Flutter development is in vogue for a reason: it’s a great way of building good-performing and beautiful apps. Flutter enables you to develop cross-platform apps that provide native performance.
Apps developed with Flutter feature beautiful and intuitive designs and are fit to run animations fluently. Flutter also hasten the development speed, helping lower costs.
Learn more about the usefulness of Flutter to know whether it’s the best software solution for your product.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is Google’s software for creating iOS and Android apps. It enables the same codebase for both mobile operating systems, a cross-platform technology. The web and desktop versions are in alpha and beta channels, respectively.
Flutter remained in beta until 2018, when Flutter 1.0 was launched officially, but Google first introduced Flutter in 2015. It is still basically new, free and open-source, and uses Dart as its programming language.
Flutter’s popularity is constantly growing, and according to Google, there are over 100,000 apps created in Flutter. You can easily see why Flutter code is easy to use, and the kit entails all the tools essential to develop a good app: a rendering engine, different pre-built and easy-to-use widgets, testing and integration APIs, and also command-line tools.
Below, you will find the benefits of Flutter and an essential guide to the technology: why use Flutter, who Flutter is created for, and what are the pros & cons.
Why should you use Flutter to build your app?
It’s more likely you’re already using apps built with Flutter. Alibaba and Google Ads are perfect two examples – you can get a more extensive list here.
With over 100,000 Flutter apps available already, developers have a well-known choice – but is it the best option?
Thus, It might be if you’re working on an MVP, Flutter enables you to create code for both Android and iOS apps on time, without the additional expense of building another codebase. So if you’re a start-, prone to experimenting and without tangible finance to pour into app development, Flutter is something you would want to consider.
It’s also a fascinating solution for enterprises, practically those aiming for a high quality-branded experience. Flutter enables you to develop the product on a single framework and deliver a native experience for the two operating systems users.
Nevertheless, using other cross-platform development technologies like React Native or Xamarin can have some benefits. So if you can successfully deploy any of them, is there a practical reason to consider using Flutter? What are the benefits of Flutter? Why should you try it out?
Let’s take a good look at Flutter’s advantages. What are the benefits of Flutter?
With both native development solutions and other cross-platform technologies, Flutter has some incredible features. It makes it so appealing to product owners, tech leads, and developers. Here are the significant benefits of Flutter:
Efficient development process
As a cross-platform technology, Flutter allows creating an app for both operating systems using the same codebase. However, that is not the only reason Flutter enables the development process to be faster and more efficient. It also entails a hot restart and a well-defined “hot reload” function, allowing you to see notifications in real-time without restarting the app.
It practically hastens the development process. React Native and Xamarin have almost similar functions, but they are slower. With these features, Flutter allows you to save time and resources.
Widgets and compatibility
Widgets are the pillars on which the entire app is based. There are ready-made and also customizable ones – everything in Flutter can be made from widgets. Widget is part of the app and not the particular platform; the end product will likely have lesser compatibility issues on various OS versions.
High performance
Flutter applications operate at a level comparable with native apps and are taking over other cross-platform technologies. That’s because Flutter is the only mobile SDK that does not use a bridge (JavaScript or web view) for communication between both the app and the platform. Thus, you get a faster-starting app with beautiful, fast animations and lesser performance difficulties.
Going beyond mobile
It’s likely to develop Flutter products that work on the web, desktop, and even TV, which some developers already do. These features are still in different stages of advancement, but Google typically can develop a constant release. Considering how essential IT is for the company, they will practically keep growing Flutter in this direction.
Internationalization and accessibility
After the app is developed and can produce multiple discrepancies, you can successfully Internationalize or prepare your app’s various language and region types. Flutter offers tools that make this process easy and incorporate it directly into development. Flutter also enables accessibility, allowing screen readers, large fonts, and enhanced contrast, which is automated from within the platform.
Open source and an engaged community
Flutter usage is free and has a growing community assisting in its outstanding documentation and helping with difficulties that developers may encounter as an open-source platform. Many YouTube videos are available for those who want to learn Flutter or upgrade their Google mobile UI framework skills.
Faster Time-to-Market
You can release your app quicker and transport new features and upgrades to iOS and Android together with the help of the features that make developing easy in Flutter.
Flutter Cons
Flutter also has downsides that you shouldn’t overlook when selecting your SDK.
Experimentation phase
Flutter is still like a new platform that comes with its own set of difficulties. It’s still under specific development, so some edge cases might not have results ready for implementation.
Although that might change soon enough, you should wait until then to use Flutter if you’re not ready for more risk than creating a product with an established toolkit.
Lack of more advanced features
Flutter is still missing some more complex features, and that might not be a better solution for more sophisticated apps:
· In some situations, building pixel-perfect experiences that match native Android and iOS apps in Flutter might seem complex.
· You cannot use Flutter to build tvOS, CarPlay, watchOS, or Android Auto apps.
Not many experienced Flutter developers
There are still basically few experienced Flutter developers on the market. That’s why it can be challenging to build a team of standard professionals if you choose Flutter over React Native.
Lack of native widgets
Flutter does not use native widgets can be advantageous but also a setback of this SDK. Why?
Because if you decide to develop an app using Flutter and then a new version of iOS or Android is launched, your app cant be updated to the latest UI changes.
This case occurrence requires you to update a library (which is fast), rebuild an app, and also publish its new version in app stores. However, it won’t be surprising that a new OS version changes something in an app. On the contrary, you are sure that the app you post in app stores won’t change without your knowledge using Flutter widgets.