In today's mobile app world, real-time messaging is a must-have feature. Whether you're building a social app, customer support platform, or a gaming community, chat functionality brings users closer together. Thanks to Flutter and various Chat SDKs, you can integrate messaging features quickly and efficiently.
In this article, we'll walk through the basics of using a Flutter Chat SDK to build a simple chat app.
What is a Chat SDK?
A Chat SDK (Software Development Kit) provides ready-to-use tools, APIs, and UI components to add chat functionality to your app. Instead of building everything from scratch (which is time-consuming and complex), you can use a chat SDK to:
- Send and receive messages
- Manage conversations
- Handle user presence (online/offline)
- Create group chats
Add features like typing indicators, attachments, and message reactions
Popular Flutter chat SDKs include Mirrorfly Chat Flutter, CometChat Flutter SDK, and Sendbird Flutter SDK.
Basic Steps to Build a Chat App with Flutter Chat SDK
1. Set up Flutter
First, make sure Flutter is installed:
flutter doctor
Create a new project:
flutter create chat_app
cd chat_app
2. Add a Chat SDK Package
For example, using Mirrorfly Chat Flutter: Add it to your pubspec.yaml:
dependencies:
flutter:
sdk: flutter
mirrorfly_chat_flutter: ^7.0.0
Then run:
flutter pub get
3. Initialize the Chat Client
In your main Dart file (main.dart):
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:mirrorfly_chat_flutter/mirrorfly_chat_flutter.dart';
void main() {
final client = MirrorflyClient(
'your_mirrorfly_api_key',
logLevel: Level.INFO,
);
runApp(MyApp(client: client));
}
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
final mirrorfly client;
const MyApp({Key? key, required this.client}) : super(key: key);
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
builder: (context, child) {
return mirrorfly(
client: client,
child: child,
);
},
home: ChannelListPage(),
);
}
}
🔥 Tip: Replace 'your_mirrorfly_api_key' with your actual API key from the mirrorfly dashboard.
- Create a Basic Channel List and Chat Screen You can now list available chat channels and open conversations easily:
class ChannelListPage extends StatelessWidget {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(title: Text('Channels')),
body: ChannelsBloc(
child: ChannelListView(
onChannelTap: (channel) {
Navigator.push(
context,
MaterialPageRoute(
builder: (context) => ChannelPage(channel: channel),
),
);
},
),
),
);
}
}
class ChannelPage extends StatelessWidget {
final Channel channel;
const ChannelPage({Key? key, required this.channel}) : super(key: key);
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return mirrorflyChannel(
channel: channel,
child: Scaffold(
appBar: mirrorflyChannelHeader(),
body: Column(
children: [
Expanded(child: MessageListView()),
MessageInput(),
],
),
),
);
}
}
Conclusion
Using a Flutter Chat SDK saves you a lot of time and provides a powerful, scalable solution for messaging. In just a few steps, you can build a working chat app with real-time messaging, typing indicators, and more.
As your app grows, you can customize the UI, add advanced features like reactions, video calls, or even integrate bots!
If you're starting a project today, using a chat SDK is definitely the smart way to build.
Top comments (4)
Do you have any challenges when it comes to customizing the Baseball Bros Game UI or adding advanced features (like sending files, video calls, chatbots, etc.)? I'm considering using an SDK for a community app, but I'm concerned about the flexibility of future expansion.
Such an amazing guide! 😊 Building a chat app with a Flutter Chat SDK is a really smart move—it saves you tons of time and still gives you super cool messaging features. These days, real-time chat is a must in almost every app—whether it’s for social media, support, or gaming—and tools like Mirrorfly, CometChat, and Sendbird make it sooo much easier to add chat without the headache.
Also, quick tip while building your UI: don’t forget to use Flutter SingleChildScrollView when your content might get too long and needs to scroll like on forms or settings pages. And for easy app navigation, adding a Bottom Navigation Bar in Flutter helps users jump between chats, contacts, and their profile without getting lost. 👇📱
You’ve already got a strong start here and with just a few layout touches and some smooth navigation, your chat app will feel complete and super user-friendly. 🚀💬
This is a great walkthrough for anyone looking to integrate real-time chat into their Flutter apps! Using a Chat SDK like Mirrorfly is definitely a game-changer—it takes away the complexity of building a chat system from scratch and lets developers focus more on user experience and core functionality.
The step-by-step guide is super helpful, especially for beginners who may feel overwhelmed by all the moving parts in a messaging app. Also, including examples for the Channel List and Chat Screen really brings it to life.
As apps become more social and interactive, real-time messaging is no longer optional—it's expected. It’s exciting to see how tools like these empower developers and make scalable chat features accessible to all.
For teams working on workplace or community apps, especially in industries supported by organizations like mahabocw, having the ability to quickly build efficient and secure communication tools is incredibly valuable. Great post!
The article looks really good. After getting to know this, I plan to work with Mirrorfly for my next project.
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