Hi Anila, In order to build a Flutter chat app, you can make use of the below-listed packages and libraries.

• Flutter SDK
• Dart programming language
• Provider or Riverpod
• Firebase
• Socket.io-client
• CachedNetorkImage
• Dio
• FlutterToast or snackbar

If you feel these processes take a long time, you can simply opt for MirrorFly Flutter chat SDKs and integrate communication functionalities into your Flutter app in < 10 minutes.

Welcome David, I hope you are doing great. To be specific, implementing real-time messaging in your Flutter chat app with MirrorFly is just a 10-minute job. Here, I’ll take you through the step-by-step process.

• Create an account under the MirrorFly Console Page.
• Setup your account process
• Acquire a license key from the ‘overview’ page.
• Download the SDKs.
• Add dependencies for Android, iOS, and Flutter.
• Initialize the SDKs.
• Connect with the MirrorFly Server
• Test and deploy

That’s it. By following the above-mentioned simple procedure, you can integrate real-time messaging functionalities and features with your Flutter app.

Hello Jarvis, I hope you are doing great. While developing a chat app using Flutter and Firebase, it’s crucial to incorporate features that improve the user experience and functionality. Think about the following key elements:

• Contact management
• Multimedia support
• Real-time messaging
• Push notifications
• Typing indicators
• Localization
• Read receipts
• Group chats
• Message history

You can have a look at our Flutter tutorial docs for Flutter codes to implement a full, comprehensive suite of Flutter chat apps.

Hi Alice, It was great to hear this question from you. Firebase aims to simplify and accelerate the development of applications. It provides multiple features and key components for a chat app, as follows:

• Real-time database
• Cloud Firestore
• Authentication
• Firebase cloud messaging
• Cloud Functions
• Hosting and analytics
• Machine Learning Services (ML Kit)

Hello Deepak, Building a chat app in Flutter with Firebase integration involves several steps, as mentioned below.

• Set up the Firebase Project
• Configure Firebase in Flutter
• Initialize Firebase in Flutter
• Implement Authentication
• Create a chat screen
• Use Cloud Firestore
• Implement real-time messaging
• Handle user presence and secure your Firebase database
• Testing and Deployment

By following the above-mentioned steps, you can develop a chat app in Flutter with Firebase integration for any platform.

Hi Ajmal, I hope you are doing great. Well, here are a few reasons why Flutter is utilized for building chat applications with Firebase.
1. Cross-platform development
2. Widget-based UI
3. Hot Reload
4. Firebase Realtime Database
5. Authentication and authorization
6. Cloud Functions
7. Cloud Messaging
8. Scalability and reliability

These are a few reasons to build a chat app using Flutter with Firebase. You can also talk with an expert to learn more about this matter.

You can make a group chat on Flutter by following the simple procedure mentioned below.
1. Setup the Flutter project.
2. Design a user interface.
3. Implement user authentication.
4. Choose a backend service to handle real-time messaging.
5. Implement a feature to create a new group chat.
6. Allow users to send and receive messages in groups.
7. Use real-time capabilities from your backend service.
8. Test and deploy
9. Implement push notifications and features to manage groups.
10. Provide clear documentation for users regarding dos and don’ts.
By following this procedure, you can easily make a group chat on Flutter.

Active user features or presence indicators help you identify the user status in real-time, both online and offline. To add an active user feature to your Flutter messaging app requires several steps, as mentioned below.

Step 1: Track user status management
Step 2: Setup an API for backend integration.
Step 3: Derive app state management
Step 4: Implemetn UI
Step 5: Optimise for real-time updates.

These steps involve several coding lines; refer to the documentation page for coding.

According to the Firebase documentation for Flutter, the Firebase_messaging plugin supports upstream messages. Flutter primarily supports downstream messages, which are messages sent from the server to the client (Flutter). However, upstream messages that are sent by the client and sent to the server are not primarily focused on in the early stages of development. Here is a fix: By directly interacting with FCM APIs, upstream messaging is still possible in the Flutter app. Refer documentation page for steps and codes.

Yes, you can implement push notifications in your Flutter chatting app without using Firebase (FCM). One of the best alternatives is the OneSignal platform. It allows you to facilitate push notifications seamlessly on both Android and iOS messaging platform.

Hello Walt, thank you for your kind words about my article. I’m thrilled to hear that you are interested in our product and how it can help you build a real-time chat app. Here’s a brief intro about us. MirrorFly is a powerful Free chat API provider that is highly preferred by developers for its easy-to-use messaging features and simple integration capabilities. Along with these, it also offers both cloud and self-hosted solutions to build feature-rich chat apps. If you would like to learn more about us, you can schedule a demo with our expert team who would be happy to guide you on your requirements.

And regarding the need to add authentication for your chat app, the ideal option would be to go ahead with firebase integration using MirrorFly’s in-app chat SDK

Hello Saina, thank you for reaching out to us, and great to hear that you are planning to build a healthcare chat app. Yes, we do support the Flutter framework for building chat apps with both voice and video capabilities. And regarding UI kits, we have a pre-built UI kit for iOS, Android, and web apps that can help you jumpstart your healthcare chat app project.

You can get in touch with us by talking to our experts or by sending an email to our support team.

Hello Charles, it is really wonderful news that you have a chat app ready in hand. I’m thrilled to tell you that MirrorFly’s Free chat API offers high-end messaging features to users for recurring monthly packages or one-time license cost. You may also take a look at our pricing page to get more clarity on the pricing options available.
Regarding the SDK integration support, our self-hosted solutionself-hosted solution lets you hire a dedicated development team to help you with the integration right from the start till your app goes live. If you would like to proceed further, please talk to our experts.

Hello Benjamin, thank you for your kind response towards my article. You can notify users about their offline/online status by enabling online presence indicators in your chat service using our Free chat API.Or simply, you may talk to our experts regarding this.

Sure Kennedy! Thanks for your response to my article and please keep coming back for more insights on developer-related articles.

Thanks for such a wonderful response to my article! Very true Ayaz, these days Flutter is highly used to build chat apps along with Firebase services. My best wishes to you.