Integrating Payments with Stripe in Flutter

Introduction

Integrating secure, PCI-compliant payments is crucial for any Flutter app that charges users for goods or services. With Flutter Stripe payments you gain access to a mature payments platform and a well-maintained SDK. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through setting up Stripe in Flutter, creating payment intents on your backend, and handling payment confirmations in your client. By the end, you’ll have a streamlined Flutter payment integration with Stripe ready for production.

Setting up Stripe in Flutter

1. Add dependencies
   In your pubspec.yaml, include the official Stripe SDK and HTTP client:

dependencies:
  flutter_stripe: ^10.0.0
  http

2. Initialize Stripe
   Initialize the Stripe SDK early in your app (for example in main.dart) with your publishable key:

import 'package:flutter_stripe/flutter_stripe.dart';

void main() {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();
  Stripe.publishableKey = 'pk_test_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX';
  runApp(MyApp());
}

3. Configure platform settings

• iOS: Add necessary entries to Info.plist for ATS and merchant IDs.

• Android: Ensure AndroidManifest.xml has Internet permission and your application ID matches Stripe’s configuration.

Implementing Payment Intents

Flutter Stripe payments relies on Payment Intents for handling complex flows—authentication, SCA (Strong Customer Authentication), and more.

1. Create a Payment Intent on your backend
   Use your preferred server language. Example in Node.js or Python:

// Node.js example with stripe-node
const stripe = require('stripe')(process.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY);

app.post('/create-payment-intent', async (req, res) => {
  const { amount, currency } = req.body;
  const paymentIntent = await stripe.paymentIntents.create({
    amount,
    currency,
    automatic_payment_methods: { enabled: true },
  });
  res.json({ clientSecret: paymentIntent.client_secret });
});

2. Fetch client secret in Flutter

import 'package:http/http.dart' as http;
import 'dart:convert';

Future<String> fetchClientSecret(int amount) async {
  final response = await http.post(
    Uri.parse('https://your-server.com/create-payment-intent'),
    headers: {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
    body: jsonEncode({'amount': amount, 'currency': 'usd'}),
  );
  return jsonDecode(response.body)['clientSecret'];
}

Handling Payment Confirmation

Once you have the client secret, build a payment sheet to collect user card details and confirm the transaction.

1. Initialize the payment sheet

await Stripe.instance.initPaymentSheet(
  paymentSheetParameters: SetupPaymentSheetParameters(
    paymentIntentClientSecret: clientSecret,
    merchantDisplayName: 'Your Store',
  ),
);

2. Present and confirm the sheet

try {
  await Stripe.instance.presentPaymentSheet();
  print('Payment successful!');
} catch (e) {
  print('Error: $e');
}

3. Error handling and post-payment logic

• Catch StripeException for user-cancelled flows or authentication failures.

• Update UI and your backend on payment success or failure for order fulfillment or retries.

Customizing the Payment UI

Beyond the default payment sheet, you can embed individual components:

• CardField for card entry

• PaymentMethodParams.card() for custom confirm calls
  Example:

CardField(
  onCardChanged: (card) {
    setState(() => _card = card);
  },
),
ElevatedButton(
  onPressed: () async {
    if (_card?.complete ?? false) {
      final pm = await Stripe.instance.createPaymentMethod(
        PaymentMethodParams.card(),
      );
      // Confirm with pm.id and clientSecret
    }
  },
  child: Text('Pay'),
),

This gives you full control over layout and user experience during checkout.

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Conclusion

You’ve now integrated Flutter Stripe payments end to end: initializing the SDK, creating and fetching Payment Intents, and handling confirmation with the payment sheet or custom UI. This setup supports SCA, 3DS, and future payment methods as Stripe releases them.