[firebase_performance]: Network requests made via dart:io HttpClient are not collected automatically on Android, contrary to docs #18762

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues.

Which plugins are affected?

Performance

Which platforms are affected?

Android

Description

The Firebase docs for Flutter state:

"Performance Monitoring automatically collects metrics for network requests that use HttpClient.enableTimelineLogging."
https://firebase.google.com/docs/perf-mon/network-traces?platform=flutter

On Android, requests made with Dart's dart:io HttpClient (via package:http's default IOClient, used by Chopper and by image loading) are not reported, even with HttpClient.enableTimelineLogging = true. Requests made by native SDKs in the same app (Facebook SDK, MoEngage) are reported.

Expected: a Logging network request trace: <url> (responseCode: ..., responseTime: ...) line for each Dart-side request, as the docs describe.

Actual: only native SDK traffic is logged, for example:

I FirebasePerformance: Logging network request trace: https://graph.facebook.com/v24.0/<id>/activities (responseCode: 200, responseTime: 470.825ms)

No lines appear for the app's own Chopper / http requests or image loads.

Questions

• Is automatic collection of dart:io requests actually supported, and if so, under what conditions?
• If not, the docs sentence should be corrected (or point to HttpMetric), and it may belong in firebase-docs rather than this repo.

Reproducing the issue

1. Add firebase_performance, apply the com.google.firebase.firebase-perf Gradle plugin (1.4.2), and add to AndroidManifest.xml inside <application>:

   <meta-data android:name="firebase_performance_logcat_enabled" android:value="true" />

2. In main(), after Firebase.initializeApp(...): HttpClient.enableTimelineLogging = true;
3. Make API calls with package:http (default client) / Chopper (no custom client: passed), and load network images.
4. Run adb logcat -s FirebasePerformance on a debug build on an Android device.
5. Observe that only native SDK traffic is logged; no traces appear for the Dart-side requests.

Firebase Core version

4.14.0

Flutter Version

3.47.5

Relevant Log Output

Flutter dependencies

firebase_performance 0.11.6, firebase_core 4.14.0, http ^1.2.1, chopper ^8.7.0 (default http.Client, no custom client)

Additional context and comments

No response