Xamarin.Plugins

Cross-platform Native API Access from Shared Code!

1,292

375

1,292

View on GitHub

Top Related Projects

Xamarin.Forms

5,600

Xamarin.Forms is no longer supported. Migrate your apps to .NET MAUI.

Quick Overview

Xamarin.Plugins is a collection of cross-platform plugins for Xamarin and Windows applications. These plugins provide easy access to common functionality across iOS, Android, and Windows devices, allowing developers to write shared code that works seamlessly across platforms.

Pros

Simplifies cross-platform development by providing consistent APIs for common tasks
Regularly updated and maintained by the community
Extensive documentation and sample projects available
Supports a wide range of functionality, from device settings to media plugins

Cons

Some plugins may have platform-specific limitations or inconsistencies
Dependency on third-party libraries may increase app size
Learning curve for developers new to Xamarin or cross-platform development
Not all plugins are updated at the same frequency, leading to potential version mismatches

Code Examples

Using the Connectivity Plugin to check network status:

using Plugin.Connectivity;

if (CrossConnectivity.Current.IsConnected)
{
    // Device is connected to the internet
}
else
{
    // Device is not connected to the internet
}

Accessing device information with the Device Info Plugin:

using Plugin.DeviceInfo;

var deviceId = CrossDeviceInfo.Current.Id;
var deviceModel = CrossDeviceInfo.Current.Model;
var deviceManufacturer = CrossDeviceInfo.Current.Manufacturer;

Using the Media Plugin to pick a photo from the device:

using Plugin.Media;

await CrossMedia.Current.Initialize();

if (CrossMedia.Current.IsPickPhotoSupported)
{
    var file = await CrossMedia.Current.PickPhotoAsync();
    if (file != null)
    {
        // Use the picked photo
    }
}

Getting Started

Install the desired plugin via NuGet Package Manager:
```
Install-Package Xam.Plugin.Connectivity
```

Add the following to your AssemblyInfo.cs file:

[assembly: UsesPermission(Android.Manifest.Permission.AccessNetworkState)]

Initialize the plugin in your app's startup code:

CrossConnectivity.Current.ConnectivityChanged += (sender, args) =>
{
    // Handle connectivity changes
};

Use the plugin in your code as shown in the examples above.

Competitor Comparisons

Xamarin.Forms

5,600

Xamarin.Forms is no longer supported. Migrate your apps to .NET MAUI.

Pros of Xamarin.Forms

Comprehensive framework for cross-platform mobile development
Extensive documentation and official support from Microsoft
Large community and ecosystem of third-party libraries

Cons of Xamarin.Forms

Steeper learning curve for developers new to the framework
Larger app size compared to native development
Performance can be slower than native apps for complex UIs

Code Comparison

Xamarin.Forms (XAML):

<ContentPage xmlns="http://xamarin.com/schemas/2014/forms"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml"
             x:Class="MyApp.MainPage">
    <StackLayout>
        <Label Text="Welcome to Xamarin.Forms!" />
    </StackLayout>
</ContentPage>

Xamarin.Plugins (C#):

using Plugin.Permissions;
using Plugin.Permissions.Abstractions;

public async Task<bool> CheckPermissions()
{
    var status = await CrossPermissions.Current.CheckPermissionStatusAsync<LocationPermission>();
    return status == PermissionStatus.Granted;
}

The Xamarin.Forms code snippet shows a basic XAML page structure, while the Xamarin.Plugins example demonstrates how to check for location permissions using a plugin. Xamarin.Forms provides a complete UI framework, whereas Xamarin.Plugins offers specific functionality to enhance Xamarin applications.

Rg.Plugins.Popup

1,146

Xamarin Forms popup plugin

Pros of Rg.Plugins.Popup

Specialized focus on popup functionality for Xamarin.Forms
Lightweight and easy to implement for specific popup needs
Active development and frequent updates

Cons of Rg.Plugins.Popup

Limited scope compared to the broader range of plugins in Xamarin.Plugins
May require additional plugins for other functionalities
Less integrated with other Xamarin features

Code Comparison

Rg.Plugins.Popup:

public partial class MyPopupPage : PopupPage
{
    public MyPopupPage()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }
}

Xamarin.Plugins (using Settings plugin):

CrossSettings.Current.AddOrUpdateValue("key", "value");
var value = CrossSettings.Current.GetValueOrDefault("key", "defaultValue");

Summary

Rg.Plugins.Popup is a specialized plugin for handling popups in Xamarin.Forms applications. It offers a focused solution for developers needing robust popup functionality. On the other hand, Xamarin.Plugins provides a wider range of plugins covering various aspects of mobile development.

