midFlutter
How do you make network requests (HTTP) in Flutter?
Updated Apr 28, 2026
Short answer
By using the http or dio packages to send asynchronous REST API calls.
Deep explanation
You make an HTTP method call (like http.get), await the Future response, check the status code, and then parse the JSON body into Dart model classes using jsonDecode.
Real-world example
Fetching a list of products from a backend Node.js server to display in a GridView.
Common mistakes
- Failing to handle exceptions (like SocketException when offline) which crashes the app.
Follow-up questions
- Why is the Dio package popular?
- How do you handle JSON serialization cleanly?