Fluent UI
An unofficial Flutter implementation of Microsoft's Windows UI (WinUI) for building native Windows apps with Fluent Design.
What is Fluent UI?
Fluent UI is an unofficial Flutter package that implements Microsoft's Windows UI (WinUI) design system, allowing developers to build native Windows applications with Fluent Design aesthetics. It provides a comprehensive set of widgets and components that mirror WinUI's look and behavior, solving the need for platform-authentic UI in Flutter's Windows support.
Flutter developers targeting Windows platforms who want their apps to adhere to Microsoft's Fluent Design guidelines, especially those building desktop applications that require a native Windows feel.
Developers choose Fluent UI because it offers a production-ready, community-maintained alternative to Material and Cupertino for Windows, with extensive localization, customization options, and close alignment to official WinUI documentation.
Overview
Microsoft's WinUI3 in Flutter.
Use Cases
Best For
- Building Flutter desktop apps that look native on Windows
- Creating Windows applications with Fluent Design System compliance
- Developing cross-platform apps where Windows requires platform-specific UI
- Migrating existing WinUI/UWP projects to Flutter
- Adding Windows UI consistency to multi-platform Flutter projects
- Implementing localized Windows apps with support for 30+ languages
Not Ideal For
- Cross-platform Flutter apps where design consistency across all platforms (e.g., iOS, Android, web) is a higher priority than native Windows feel
- Projects requiring immediate bug fixes or feature additions, due to reliance on a single maintainer who may have limited bandwidth
- Teams that strictly follow Google's Material Design or Apple's Cupertino guidelines, as this package deviates to implement Microsoft's Fluent Design
- Applications needing deep integration with non-Windows-specific Flutter plugins that might not be optimized for Fluent UI's components
Pros & Cons
Pros
Widgets like NavigationView and CommandBar are built based on official WinUI documentation, ensuring they match Microsoft's specifications for a native Windows experience.
Includes out-of-the-box support for over 30 languages, with community contributions and a clear process for adding new localizations, reducing setup for global apps.
Supports custom accent colors or system-level theming via plugins like system_theme, allowing apps to align with brand or user preferences seamlessly.
Open-source with acknowledged contributions for features like acrylic effects and localization, fostering ongoing improvements and plugin integrations.
Cons
The project is maintained by one person, leading to potential delays in reviewing pull requests and addressing issues, as noted in the README.
Unsupported languages can cause app crashes, forcing developers to manually add or manage localizations, which adds complexity and maintenance overhead.
Designed primarily for Windows, so using it in cross-platform Flutter apps may require extra effort to ensure UI consistency on other platforms like mobile or web.
Features such as acrylic effects rely on third-party plugins (e.g., flutter_acrylic), introducing additional dependencies and potential compatibility issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
Desktop EmbeddingExperimental plugins for Flutter for Desktop
Golang Desktop EmbedderFlutter on Windows, MacOS and Linux - based on Flutter Embedding, Go and GLFW.
MacOS UIFlutter widgets and themes implementing the current macOS design language.
Rust Desktop EmbedderBuild beautiful desktop apps with flutter and rust. 🌠 (wip)
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