Rg.Plugins.Popup is ideal for projects requiring advanced popup features, while Xamarin.Plugins offers a more comprehensive toolkit for diverse mobile development needs. The choice between the two depends on the specific requirements of your project and whether you need a specialized popup solution or a broader set of plugins.

Convert designs to code with AI

Introducing Visual Copilot: A new AI model to turn Figma designs to high quality code using your components.

Try Visual Copilot

README

Plugins for .NET, Xamarin, and Windows

Here is my essential list of official and community plugins and libraries for applications. You will find a lot of Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms libraries, but also great libraries for .NET that can help power your apps. If you have a favorite library or are the creator of one, please send a PR!

Xamarin.Essentials: The stuff your app needs

Xamarin.Essentials gives developers essential cross-platform APIs for their mobile applications. Xamarin.Essentials exposes over 60 native APIs in a single cross-platform package for developers to consume in their iOS, Android, UWP, or Xamarin.Forms application. Browse through the documentation on how to get started today.

The repository for Xamarin.Essentials can be found at https://github.com/xamarin/Essentials. If you have any suggestions or feature requests, or if you find any issues, please open a new issue.

If you have bene using my plugins, I will continue to support the ones that aren't in Xamarin.Essentials, but I recommend you transition using my guide.

Shiny: That complex stuff made easy

Shiny is an amazing project from Allan Ritchie, Microsoft MPV and long time Xamarin developer, that makes really complex native functionality easy. This includes things such at Bluetooth LE, Background Jobs, HTTP Transers, Push Notifications, NFC, and more.

Community Provided Open Source Plugins

Plugins for Xamarin are community built NuGet and Components that add cross-platform functionality or abstracts platform specific functionality to a common API. These are both completely cross-platform and extremely small (i.e., they do 1 or 2 things really well with minimal-to-no dependencies). The Plugin API can be accessed on each platform, however, you will most likely only use the common API in a .NET Standard project.

Notice: Plugins for Xamarin featured here are produced by the amazing open source community of Xamarin developers. Xamarin does not provide official support for these plugins, please contact their creator with any issues.

Browse through the most popular plugins out there today!

Name	Description	NuGet	Docs & Source	Creator
Audio Recorder	Record audio on a device's microphone input.	NuGet	GitHub	@NateRickard
Barcode Scanner	Scan and create barcodes with ZXing.NET.Mobile.	NuGet	GitHub	@Redth
Breach Detector	Detect root, emulation, debug mode and other security concerns.	NuGet	GitHub	@nmilcoff
Calendar	Query and modify device calendars	NuGet	GitHub	Caleb Clarke
Config	Define the settings of the application for each environment in which it will run.	NuGet	GitHub	@abonilla93
Custom Vision	Runs CoreML and TensorFlow models from https://CustomVision.ai on device	NuGet	GitHub	@JimBobBennett
File Picker	Pick and save files.	NuGet	GitHub	@studyxnet
File Uploader	Upload files using multipart request.	NuGet	GitHub	@rdelrosario
Fingerprint	Access Fingerprint sensor on iOS, Android, and Windows.	NuGet	GitHub	@smstuebe
Geolocator	Easily detect GPS location of device.	NuGet	GitHub	@JamesMontemagno
Identity Document Scanning	Enable scanning of various identity documents in your app.	NuGet	GitHub	@microblink
In-App Billing	Make, Query, and get In-App Purchases and Subscriptions.	NuGet	GitHub	@JamesMontemagno
Media	Take or pick photos and videos.	NuGet	GitHub	@JamesMontemagno
Media Manager	Playback for Audio and Video.	NuGet	GitHub	@mhvdijk
Multilingual Plugin	Simple cross platform plugin for handling language localization.	NuGet	GitHub	@CrossGeeks
Screenshot	Get and save a screenshot of your apps.	NuGet	GitHub	@wilson_vargasm
Speech Recognition	Speech to Text.	NuGet	GitHub	@allanritchie911
Simple Audio Player	Play multiple MP3 or wave files from a shared library.	NuGet	GitHub	@adrianstevens
Store Review	Ask for store review or launch app store page.	NuGet	GitHub	@jamesmontemagno
Toast	A simple way of showing toast/pop-up notifications.	NuGet	GitHub	@AdamPed & @EgorBo
User Dialogs	Message box style dialogs.	NuGet	GitHub	@allanritchie911

