How to fetch and save the device location periodically while the Flutter app is closed

Question

Recently, I came across a situation where I needed to save the user's current device location every hour. This needs to happen while the app is completely closed (not just minimized or running in the background).

So far, I haven't found any solution capable of achieving this with Flutter.

I even tried using the silent push concept from Firebase Messaging to trigger a message periodically, wake up the app, and save the location.

Example:

FirebaseMessaging.onBackgroundMessage(firebaseMessagingBackgroundHandler);

@pragma('vm:entry-point')
    Future<void> firebaseMessagingBackgroundHandler(RemoteMessage message) async {
      try {
        await getAndSaveLocation();
      } catch (e) {
        log(e.toString());
      }
    }

However, no Flutter package was able to fetch the location while the app was closed (both on Android and iOS).

I also tried using the WorkManager package but had no success.

Is there any solution for this scenario?

I tested the following packages to try to fetch the location:
location, geolocator, and background_location.

If the app is completely quit, I believe you'll need to wake it with a notification that the user must acknowledge. Or, after a bit of googling, you might at least get updates from properly set geofencing. — Randal Schwartz
– Randal Schwartz, Commented Mar 27 at 21:34
@RandalSchwartz Is there any way to collect the location without opening the app and without user interaction? That is my goal at the moment. — GoedertDalmolin
– GoedertDalmolin, Commented Mar 28 at 1:21
have you tried this, might be useful pub.dev/packages/background_fetch @GoedertDalmolin — Abhijith
– Abhijith, Commented Mar 28 at 5:41
@Abhijith I've already tested this package (background_fetch) alongside the geolocator package to obtain location. The issue isn't with generating background tasks. The issue is finding a package that can get the location with the app closed. — GoedertDalmolin
– GoedertDalmolin, Commented Mar 28 at 13:33

twice_flutter · Accepted Answer · 2025-03-28 11:42:37Z

0

You can check out the package flutter_background_geolocation

Also, don't forget to get the

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

permission.

answered Mar 28 at 11:42

twice_flutter

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1 Comment

GoedertDalmolin Mar 28 at 13:31

The problem with this package (flutter_background_geolocation) is that it's paid. I need to generate releases, and I'm not in a position to pay $300 at the moment.

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