Flutter Native Bridge: Call Native Code with Zero Boilerplate

If you've ever needed to call native Android or iOS code from Flutter, you know the pain. You write Kotlin code, then Swift code, then Dart code, then wire them all together with MethodChannels. It's tedious, error-prone, and frankly, boring.

What if you could just annotate your native methods and call them directly from Dart?

Introducing Flutter Native Bridge — a plugin that eliminates the boilerplate and lets you focus on what matters: your app's functionality.

The Problem

Here's what calling native code traditionally looks like:

Android (Kotlin)

Kotlin

class MainActivity : FlutterActivity() {
    override fun configureFlutterEngine(flutterEngine: FlutterEngine) {
        super.configureFlutterEngine(flutterEngine)
        MethodChannel(flutterEngine.dartExecutor.binaryMessenger, "my_channel")
            .setMethodCallHandler { call, result ->
                when (call.method) {
                    "getDeviceModel" -> result.success(Build.MODEL)
                    "getBatteryLevel" -> {
                        // More boilerplate...
                    }
                    else -> result.notImplemented()
                }
            }
    }
}

Dart

final channel = MethodChannel('my_channel');
final model = await channel.invokeMethod<String>('getDeviceModel');

Now multiply this by every native feature you need. And don't forget to do it all again for iOS!

The Solution

With Flutter Native Bridge, here's the same functionality:

Android (Kotlin)

Kotlin

@NativeBridge
class DeviceService {
    fun getDeviceModel(): String = Build.MODEL
    fun getBatteryLevel(): Int = getBattery()
}

class MainActivity : FlutterActivity() {
    override fun configureFlutterEngine(flutterEngine: FlutterEngine) {
        super.configureFlutterEngine(flutterEngine)
        FlutterNativeBridge.register(this)  // One line. That's it.
    }
}

iOS (Swift)

Swift

class DeviceService: NSObject {
    @objc func getDeviceModel() -> String {
        return UIDevice.current.model
    }
}

// In AppDelegate
FlutterNativeBridge.register(DeviceService())

Dart

// Generated code with full IDE autocomplete!
final model = await DeviceService.getDeviceModel();
final battery = await DeviceService.getBatteryLevel();

No MethodChannel setup. No switch statements. No boilerplate.

Features

Cross-Platform — Works on both Android and iOS
Minimal Setup — One annotation, one line of registration
Auto-Discovery — Android automatically finds annotated classes
Type-Safe — Generated Dart code with full type support
IDE Autocomplete — Works seamlessly with your IDE
Flexible — Use code generation or runtime calls

Installation

Add to your pubspec.yaml:

YAML

dependencies:
  flutter_native_bridge: ^1.0.0

Quick Start

Step 1: Annotate Your Native Code

Android (Kotlin)

Kotlin

@NativeBridge
class DeviceService {
    fun getModel(): String = Build.MODEL
    fun getVersion(): Int = Build.VERSION.SDK_INT

    @NativeIgnore  // Exclude specific methods
    fun internalMethod() { }
}

iOS (Swift)

Swift

class DeviceService: NSObject {
    @objc func getModel() -> String {
        return UIDevice.current.model
    }

    @objc func getVersion() -> String {
        return UIDevice.current.systemVersion
    }
}

Step 2: Register

Android

Kotlin

class MainActivity : FlutterActivity() {
    override fun configureFlutterEngine(flutterEngine: FlutterEngine) {
        super.configureFlutterEngine(flutterEngine)
        FlutterNativeBridge.register(this)
    }
}

iOS

Swift

// In AppDelegate
FlutterNativeBridge.register(DeviceService())

Step 3: Generate Dart Code

Bash

dart run flutter_native_bridge:generate

Step 4: Use in Dart

Dart

import 'native_bridge.g.dart';

final model = await DeviceService.getModel();
final version = await DeviceService.getVersion();

Runtime API (Without Code Generation)

Don't want to generate code? Use the runtime API:

Dart

import 'package:flutter_native_bridge/flutter_native_bridge.dart';

// Direct call
final model = await FlutterNativeBridge.call<String>(
  'DeviceService',
  'getModel'
);

// Discover all registered classes
final classes = await FlutterNativeBridge.discover();
// {'DeviceService': ['getModel', 'getVersion']}

Android Annotations

Annotation	Target	Description
`@NativeBridge`	Class	Exposes all public methods
`@NativeFunction`	Method	Exposes a single method
`@NativeIgnore`	Method	Excludes a method

Supported Types

Kotlin	Swift	Dart
String	String	String
Int	Int	int
Double	Double	double
Boolean	Bool	bool
List<T>	[T]	List<T>
Map<K,V>	[K:V]	Map<K,V>

Real-World Example

Here's a complete example with a battery service:

Android

Kotlin

@NativeBridge
class BatteryService(private val context: Context) {
    fun getBatteryLevel(): Int {
        val bm = context.getSystemService(Context.BATTERY_SERVICE) as BatteryManager
        return bm.getIntProperty(BatteryManager.BATTERY_PROPERTY_CAPACITY)
    }

    fun isCharging(): Boolean {
        val bm = context.getSystemService(Context.BATTERY_SERVICE) as BatteryManager
        return bm.isCharging
    }
}

iOS

Swift

class BatteryService: NSObject {
    override init() {
        super.init()
        UIDevice.current.isBatteryMonitoringEnabled = true
    }

    @objc func getBatteryLevel() -> Int {
        return Int(UIDevice.current.batteryLevel * 100)
    }

    @objc func isCharging() -> Bool {
        return UIDevice.current.batteryState == .charging
    }
}

Dart

final battery = await BatteryService.getBatteryLevel();
final charging = await BatteryService.isCharging();

print('Battery: $battery% ${charging ? "(Charging)" : ""}');

Why Flutter Native Bridge?

Traditional Approach	Flutter Native Bridge
Manual MethodChannel setup	Auto-configured
Switch statements for routing	Direct method calls
No type safety	Full type safety
Manual iOS + Android sync	Cross-platform generation
Repetitive boilerplate	Zero boilerplate

Get Started

Resources

View on GitHub View on pub.dev

Conclusion

Flutter Native Bridge removes the friction between Flutter and native code. Whether you're accessing device APIs, integrating SDKs, or building platform-specific features, you can now do it with minimal setup.

Just annotate. Register. Call.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

If you found this useful, give the package a like on pub.dev and star the repo on GitHub!

Uttam Panchasara

Flutter Developer with 9+ years of mobile development experience. Skilled in Clean Architecture, Bloc, and performance optimization.

Flutter Native Bridge: Call Native Code with Zero Boilerplate

The Problem

Android (Kotlin)

Dart

The Solution

Android (Kotlin)

iOS (Swift)

Dart

Features

Installation

Quick Start

Step 1: Annotate Your Native Code

Step 2: Register

Step 3: Generate Dart Code

Step 4: Use in Dart

Runtime API (Without Code Generation)

Android Annotations

Supported Types

Real-World Example

Android

iOS

Dart

Why Flutter Native Bridge?

Get Started

Resources

Conclusion

Uttam Panchasara

Want to discuss Flutter development?