Flutter – Acess device all videos and images in Android 14

To access all images and videos from a device running up to Android 14 (API level 30) in a Flutter app, you’ll need to handle permissions and use appropriate packages. The permission_handler package will help manage permissions, and photo_manager to fetch media files. Here’s a brief overview of the steps and some code snippets to help guide you:

1.Add Dependencies
Add the necessary packages to your pubspec.yaml file.

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  permission_handler: ^10.2.0
  photo_manager: ^1.3.5

Then run flutter pub get to install the packages.

2.Handle Permissions
You need to request permission to access photos and media files.

import 'package:permission_handler/permission_handler.dart';

Future<void> requestPermission() async {
  PermissionStatus status = await Permission.photos.request();
  if (status.isGranted) {
    // Permission granted, you can access photos and media files
  } else {
    // Handle permission denial
  }
}

3.Fetch Images and Videos
You can use the photo_manager package to fetch media files.

import 'package:photo_manager/photo_manager.dart';

Future<void> fetchImagesAndVideos() async {
  // Request permission to access photos
  await requestPermission();

  // Fetch all media
  List<AssetPathEntity> media = await PhotoManager.getAssetPathList(
    type: RequestType.common,
  );

  // Iterate over the media and separate images and videos
  for (var path in media) {
    List<AssetEntity> assets = await path.assetList;
    for (var asset in assets) {
      if (asset.type == AssetType.image) {
        // This is an image
        // Do something with the image
      } else if (asset.type == AssetType.video) {
        // This is a video
        // Do something with the video
      }
    }
  }
}

4.Handle Android Permissions in the AndroidManifest.xml
Edit your android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml to include necessary permissions:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" android:maxSdkVersion="28" />

5.Handle Scoped Storage for Android 11+
For devices running Android 11 (API level 30) and above, you’ll have to handle scoped storage. Consider reading through Android’s scoped storage documentation for more details.

6.Build and Run
After setting everything up, try building and running your app. Ensure that the permissions work correctly, and you are able to fetch images and videos.

Note: Always ensure to handle permissions gracefully and inform the user why the permissions are necessary.