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Flutter app development is one thing that Covid-19 has not been able to slow down. This is evidenced by the fact that nearly 10,000 of the 50,000 Flutter apps on Google Play were submitted in March and April 2023
Google’s Tim Sneath reported in the Flutter Spring 2023 Update that over 500,000 developers utilize Flutter every month.
Is Flutter the most effective? Ask the more than 2 million developers who have used it since its release less than two years ago in 2021.
Flutter is continually earning plaudits from the developer community for its outstanding ability to build cross-platform App Developers Vancouver with native quality experience, with a 10% month-on-month growth from February to March 2023.
Flutter is a portable UI toolkit that allows you to create natively-compiled programs for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. It employs the programming language Dart as well as Material Design and Cupertino widgets to produce stunning UI that not only looks and feels native but can also emulate the platform itself to perform organically on every device, despite the fact that the codebase is the identical.
Flutter was created as an open-source mobile UI framework to compete with Facebook’s React Native. It has now evolved into a highly sophisticated framework that allows developers to create native interfaces for not only mobile and web apps, but also desktop and embedded programs.
So, regardless of where you want to run your apps – mobiles, laptops, tablets, wearables, and so on –
Google encourages developers to begin by asking themselves, “What am I going to build today?” without having to consider “What device do I want to target?”
Flutter contributes to Google’s Ambient Computing initiative, which envisions apps built with Flutter being available absolutely anywhere you need them to be, regardless of device restrictions.
Some of the finest Flutter apps include Hamilton Music, Google Ads, Alibaba, Reflect, and many more.
Flutter is a programming language.
Not at all. Dart is the programming language that Flutter employs. (More on that later). Flutter is a framework that allows the magic to occur.
What Is Flutter App Development?
Flutter app development is the process of creating rich cross-platform apps that act natively on any platform while using the same codebase and Flutter as the UI framework.
As a result, you’ll only have to write code once, as opposed to developing code from scratch for Android App Development and iOS as in the case of native apps. However, because of Flutter’s unique characteristics, your app will appear flawless and will perfectly replicate the platform-specific native experience.
You save weeks of building platform-specific code as a developer. As a business owner, you save time and money while also bringing your product to market faster. Win-win!
Flutter vs. React Native: In A Nutshell
Flutter and React Native were both created to address the issue of time-consuming native app development that necessitates creating entirely distinct code for each platform, which takes more than twice as long.
Because Flutter and React Native are cross-platform app development frameworks, the two are continuously compared, and developers commonly question which is better, Flutter or React Native?
The answer, as always, is ‘it depends’. Both frameworks achieve their goals and provide rich app experiences with maximal code reusability. They are both cost effective and excellent performing, and they are popular among developers worldwide.
In a prior blog post, we compared React Native and Flutter in depth. Check it out for a more in-depth comparison.
As you can see, both Flutter and React Native are well suited to cross-platform development, and you could use either depending on your needs. For example, if you are very familiar with JavaScript and do not have the time to learn Dart, you may select React Native because it is built on JavaScript.
According to some developers, React Native components are quite simple, whereas Flutter provides a more extensive set of widgets. Flutter even has more libraries and fewer native bridge calls.
Aside from JavaScript knowledge, the Google Flutter framework has an advantage when it comes to selecting a modern cross-platform app development framework.
So, is Flutter Good for App Development?
Yes, Flutter is fantastic for app development if you want an app that works smoothly across all platforms, only needs to be built once, has a faster time-to-market, and has perfect UI and performance on par with native development at a lot cheaper cost.
However, there are some extremely specific use scenarios where Flutter may not be appropriate. If you are absolutely committed to having a native app, you will go through native app development.
Alternatively, if you require a 3D touch Enterprise Mobile App Development, Flutter does not now support it.
If your program requires extensive interaction with device hardware, such as camera or phone calls, Flutter may fall short.
What Apps Are Built with Flutter?
Flutter was quickly adopted by the developer community, and as we mentioned in the introduction, there are now over 50,000 Flutter apps on Google Play. Clearly, the development of Flutter is gaining traction.
1. Reflectly
Reflectly, a mindfulness app, was initially designed in React Native and then moved to Flutter. While the React Native version performed well on iOS, the developers did not appreciate its Android version as much as they would have liked. They “fell in love with the cross-platform consistency, near-instant stateful hot reloading, great tooling, and high performance of the platform” when they finally made the switch to Flutter. (quote)
2. Alibaba
When the world’s largest online marketplace wanted to launch their new app, they chose Flutter. Xianyu by Alibaba has 200 million registered users, with over 50 million of them utilizing the Flutter app. The creators want an app with great graphics that also loaded quickly. They discovered that Flutter’s quick FPS and sharp UI and navigation were just what they required. Check out their tale by clicking here.
