🏆 Winner of the 2023 OnePub Community Choice Awards.

Alarm plugin for iOS and Android

This plugin offers a straightforward interface to set and cancel alarms on both iOS and Android devices. Using native code, it handles audio playback, vibrations, system volume, and notifications seamlessly.

🔧 Installation steps

Please carefully follow these installation steps. They have been updated for plugin version 3.0.0.

iOS Setup

Android Setup

📖 How to use

Add to your pubspec.yaml:

flutter pub add alarm

First, you have to initialize the Alarm service in your main function:

WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();
await Alarm.init()

Then, you have to define your alarm settings:

final alarmSettings = AlarmSettings(
  id: 42,
  dateTime: dateTime,
  assetAudioPath: 'assets/alarm.mp3',
  loopAudio: true,
  vibrate: true,
  volume: 0.8,
  fadeDuration: 3.0,
  warningNotificationOnKill: Platform.isIOS,
  androidFullScreenIntent: true,
  notificationSettings: const NotificationSettings(
    title: 'This is the title',
    body: 'This is the body',
    stopButton: 'Stop the alarm',
    icon: 'notification_icon',
  ),
);

And finally set the alarm:

await Alarm.set(alarmSettings: alarmSettings)

Property	Type	Description
id	int	Unique identifier of the alarm.
alarmDateTime	DateTime	The date and time you want your alarm to ring.
assetAudio	String	The path to you audio asset you want to use as ringtone. Can be a path in your assets folder or a local file path with android permission.
notificationSettings	NotificationSettings	Settings for notification title, body, icon and action buttons (only stop at the moment).
loopAudio	bool	If true, audio will repeat indefinitely until alarm is stopped.
vibrate	bool	If true, device will vibrate indefinitely until alarm is stopped. If [loopAudio] is set to false, vibrations will stop when audio ends.
volume	double	Sets system volume level (0.0 to 1.0) at [dateTime]; reverts on alarm stop. Defaults to current volume if null.
fadeDuration	double	Duration, in seconds, over which to fade the alarm volume. Set to 0.0 by default, which means no fade.
warningNotificationOnKill	bool	Whether to show a notification when application is killed to warn the user that the alarm he set may not ring. Recommanded for iOS. Enabled by default.
androidFullScreenIntent	bool	Whether to turn screen on when android alarm notification is triggered. Enabled by default.

If you enabled warningNotificationOnKill, you can choose your own notification title and body by using this method before setting your alarms:

await Alarm.setWarningNotificationOnKill(title, body)

This is how to stop/cancel your alarm:

await Alarm.stop(id)

This is how to run some code when alarm starts ringing. I implemented it as a stream so even if your app was previously killed, your custom callback can still be triggered.

Alarm.ringStream.stream.listen((_) => yourOnRingCallback());

You can also listen to the Alarm.updateStream to know when an alarm is added, updated, or stopped.

To avoid unexpected behaviors, if you set an alarm for the same time, down to the second, as an existing one, the new alarm will replace the existing one.

📱 Example app

Don't hesitate to check out the example's code, and take a look at the app:

⏰ Alarm behaviour

	Sound	Vibrate	Volume	Notification
Locked screen	✅	✅	✅	✅
Silent / Mute	✅	✅	✅	✅
Do not disturb	✅	✅	✅	Silenced
Sleep mode	✅	✅	✅	Silenced
While playing other media	✅	✅	✅	✅
App killed	🤖	🤖	🤖	✅

✅ : iOS and Android.
🤖 : Android only.
Silenced: Means that the notification is not shown directly on the top of the screen. You have to go in your notification center to see it.

❓ FAQ

Why didn't my alarm fire on iOS?

Several factors could prevent your alarm from ringing:

• Your iPhone was restarted (either from a manual reboot or due to an iOS update).
• The app was either manually terminated or was closed because of memory constraints.

My alarm is not firing on a specific Android device

Some Android manufacturers prefer battery life over proper functionality of your apps. Check out dontkillmyapp.com to find out about more about optimizations done by different vendors, and potential workarounds. Most common solution is to educate users to disable battery optimization settings. Source: android_alarm_manager_plus FAQ

Why can’t I dismiss my Android alarm notification?

The alarm plugin uses Android’s Foreground Service to ensure the alarm can trigger even if the app is killed. For Android 12+, notifications from foreground services cannot be dismissed due to new Android rules. This ensures users are always aware of ongoing processes that might affect battery life or device performance.

How can I increase the reliability of the alarm ringing?

The more time the app spends in the background, the higher the chance the OS might stop it from running due to memory or battery optimizations. Here's how you can optimize:

• Battery Optimization: Educate users to disable battery optimization on Android.
• Regular App Usage: Encourage users to open the app at least once a day.
• Leverage Background Modes: Engage in activities like weather API calls that keep the app active in the background.
• User Settings: Educate users to refrain from using 'Do Not Disturb' and 'Low Power Mode' when they're expecting the alarm to ring.

How can I make my alarm periodic ?

While periodic alarms can be implemented on Android, this is not feasible for iOS. To maintain consistency between both platforms, I will not be adding this feature to the package (except if a solution is found). As an alternative, you could store the scheduled days for alarms and reset them for the upcoming week each time the app is launched.

Related issue here.

Why does my app crash on iOS?

Crashes such as EXC_BAD_ACCESS KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS occur if Alarm.set and Alarm.stop methods are called concurrently, as they both modify shared resources. To prevent this, ensure each method call is completed before starting the next by using the await keyword in Dart:

await Alarm.set
await Alarm.stop

This approach ensures safe and exclusive access to shared resources, preventing crashes.

Why was my app rejected by the App Store for guideline issues?

The rejection may relate to plugin's background audio functionality, essential for alarm apps. Clarify in your submission that background activity is crucial for your alarm app to notify users effectively. Ensure compliance with Apple's guidelines on background processes.

For more guidance, see: App Store Rejection Issues.

⚙️ Under the hood

Android

Leverages a foreground service with AlarmManager scheduling to ensure alarm reliability, even if the app is terminated. Utilizes AudioManager for robust alarm sound management.

iOS

Keeps the app awake using a silent AVAudioPlayer until alarm rings. When in the background, it also uses Background App Refresh to periodically ensure the app is still active.

✉️ Feature request

If you have a feature request, just open an issue explaining clearly what you want and if you convince me I will develop it for you.

💙 Contributing

We welcome contributions to this plugin! If you would like to make a change or add a new feature, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository and create a new branch for your changes.
2. Make your changes
3. Run flutter format to ensure that your code is correctly formatted.
4. Submit a pull request with a detailed description of your changes.

These are some features that I have in mind that could be useful:

• [Android] Reschedule alarms after device reboot.
• Use ffigen and jnigen binding generators to call native code more efficiently instead of using method channels.
• Stop alarm sound when notification is dismissed.

Thank you for considering contributing to this plugin. Your help is greatly appreciated!

🙏 Special thanks to the main contributors 🇫🇷

• evolum
• WayUp

❤️ Let me know if you like the plugin by liking it on pub.dev and starring the repo on Github 🙂