Data Caching & Databases

Name	Description	NuGet	Docs & Source	Creator
Akavache	An asynchronous, persistent (i.e. writes to disk) key-value store.	NuGet	GitHub	@paulcbetts
Cosmos DB	Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model database service.	NuGet	GitHub	@azurecosmosdb
LiteDB	LiteDB - A .NET NoSQL Document Store in a single data file	NuGet	GitHub	@mbdavid
ð Monkey Cache	Cache any data structure for a specific amount of time with minimal dependencies.	NuGet	GitHub	@jamesmontemagno
Mono.Data.Sqlite	Add Mono.Data.Sqlite to any Xamarin or Windows .NET app.	NuGet	GitHub	@mattleibow
Realm	Realm is a mobile database: a replacement for SQLite and ORMs.	NuGet	GitHub	@realm
SQLite-net	Simple, powerful, cross-platform SQLite client and ORM for .NET	NuGet	GitHub	@praeclarum

Awesome .NET Libraries For Apps

These are just some awesome libraries that work in any .NET app!

Name	Description	NuGet	Docs & Source	Creator
AnyBind	Easily bind ViewModel to one or more Models.	NuGet	GitHub	Alexander Kvenvolden
Expressive	Expression parsing and evaluation framework	NuGet	GitHub	Shawn Lawrence
HttpTracer	Simple tracing library to capture HTTP request/responses.	NuGet	GitHub	BSi Labs
MvvmHelpers	Collection of small MVVM helpers for app devs.	NuGet	GitHub	Creator
Portable Razor	Lightweight implemenation of ASP.NET MVC APIs for mobile.	NuGet	GitHub	@JosephHill
Sockets	TCP & UDP Listeners and Clients + UDP multicast.	NuGet	GitHub	@rdavis_au
TinyInsights	Abstraction for one or more analytics providers from shared code.	NuGet	GitHub	TinyStuff Team

MVVM Frameworks

Xamarin.Forms and Windows has MVVM built right, but perhaps you want to go farther and need more. Checkout these great libraries to help you out:

FreshMvvm - A super light Mvvm Framework designed specifically for Xamarin.Forms. It's designed to be Easy, Simple and Flexible.
MvvmAtom - Provides the middle ground by providing the base classes and wiring for most commonly used MVVM feature.
MvvmCross - Build clean, pixel perfect, native UIs. Share behavior and business logic in a single codebase across supported platforms, using the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) design pattern.
MvvmLight - The main purpose of the toolkit is to accelerate the creation and development of MVVM applications in Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, Xamarin.Forms, Windows 10 UWP, & Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).
Prism - Prism is a framework for building loosely coupled, maintainable, and testable XAML applications in WPF, Windows 10 UWP, and Xamarin.Forms.
Xamarin.Forms Mvvm Adaptor - ViewModel-first mvvm framework for Xamarin.Forms. Lightweight, it adapts Xamarin's existing mvvm engine.

UI Controls - Vendors

Looking for controls for your apps? These vendors have absolutely everything that you need. Many offer free trials, community editions or a free version.

Checkout the awesome trailer for these controls on YouTube.

UI Controls - Community

Here are some awesome UI controls for your Xamarin.Forms apps!

