPods instead of SPM, add to ios/Podfile:

post_install do |installer|
  installer.pods_project.targets.each do |target|
    flutter_additional_ios_build_settings(target)
    if target.name == 'arkit_plugin'
      target.build_configurations.each do |config|
        config.build_settings['OTHER_SWIFT_FLAGS'] = '$(inherited) -DENABLE_TRUEDEPTH_API'
      end
    end
  end
end

FAQ

• Is it possible to use this plugin on Android?
  No, as ARKit is not available on Android. You might want to try ARCore plugin instead.
• My app crashes when I open the AR scene several times. Why?
  Most probably that's because you didn't call dispose method on the ARKit controller.
• One of the features I need is merged in the repository, but is not available on pub.dev. How can I use the latest version?
  You may use the latest version by changing the pubspec.yaml dependency to:

dependencies:
  arkit_plugin:
    git: git://github.com/olexale/arkit_flutter_plugin.git

Contributing

If you find a bug or would like to request a new feature, just open an issue. Your contributions are always welcome!