3. Hamilton
The hit Broadway musical Hamilton required an app with a vast feature set that was attractive, fast, and worthy. Their initial plan was to take the traditional method and create two native apps, one for iOS and one for Android. But that would take far too long, and they were concerned that they would not have the extensive feature set they desired by the launch date they had chosen. Flutter provided them with the solution they required: a sophisticated app that could be accessed by anyone on any device and was ready in record time.
4. Philips Hue
Philips Hue smart lighting solutions may be operated via your smartphone and generate vivid automated lighting solutions for your home. They required an app with simple controls that could sync the smart lights to the media hub in real time. Flutter quickly became their preferred option.
5. Realtor.com
The dynamic real estate app makes use of Flutter to provide consumers with an award-winning experience. Realtor’s app had no time to waste with listings changing in real time, thus Flutter came in handy.
6. The New York Times
The popular Ken Ken game is now available as an app powered by Flutter, developed by the New York Times for its millions of users.
Square, Groupon, Tencent, Nubank, Emaar, Ebay, and many other well-known apps are examples.
Which Programming Language is used in Flutter?
Dart is the programming language used by Flutter.
Despite Google’s lack of promotion, Dart swiftly became one of the most popular open-source projects on GitHub in terms of contributor count.
Dart is a fast language that produces clean code due to its excellent type system and concise syntax.
However, what truly distinguishes Dart are some clever implementation-oriented features such as the Ahead-of-Time or At compiler, as well as the VM and JIT (Just in Time) that power the hot-reload and fast refresh capabilities that enable real-time view of changes, producing the kind of speed developers enjoy while writing code.
Furthermore, it is simple to learn and compiles nicely with JavaScript, making it a joy to work with even if you are a beginner.
Why Has Flutter Become the Best Choice to Develop a Startup Mobile App In 2023?
Time to market and cost are two critical factors for a company.
Flutter saves them both, making it an instant success among startups.
Before cross-platform apps, the best method to provide a fantastic digital experience to your clients was to create a native app.
A native app, on the other hand, is never just ‘an app’. Creating a native app that works on both iOS and Android necessitates the creation of two separate sets of code, one for each platform.
This is a time-consuming and, needless to say, costly process.
If startups want to succeed in a highly competitive ecosystem in 2023, they must offer a considerably larger bang for their dollars.
Cross-platform apps arose as the answer to this quandary. Frameworks such as Xamarin, Titanium Appellatory, and others made important excursions into the space, assisting in the mainstreaming of cross-platform software development.
However, it is only with the introduction of Flutter that cross-platform apps have truly matured. Apps produced using Flutter are virtually as excellent, if not better, in terms of quality and performance than native apps, while taking far less time and money to develop.
So, here are the top five reasons why Flutter is the greatest choice for app development for companies in 2023:
· Flutter app development is substantially less expensive while yet delivering good performance.
· Apps created with Flutter are ready for market in considerably less time.
· Flutter development is simpler to test, requiring fewer testing rounds and improved code quality.
· Google Flutter provides a huge library and plugin repository that makes Flutter programming smooth, faultless, and current.
· Flutter’s code reusability allows you to develop once and deploy anywhere.
· Flutter apps are available to a considerably wider number of people worldwide, removing device and operating system limits. As a result, startups have the largest market share.
· Flutter is the finest app development framework since it can be deployed on mobile, tablet, laptop, desktop, wearables, smart TVs, and any other device you can think of.
Pros and Cons of Flutter App Development
So, now that we’ve discussed how it all began and how Flutter became such a popular app development framework, let’s take a closer look at the advantages and downsides of Flutter app development.
We’ll go over all of the Flutter features that make Flutter developers happy and their jobs easy. We’ll also look into potential bottlenecks that are currently classified as ‘cons’ but might be remedied shortly, we hope.
Pros of Flutter development
1. Hot reload
The wonderful hot reload functionality, which makes designing apps with Flutter a snap, takes the top rank, of course. It’s the feature that has sparked the greatest interest and praise from developers throughout the world.
Remember when you had to restart the entire program to see even minor changes to the codebase? Not any longer.
Every modification you make to the code in Flutter is reflected in the app in real time. As a result, you can make adjustments on the fly and test as many versions as you like, all while seeing how they influence the app right on your screen.
So go ahead and experiment with your new ideas, add new features, experiment with the code, and correct errors as you go.
2. Write once, use anywhere
building code for an Android app and then building another codebase for the iOS version of the same app is by far the most time-consuming aspect of native app development. It is actually the same amount of labor as designing two apps, but you only get one.
Because of Flutter’s code reusability, you can develop a single codebase and use it on not only Android and iOS, but also web, desktop, and other platforms. This cuts development time in half and allows you to deploy your app much more quickly.
Conclusion
After reading this article, you should have more than a few reasons to become involved with flitter app creation. Flutter’s sustained progress over the previous two years, as well as its rising usage in enterprise apps alongside consumer apps, demonstrate that this is the way forward for app development.
At Linkitsoft, If this excites you, contact our Flutter developers today to discuss your ideas or obtain a cost estimate.