As mobile app development has boomed rapidly, different mobile app development frameworks came into the picture at a different point in time. The latest craze is Flutter development, which has turned into a revolutionary framework for building engaging mobile apps. This cross-platform and intuitive UI making framework is going to replace the popularity of React Native with its stable release. An initiative from Google, Flutter, gives you the ability to build an enhanced user experience. No doubt, Flutter has become a prime choice for developing beautiful native apps.

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Flutter is an open-source and free mobile application development SDK created by Google. You can build both Android and iOS apps, as well as applications for Google Fuchsia using Flutter. Flutter enables developers to produce high-quality native interfaces on cross-platforms in a record short time, which is approximately 120 FPS. Not to mention, this is a notion of a reliable mobile UI framework.

Related post – How to do Mobile app design – UI/UX design fundamentals

What can you do with Flutter?

Flutter is an app SDK using which you can build high-performance, high-fidelity apps for Android, iOS, Web (beta), and desktop (technical preview) from a single code base. This enables developers to deliver high-performance apps that feel natural on cross platforms. Flutter uses Dart language for programming.

Flutter is widget-based that include pages, text, buttons, containers, etc. Hence, when you design interfaces in Flutter that involve widget creation.

Underlying Flutter follows the reactive development architecture, but with a twist. The main feature of reactive programming is that it updates UI contents automatically when variables are updated in the code. React Native also follows this principle, but to access OEM widgets, it uses the JavaScript bridge. However, there is a performance issue for this reason as the app has to pass this bridge each time to access the widgets. Flutter, however, overcomes this issue by omitting this bridge altogether and communicates with the native platform using Dart.

Reactive frameworks vs. Flutter

 Source: Wm Leler on Medium

Dart is Flutter’s object-oriented language that uses Ahead-of-Time compilation techniques and compiles into native code without that additional bridge. This noticeably speeds up the app startup time. Besides, Flutter doesn’t have to call to OEM (original equipment manufacturer) widgets because it uses its own. As seen in the image above, Flutter uses the OS as a canvas to build an interface on. It moves services such as gestures, rendering, and animations into the framework itself, which gives developers complete control over the system.

Why should you invest in Flutter?

The Cross-Platform Approach

To achieve maximum ROI from the developed mobile app the goal is to make it a cross-platform mobile app to reach maximum users. However, even a few years ago, the user experience of cross-platform mobile apps was not as good as native apps. One of the primary reasons for it is developers have to create a UI experience in JavaScript. There comes Objective -C, Java, Kotlin, or Swift. Flutter hit this area very effectively. With Flutter, you get a ‘write code once’ advantage, whereas building beautiful native apps with fantastic performance along with cross-platform ability.

Save cost

In general, for building Android and iOS apps, you need to hire developers with respective skill sets. This is a costly affair. On the other hand, as Flutter development supports both Android and iOS, you can hire a single developer, which will be way cheaper. Hence, build your Flutter app with core features and later update that based on customer feedback. This saves both time and money.

Perfect for creating the MVP App

Flutter app development leverages quick turnaround time of features. It is all in one kind of a framework that allows you to develop platform-independent apps that work on the web, desktop, and mobile technologies. As a result, you can plan and target an app’s release across all platforms in a single go. This is highly suitable for Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and advantageous for the companies who want to create such MVPs. This gives them immense market capitalization opportunities.

With Flutter, you promise high-performing apps that can even be created through widgets with even a single small team of developers. Also, it would be budget-friendly.

Hot reload feature brings high productivity.

The increase in productivity comes from Flutter’s stateful hot reload feature. A flutter mobile app developer can see the changes in less than one second, and the app structure change in less than ten seconds. Hence, you can see the modifications as soon as you make them. A Flutter developer can frame UIs and hold bugs faster. The changes are so instant that it cuts reload time and extra time on simulators, emulators, and hardware for iOS and Android platforms.

Portability

Since Flutter is not just a framework but a complete SDK, it can run on virtually any device with a screen. So, you can run Flutter apps on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux with third-party ports. You can include embedding APIs, mouse and keyboard input functions, and different plugins. Considering the possibilities and Google’s fondness for IoT devices, it’s fair to expect that this functionality will become official in the future.

Open-Source Packages make development more straightforward.

Flutter is a set of open-source packages that helps in developing the app at a faster pace. There are lots of additional packages available that make a lot of tasks more manageable. Like any other open-source project, the package library continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Not to mention, the credit goes to the experienced Flutter developers who are continuously contributing to the community. Also, with these multiple packages, it is a growing extensive technical community.

Single codebase

In flutter development, a single version of the application runs for both iOS and Android platforms, which is known as a single codebase. So, the designers and developers only focus on the creation of a single codebase for both platforms.

 Dart as Programming Language

Flutter uses Dart object-oriented programming language, some of whose features are need of today. Its features like garbage collection, a rich set of the standard library, strong typing, generics, and async-await are few.

Use of Customizable Widgets

Flutter gives its developers the choice of using widgets as per their requirements. Here everything that developer design is a widget and is to make UI. Also, the layout is another addition that helps define the state, position, and size of widgets. 

Powerful design experience

Flutter provides different themes for Android and iOS applications. The themes vary not only in color but also in size and style. It has built a trusted platform for impressive UIs, and the apps cater to various domains like education, entertainment, utility, e-commerce, social, health, and fitness.

Easier animations

Flutter adds the flexibility of API for adding the animation. Even with a small code in Flutter, you can add simple and expressive animations. 

Native Themes for iOS/Android 

Flutter makes the application development journey magnificent through local codes, third party incorporations, and platform APIs. 

Flutter Supports IDEs

If you choose Flutter Development, you will select from many Integrated Development Environment. Initially, you can start with Android Studio and then shift to Visual Code. VS Code has the property of being light and fast.

Conclusion

With Flutter, the possibilities are practically endless. So, do you think Flutter is challenging to learn? Interestingly, we can say Flutter is for everyone, even if you’re starting from scratch or having a little mobile app development experience. Furthermore, with widgets and libraries, it makes the development more effortless and straightforward. Though Flutter uses Dart by default as the programming language, we can even fuse it with other existing languages like Java, Kotlin, ObjC, and Swift. So, Dart and Flutter improve safety, performance, and tools for cross-platform mobile app development.