How to get a contact list from your phone in Flutter

Do you need to get a phone number, name, or email from the contact list on your phone in Flutter? If yes, it is a very easy way to implement this functionality in your Flutter project. Sometimes you need this kind of functionality for a client project or personal project development. For that, you need to create a Flutter contact list. It covers everything you need to know, including how to access phone contacts and display them in a list view.

Flutter is a popular framework for building mobile apps, and reading and writing contacts is a common feature in many applications. In this article, we will see flutter_contacts packages for that. You can use other fast_contacts and contacts_service packages to create a Flutter contact list, access phone contacts, and display them in a list view. We will see a Flutter contacts example using the search box.

What is a Flutter Contact List?

A Flutter contact list is a feature that allows you to access and display the contacts stored on a user’s phone. This is useful for apps that require user interaction with their contacts, such as messaging or social networking apps. For example, if you’re working on a project related to reading OTPs from SMS Flutter, having a contact list can make it easier to manage who you’re sending messages to or receiving OTPs from. It integrates smoothly with other Flutter features to enhance the app’s functionality.

Let’s start to get a contact list from your phone in Flutter

Step 1: Create a new Project or open an existing one

1. Open Android Studio.
2. Click on New Flutter Project.
3. Make sure you have selected your Flutter SDK Path. Click Next
4. Enter the Project Name, Project Location (where you need to put the project),
5. Select the project type (Default Application).
6. Enter Organization
7. Select Android and iOS languages (default: Kotlin and Swift).
8. Select Platforms (On which platform you want to run the project).
9. Click on Finish button.
10. Now wait for the project to finish building.

Step 2: Adding the flutter_contacts Package in the pubspec.yaml

• Open the pubspec.yaml file from the left panel of the project directory.
• Add the flutter_contacts package under dependencies.
• Add the permission_handler package under dependencies.

dependencies: 
flutter_contacts: ^1.1.8
#fast_contacts: ^3.1.3
#contacts_service: ^0.6.3
permission_handler: ^11.3.1

• Click on Pub get to retrieve packages in the project.

Step 3: Modify AndroidManifest.xml (for Android)

• Add the READ_CONTACTS and WRITE_CONTACTS permission to the Android Manifest file. Go to android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
• Add READ_CONTACTS and WRITE_CONTACTS permission before <application> tag.

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_CONTACTS" />

Step 4: Add the following to your app’s info.plist for iOS build

<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    ...
    <key>NSContactsUsageDescription</key>
    <string>we need access to the contact list</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Step 5: Import the Package

In your Dart file, import the flutter_contacts and permission_handler package.

import 'package:flutter_contacts/flutter_contacts.dart';
// import 'package:fast_contacts/fast_contacts.dart'; // Uncomment this line when you use the fast_contacts package.
import 'package:permission_handler/permission_handler.dart';

Step 6: Ask a user permission to access the contact list from the phone

@override
void initState() {
      super.initState();
      _askPermissions();
}

Future<void> _askPermissions() async {
        PermissionStatus permissionStatus = await _getContactPermission();
        print("$permissionStatus");
        if (permissionStatus == PermissionStatus.granted) {
                getAllContacts();
        } else {
              _handleInvalidPermissions(permissionStatus);
        }
}

Future<PermissionStatus> _getContactPermission() async {
          PermissionStatus permission = await Permission.contacts.status;
          if (permission != PermissionStatus.granted && 
               permission != PermissionStatus.permanentlyDenied) {
                         PermissionStatus permissionStatus = await Permission.contacts.request();
                         return permissionStatus;
           } else {
                         return permission;
           }
}

void _handleInvalidPermissions(PermissionStatus permissionStatus) {
if (permissionStatus == PermissionStatus.denied) {
          final snackBar = SnackBar(content: Text('Access to contact data denied'));
         ScaffoldMessenger.of(context).showSnackBar(snackBar);
} else if (permissionStatus == PermissionStatus.permanentlyDenied) {
         final snackBar = SnackBar(content: Text('Contact data not available on device'));
         ScaffoldMessenger.of(context).showSnackBar(snackBar);
}
}

void getAllContacts() async {

     // Get all contacts on device // read contact list

     List<Contact> contacts = await FlutterContacts.getContacts();
   // List<Contact> contacts = await FastContacts.getAllContacts(); // Uncomment this line when you use the fast_contacts package.

     for (var contact in contacts) {
         // Implement logic to get name, phone, and email using below(access contacts):
        
          // Get Name 
          print(contact.displayName);

         // Get Phones 
          print(contact.phones.isNotEmpty ? contact.phones[0].number : "");

        // Get Emails 
          print(contact.emails.isNotEmpty ? contact.emails[0].address : "");

     }
}

Step 7: Write contact into the phone contact list

// Insert new contact (write contacts)

final newContact = Contact()
..name.first = firstNameController.text // Get text from your first name controller
..name.last = lastNameController.text  // Get text from your last name controller
..phones = [
Phone(
"$selectedCountryCode${mobileController.text}") // Added with country code here.
]
..emails = [Email(emailController.text)]; // Get text from your email controller
await FlutterContacts.insertContact(newContact);

 

 

Conclusion

Rather than using the flutter_contacts package, if you want to get a quick contact list, then I will suggest you use the fast_contacts package. Using the above steps, you can get a phone number, name, or email from the contact list on your phone, and you can also create or add a new contact list in your Flutter project. There are so many ways you can bind the data to display your contact list. Here, we explain a very simple way to understand the flow of the Flutter contact list. We explain using the flutter_contacts and fast_contacts packages. You can also implement it using the contacts_service package.

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