GestureDetector widget in Flutter: Any clickable widget

GestureDetector is a Flutter widget used to detect gestures on a touch screen. When rendering a GestureDetector, the widget captures user gestures such as taps, drags, scrolls, zooming in/out, and double-tap gestures. It can then take different actions depending on the type of gesture that was captured.

You can configure a GestureDetector to respond to a specific gesture or to multiple gestures simultaneously. For example, you can set up a GestureDetector to respond to a single touch or tap, or to detect both vertical and horizontal swipe gestures. Additionally, gestures can also be customized to perform different actions based on the type of interaction the user is trying to perform.

When you start working with Flutter, one of the things that's surprising is that many widgets —Text, Container, Chip, Icon, Image— don't have a built-in onTap. The first time it happened to me I thought: "Now how do I make this clickable?".
The solution always ends up being the same: GestureDetector. In fact, I use it for everything when I can't or don't want to use a traditional button, because the advantage is huge: you can make any widget in Flutter clickable.

As you well know, in Flutter we have all kinds of widgets that we can use for different purposes; some are more useful than others and others are more visual and interact with our user; one surprise is that widgets like texts, images, chips, etc. DO NOT have a property or event to handle the click, tap, or press, whatever you want to call it; since in this way we do not have a way in which we can interact with the touch that our user makes on the screen on one of these components, that is, the click event.

Let's remember that we left off when we learned how to implement a table using the DataTable widget in Flutter.

What is GestureDetector and what is it for?

GestureDetector is an invisible widget that wraps any other widget and detects touch gestures: taps, drags, long presses, zoom, rotations, and more.

In other words:

It transforms any widget into an interactive one.

It works by registering callbacks like:

• onTap
• onDoubleTap
• onLongPress
• onPanStart / Update / End
• onScaleUpdate

In my case, it became the ideal tool when I want a widget that wasn't "born" interactive to respond to a click or tap, especially in custom UI designs.

When to use GestureDetector (and when to avoid it)

Practical Advantages

• Allows any widget (text, images, chips, containers...) to be made clickable.
• It is extremely flexible: you can combine several gestures in a single container.
• Ideal for creating custom interactive components.

Often, when the design requires a beautiful but non-functional widget by default, I simply wrap it with GestureDetector and the problem is solved.

Common Limitations

• It does not have visual feedback animations (InkWell exists for that).
• It may capture too many gestures if the area is not adjusted well.
• In ListViews it can interfere with scrolling if you use horizontal gestures.

Creating our gesture detector

Luckily, Flutter has a widget that allows us to detect multiple types of events, such as onpress (not click) and with this we can interact with our user.

There are multiple types of gestures that we can configure, all of which we can configure through properties like for double tap, swipes, etc; using the 
GestureDetector.

How the gesture system works in Flutter

Flutter handles gestures through the GestureDetector, a system that decides which gesture has priority when several widgets compete for touch events.

Most used touch events

• onTap → Normal Tap
• onDoubleTap → Double Tap
• onLongPress → Long Press
• onPan → Drag in any direction
• onScale → Two-finger Zoom

90% of the time I only need onTap, but when I start working with zoom or drag, GestureDetector gives me total control.

What happens behind the GestureDetector?

Flutter analyzes who was the first to detect the gesture and decides which callback to send the event to. This prevents, for example, a vertical scroll from accidentally blocking a tap.

Configuring the GestureDetector with the onTap/click property

The use of this widget is very easy, we simply have to embed the widget we want to make interactive with our user (the click/onTap event) in the GestureDetector and that's it; for example, we have a CircleAvatar type widget:

CircleAvatar(
        backgroundColor: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorIcon, radix: 16)),
        child: Icon(Icons.access_alarm),
      ), //Text("AC")
      label: Text(chipModel.label,  style: TextStyle(color: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorIcon, radix: 16))),),
        )

And to add the Tap gesture:

return GestureDetector(
        onTap: () {
          print("Container clicked");
        },
        child: Chip(
      
      backgroundColor: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorBg, radix: 16)),
      avatar: CircleAvatar(
        backgroundColor: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorIcon, radix: 16)),
        child: Icon(Icons.access_alarm),
      ), //Text("AC")
      label: Text(chipModel.label,  style: TextStyle(color: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorIcon, radix: 16))),),
        )
        );
  }

This widget, the GestureDetector, has another property that we must implement called onTap, which is equivalent to the click, and as you can guess, it is a function that allows us to detect the events or gestures, the function of the click or tap event of our user or any other; so that this way you can add the click event to any widget.

Making a Chip or Icon clickable

For example, the Chip widget, it is the same as before, we simply add the wrapper over the widget we want to convert so that it can respond with gestures:

GestureDetector( onTap: () { print("Chip pressed"); }, child: Chip( backgroundColor: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorBg, radix: 16)), label: Text( chipModel.label, style: TextStyle( color: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorIcon, radix: 16)), ), ), avatar: CircleAvatar( backgroundColor: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorIcon, radix: 16)), child: Icon(Icons.access_alarm), ), ), );

Detecting multiple gestures in a single widget

onPanStart / Update / End

Many times, we will want to perform multiple operations on a widget, where the gesture changes and from there the action:

GestureDetector(
 onTap: () {
   print("Chip presionado");
 },
 child: Chip(
   backgroundColor: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorBg, radix: 16)),
   label: Text(
     chipModel.label,
     style: TextStyle(
       color: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorIcon, radix: 16)),
     ),
   ),
   avatar: CircleAvatar(
     backgroundColor: Color(int.parse(chipModel.colorIcon, radix: 16)),
     child: Icon(Icons.access_alarm),
   ),
 ),
);

Mobile apps, unlike web or desktop apps, on mobile devices, we have small screens and therefore, we cannot place so many options using buttons or other graphical interface elements, therefore, we usually use events, and this widget is a gem since it allows us to make any element interactive with the user.

onScale for zoom and rotations

Ideal for images or custom maps.

GestureDetector(
 onPanUpdate: (details) {
   print("Moviendo: ${details.delta}");
 },
 child: Container(
   width: 100,
   height: 100,
   color: Colors.orange,
 ),
);

Tips from real experience

Typical errors

• Putting GestureDetector on a widget without size → it detects nothing.
• Forgetting the behavior: HitTestBehavior.translucent.
• Chaining too many GestureDetectors that compete with each other.

My trick

When I need something to look like a button but it is not possible to use a real button, I wrap the widget in GestureDetector + AnimatedContainer to simulate visual feedback.
It looks perfect and maintains total design freedom.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Does GestureDetector replace a button in Flutter?
  • Yes and no. It can replace it if you are looking for design freedom, but if you want standard Material Design animations, use InkWell or ElevatedButton.
• Why doesn't my GestureDetector detect the onTap?
  • Generally because the widget has no size or because another widget is capturing the gesture first.
• Does GestureDetector work inside a ListView?
  • Yes, but avoid using horizontal gestures carelessly because they can compete with scrolling.

Conclusion

GestureDetector is one of those widgets that ends up saving the day again and again. In my case, I constantly use it to turn any widget—from a simple text to a complex Chip—into something clickable.
It's flexible, powerful, and allows you to create completely customized touch experiences.

If you use it well, it completely transforms your interaction with the UI in Flutter.

Next step, learn how to separate or divide the screen into fractions using the FractionallySizedBox widget in Flutter.