" Hackathons " 🧑‍💻💻 is a word every developer knows about, there are dozens of hackathons being organized every day in remote, physical and hybrid modes. If you are someone who loves Flutter and taking part in hackathons (as well as winning them), then you have come to the right post.

What are packages in flutter and why do we need them?

Flutter packages are basically bundles of code that provide specific functionality or features to your Flutter app. These packages can be imported into your project to save development time and effort. They encapsulate reusable code, such as UI components, utilities, or APIs, allowing developers to focus on building their app’s unique features. By leveraging packages, one can avoid reinventing the wheel and benefit from community-contributed solutions. You can explore different flutter packages here - The official repository for Dart and Flutter packages. (pub.dev)

How will these packages be useful?

In most hackathons, it's a race against time. You need to build at least an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) of a project with all the basic necessary functionality. But wouldn't it be nice to put in the same amount of effort and build something much better? That's exactly what these packages will help you achieve.

My top 10 Flutter Packages for hackathons:

• safe_text

  safe_text is a Flutter package designed to filter out offensive and abusive language from text inputs within your application. With its easy-to-use interface, you can integrate powerful profanity filtering capabilities to ensure a safer and more inclusive user experience. This package will be really useful if you are developing any kind of social platform with user generated content. It is much easier to integrate compared to other options like LLMs.

  Official documentation: safe_text | Flutter package (pub.dev)

  • flutter_native_splash

When your app is opened, there is a brief time while the native app loads Flutter. By default, during this time, the native app displays a white splash screen. This package automatically generates iOS, Android, and Web-native code for customizing this native splash screen background color and splash image. Supports dark mode, full screen, and platform-specific options. This package makes it super easy and quick to create splash screens within minutes.

Official documentation: flutter_native_splash | Flutter package (pub.dev)

• chatview

Chatview 💬 is your go-to solution for building a polished and user-friendly text-based messaging interface in your Flutter app. Whether you’re creating a chat app, integrating messaging features, or enhancing user communication, chatview has your back. With its intuitive design and customizable components, you can effortlessly create chat bubbles, message threads, and even add multimedia elements. Say goodbye to reinventing the wheel—chatview streamlines the process, allowing you to focus on what matters: delivering a seamless chat experience to your users.

Official documentation: chatview | Flutter package (pub.dev)

• persistent_bottom_nav_bar_v2

  If you’ve ever created custom bottom navigation bars in Flutter, you know how time-consuming they can be, especially in fast-paced environments like hackathons where time is limited. persistent_bottom_nav_bar_v2 is a highly customizable package that simplifies this process. It comes with 17 prebuilt styles to choose from, but you can also create your own unique style without sacrificing any features¹². This package is a continuation of the original persistent_bottom_nav_bar package, offering even more flexibility and options for your app’s navigation needs.

  Official documentation: persistent_bottom_nav_bar_v2 | Flutter package (pub.dev)

• flutter_animate

  Impress the judges with awesome animations created effortlessly using flutter_animate. It is a performant library that simplifies adding a wide range of animated effects to your Flutter app. With pre-built effects like fade, scale, slide, align, flip, blur, shake, shimmer, shadows, crossfades, follow path, and color effects (including saturation, color, and tint), flutter_animate empowers you to create delightful and dynamic UI experiences effortlessly.

  Official documentation: flutter_animate | Flutter package (pub.dev)

• firebase_ui_auth

  If you’re participating in a hackathon and need to quickly implement user authentication in your Flutter app, FirebaseUI Auth 🔥 is your go-to solution. It provides a drop-in authentication experience, handling UI flows for signing in users with various methods, including email/password, phone numbers, and popular identity providers like Google, Facebook, GitHub, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, OpenID Connect (OIDC), and SAML. With FirebaseUI, you can focus on building your app’s core features without spending precious time on custom authentication flows.

  Official documentation: firebase_ui_auth | Flutter package (pub.dev)

• getwidget

  GetWidget is a comprehensive Flutter UI framework that offers pre-built UI widget components, reducing app development time by at least 40%. With a library of over 1000+ reusable widgets, it provides clean UI components compatible with both mobile and web Flutter app development. Whether you’re building a simple app or a complex project, GetWidget simplifies the process, allowing you to focus on creating delightful user experiences.

  Official documentation: getwidget | Flutter package (pub.dev)

• timelines

  Timelines ⌚ is an innovative Flutter package designed to simplify the creation of timeline-based user interfaces. It offers a wide range of customizable timeline widgets that make it easy to visualize events, processes, and milestones in a sleek, organized manner. Whether you’re developing a personal project or a professional app, Timelines streamlines the process, enabling you to build visually appealing and informative timelines with minimal effort. Its intuitive design and flexible components ensure that you can focus on crafting an engaging user experience, leaving the complexities of timeline creation to the package.

  Official documentation: timelines | Flutter package (pub.dev)

• lottie

  lottie is an essential Flutter package for anyone looking to add high-quality animations to their hackathon project effortlessly. Developed by Airbnb, Lottie allows you to use animations created in Adobe After Effects and exported as JSON with Bodymovin. This package makes it easy to incorporate complex animations without compromising on performance or spending hours coding animations from scratch. With Lottie, you can enhance your app's visual appeal quickly, making your project more engaging and polished in a fraction of the time.

  Official documentation: lottie | Flutter package (pub.dev)

• fl_chart

  fl_chart 📊 is a versatile Flutter package that makes adding beautiful, responsive charts to your hackathon project a breeze. With FL Chart, you can quickly create a wide variety of charts, including line charts, bar charts, pie charts, and more, all with customizable options to fit your app's design. This package is perfect for visualizing data in an appealing and interactive way, allowing you to convey information clearly and effectively. Its user-friendly API and detailed documentation ensure that you can implement charts with minimal effort, saving valuable time and allowing you to focus on other critical aspects of your app.

  Official documentation: fl_chart | Flutter package (pub.dev)

  👋 I hope you found this article helpful in finding the best Flutter packages for your next hackathon. These tools can save you time and help you create amazing apps quickly. If you enjoyed this article and want more tips and tricks, join my newsletter for more awesome content. Let's make app development fun and easy together!