In an Android release build of our Flutter app, we call getApplicationDocumentsDirectory in main.dart (after WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();) in order to initialize Hive (3rd party library used for storage). This has resulted in a crash that only occurs in release builds.

The stacktrace we’re receiving in crashlytics is as follows:

Fatal Exception: io.flutter.plugins.firebase.crashlytics.FlutterError: PlatformException(channel-error, Unable to establish connection on channel., null, null)
       at PathProviderApi.getApplicationDocumentsPath(messages.g.dart:86)
       at .getApplicationDocumentsDirectory(path_provider.dart:121)
       at HiveX.initFlutter(hive_extensions.dart:12)
       at .setupHive(hive_utils.dart:15)
       at .main(main.dart:118)

Here’s what’s in my main.dart file:

void main() async {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();
  await Firebase.initializeApp();
  await FirebaseCrashlytics.instance.setCrashlyticsCollectionEnabled(true);

  // Register crashlytics handlers.
  FlutterError.onError = (errorDetails) {
    FirebaseCrashlytics.instance.recordFlutterError(errorDetails,
        fatal: !(errorDetails.exception is HttpException ||
            errorDetails.exception is SocketException ||
            errorDetails.exception is HandshakeException ||
            errorDetails.exception is ClientException));
  };

  PlatformDispatcher.instance.onError = (error, stack) {
    FirebaseCrashlytics.instance.recordError(error, stack, fatal: true);
    return true;
  };

  // getApplicationDocumentsDirectory called under the hood here
  await Hive.initFlutter();
  await Future.wait(boxes.map((box) async {
    await Hive.openBox<String>(box);
  }).toList());

  runApp(MyApp());
}