Name	Description	NuGet	Docs & Source	Creator
AutoForms	Auto generated Xamarin.Forms UI from your Domain Models	NuGet	GitHub	Patrick Abadi, Daniel Packard
AutoSuggestBox	Auto-complete/suggestion textbox control	NuGet	GitHub	dotMorten
Bit controls	Multi calendar date time picker based on noda time and a few other controls.	NuGet	GitHub	Bit foundation
Breadcrumb	Automatically generated breadcrumb navigation control for Xamarin.Forms.	NuGet	GitHub	Ieuan Walker
Color Picker	An interactive and responsive Color Picker Control for Xamarin.Forms based on SkiaSharp!	NuGet	GitHub	Udara Alwis
Debug Rainbows	Overlay grids to help manage layouts.	NuGet	GitHub	Steven Thewissen
FFImageLoading	Image loading with caching, placeholders, transformations and more	NuGet	GitHub	@molinch, @daniel-luberda
Glidex.Forms	Glidex.Forms is a library using Glide for faster Xamarin.Forms images on Android.	NuGet	GitHub	@jonathanpeppers
FloatingActionMenu	Floating action menu, inspired by the material design floating action button.	NuGet	GitHub	DIPS AS Team
MagicGradients	Gradients everywhere! Powered by SkiaSharp	NuGet	GitHub	Marcin GierlasiÅski
Material Design Controls for Xamarin.Forms	The suite of Material Design controls with a feature-rich. Create fast, beautiful, and cross-platform mobile apps.	NuGet	GitHub	Horus Studio
MtAdmob	Add Google Admob banners, interstitials and rewarded videos to Android and iOS with a single line of code.	NuGet	GitHub	@marcojak
PancakeView	An extended ContentView for Xamarin.Forms with rounded corners, borders, shadows and more.	NuGet	GitHub	Steven Thewissen
Popup	Custom popups with a nice modality feed to it.	NuGet	GitHub	DIPS AS Team
Shared Transitions	Des	NuGet	GitHub	Giampaolo Gabba
Sheet	Sliding bottom / top sheet control.	NuGet	GitHub	DIPS AS Team
Sharpnado	Collection of controls including Tabs, TaskLoaderVIew, and more.	NuGet	GitHub	Jean-Marie Alfonsi
Skeleton for Xamarin.Forms	The latest trend for loading approaches in Xamarin Forms apps.	NuGet	GitHub	Horus Studio
SkiaSharp	Cross-platform 2D graphics API for .NET powered by Skia	NuGet	GitHub	Mono Team
SkiaSharp for Xamarin.Forms	Cross-platform 2D graphics API for Xamarin.Forms powered by Skia	NuGet	GitHub	Mono Team
StateButton	With this control you are able to create any style of button. This is possible as it acts as a wrapper to your XAML and provides you the events/ commands and properties to bind too.	Nuget	GitHub	Ieuan Walker
StateSquid	Turn any layout into an individual state-aware element	Nuget	GitHub	Steven Thewissen
Switch	A switch control that allows you to design/ create any switch you want	Nuget	GitHub	Ieuan Walker
TouchEffect	Make Xamarin.Forms views touch-responsive without TapGestureRecognizer.	NuGet	GitHub	Andrei Misiukevich
TrendGraph	Display a trend graph in your mobile app.	NuGet	GitHub	DIPS AS Team
Xamanimation	An awesome animation library for Xamarin.Forms	NuGet	GitHub	Creator
Xamlly	Control library featuring progress, switch, toggle button, and more.	NuGet	GitHub	Mohamed Elshawaf

Great Utilities

These are things that your app needs, but aren't UI or normal libraries such as Visual Studio extensions or other magic build time things.

Name	Description	NuGet	Docs & Source	Creator
Mobile Tasks for Azure DevOps	Tasks to update version numbers & package information	VS Marketplace	GitHub	James Montemagno
Mobile.BuildTools	Handle Project Secrets, Process SCSS to Xamarin.Forms CSS, Cross platform image management, White-Labeling and more powered by MSBuild.	NuGet	GitHub	Dan Siegel
ResizetizerNT	Add & Resize SVGs and PNGs to your shared projects.	NuGet	GitHub	Jon Dick
VSMac-CodeCoverage	Gather code coverage results for your unit test projects from Visual Studio for Mac.	mpack install	GitHub	Arthur Demanuele
VSMac-CodeDistribution	A Visual Studio for Mac extension that visualises code distribution between projects. Particularly useful for Xamarin projects to understand the amount of code shared between platforms.	mpack install	GitHub	Arthur Demanuele

Create a Plugin for Xamarin

If you are looking to create a plugin be sure to browse through NuGet first and ensure that the plugin doesn't exist. If one does join in on the fun and collaborate. If it doesn't and you want to start building a Plugin here are some tools and guidelines to get you started.

Tools to get Started

Visual Studio Plugin Templates: Provides a complete plugin template and easy NuGet specification to publish.
Using & Developing Plugins for Xamarin: Join Developer Evangelist James Montemagno as he walks you through creating a plugin from scratch on Xamarin University

Requirements of a Plugin

Open source on GitHub
Documentation on GitHub's README file
Name: "FEATURE_NAME Plugin for Xamarin and Windows"
Namespace: Plugin.FEATURE_NAME
App-store friendly OSS license (we like MIT)
No dependency on Xamarin.Forms
Have a list of supported and unsupported OSs in its GitHub wiki

License

Licensed under MIT see License file. Each plugin licensed under parent license unless stated in it's readme file.

Want To Support This Project?

All I have ever asked is to be active by submitting bugs, features, and sending those pull requests down! Want to go further? Make sure to subscribe to my weekly development podcast Merge Conflict, where I talk all about awesome Xamarin goodies and you can optionally support the show by becoming a supporter on Patreon.

Top Related Projects

Xamarin.Forms

5,600

Xamarin.Forms is no longer supported. Migrate your apps to .NET MAUI.

Rg.Plugins.Popup

1,146

Xamarin Forms popup plugin

Convert designs to code with AI

Introducing Visual Copilot: A new AI model to turn Figma designs to high quality code using your components.

Try Visual Copilot