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Mobile App Development
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Cross-platform app development is one of the most promising new technology trends. Earlier, cross-platform app development was not preferred by many development companies as the performance of cross-platform apps was not as good as that of their native counterparts. With the emergence of cross-platform app development frameworks like Flutter and React Native, this scenario has changed rapidly.
Flutter is an SDK developed by Google which allows the best flutter developers to build beautiful applications for mobile, web, and embedded devices using a single codebase. The apps developed using Flutter deliver near-native performance and this is the reason why Flutter framework has gained high popularity amongst the app developer community. As a result, there has been an increasing rise in the requirement for Flutter experts. Hire flutter developers from professional app development service providers to get the best cross-platform app for your business.
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Flutter grew even in the adverse conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic – this fact highlights the resilient nature of the SDK. In its Flutter spring 2020 update, Google announced that around 500,000 skilled mobile app developers use Flutter every month.
According to Google Trends, Flutter is the second most preferred language for mobile app development after React Native to develop cross-platform mobile apps. Today, the best mobile app development company has huge teams of expert developers for both these frameworks to take care of all the requirements of the business.
Even a stack overflow survey puts Flutter as the third most loved framework after .NetCore and torch.
Around 2 million versatile mobile app developers have used Flutter since its release in 2018. Flutter has consistently gained praise from the developers’ community for being one of the best cross-platform app development frameworks to get your apps to build with a near-native experience. In this article, we will learn about the major aspects of Flutter app development. Let us start with some basics of Flutter app development.
Flutter is an open-source software development kit (SDK) that helps build cross-platform apps for mobile and web with near-native performance.
The beauty of Flutter is that it is a tool kit that can cater to all types of screens and devices. Thus, a guide on how to select talented flutter programmers will help to enhance the userbase of your product and eventually the ROI. Google’s Flutter competes with other cross-platform app development frameworks like Facebook’s react native, the only suitable competitor by far.
Flutter has a massive collection of pre-built widgets, making it easier for the developers to prepare the design and layout of the mobile application.
Flutter app developers need not prepare separate codebases for iOS and Android apps as Flutter has a single code base for all the different platforms. Major organizations like Google, Alibaba, Groupon, and Square have used Flutter for their business app.
Flutter has two parts
The two parts are responsible for making flutter rise to fame in such a short time. The two parts are:
Flutter is not a programming language, but it is a framework that helps professional flutter developers to build a mobile application. The programming language using which Flutter is built is Dart, which is also created by Google.
Each technology comes up with its own pros and cons. Google’s Flutter has many benefits. Here are some of the significant ones.
Google has created Flutter to help build near-native cross-platform apps for mobile, web, embedded, and desktop from a single codebase.
One of the prime concerns in cross-platform app development is that the look of the app changes on different operating systems. As Flutter uses the Skia rendering engine, the cross-platform apps built using Flutter would look the same on Android, iOS, mac OS, and Windows.
For top flutter developers, the cross-platform ability of Flutter can prove to be a boon as they do not have to build separate applications for Android and iOS.
Normally the cross-platform mobile apps lack performance as compared to their native counterparts. But the apps built with Flutter are much better as the code allows the professional flutter developers to build apps which are truly native-like and do not require a JavaScript bridge-like in React Native framework to compile the code.
This feature of Flutter allows efficient flutter app developers to compile the code ahead of time and gives a full native-like performance on Android and iOS platforms without any lag or disruption.
UI design in Flutter is straightforward as the framework provides a lot of ready-to-use widgets to the flutter developers.
The widgets are provided in two styles which are designed to conform to Android and iOS design guidelines.
The best UI/UX designers can define various stylistic components of the UI like fonts, menus, forms, colors, and buttons using widgets. They can even modify these results and form complex elements by combining these widgets.
There are two types of widgets in Flutter:
Flutter also provides the flexibility of developing custom widgets from scratch to the designers.
Hot reloading is one of the best features of Flutter. Hot reload allows expert flutter app developers to inject the source code modifications directly into a running app. This ability of Flutter saves a lot of time as it helps the flutter developers avoid lengthy compilation processes which are more irritating when the developers need to apply small changes. Google says that the hot reloading ability of Flutter has a profound impact on the work of the flutter app development service providers around the world.
Flutter has the strong backing of the tech giant, Google, and this fact helps a lot in making Flutter the best choice for app development. Flutter not only helps versatile app developers build Android apps faster, but it also opens the door for the development of cross-platform applications. Google’s new OS, Fuchsia gains access to the library of Flutter-based apps and this is one of the major reasons why Google will keep investing in Flutter.
Writing code for an Android app and then writing code for an iOS app all over again is a big-time eater in native app development. This way, the native app developers have to build a single app two times. While Flutter experts can considerably reduce the app’s delivery time as Flutter reuses the same code across different platforms.
Flutter’s ability to develop cross-platform apps helps the dedicated flutter developers reduce the time required for the app to reach the market. Businesses love it when their waiting time for their business app to reach the market is reduced by some days or months.
Using the Hot reloading feature of Flutter, helps the experienced flutter developers to spot code anomalies and bugs in real-time and fix it timely.
The hot reloading feature of Flutter helps in saving crucial time spent on testing the mobile app, expediting the time-to-market (TTM). As the flutter developers are able to fix bugs in real-time, it helps them to deliver a high-quality app that loads faster and performs better across various devices.
As with Flutter, the same app can be used for multiple platforms, the time and effort taken in testing multiple apps for different platforms gets reduced. As there is a single codebase, the skilled flutter app developers need to write code only once, and hence any major bugs sorted works for both the platforms making app development and testing more efficient.
According to Google, the Flutter framework helps to develop apps with flexible and expressive UI. Remote Flutter app developers can build stunning user interfaces using a wide selection of reusable and customizable widgets that come with Flutter. The native capabilities of Flutter help deliver a seamless user experience to the user.
Flutter is an open-source framework and this fact helps the flutter developers save licensing fees. Flutter helps the app developers build two or more apps using the same codebase which makes the project economical. The app owners can unlock significant return on investment (ROI) by choosing Flutter for their app development project requirement, as it simplifies the development process and reduces the app delivery time.
Our expert’s guide to estimating the cost of Flutter app development might be helpful to estimate the cost of developing an app using Flutter Framework more accurately.
It is a well-known fact in the mobile app market that users uninstall apps that load slow. As a thumb rule, mobile app loading should not take more than 2 seconds else the users would lose interest in the app.
Mobile Apps built with Flutter are much faster to load, which means that the user will quickly engage with the app. One of the reasons why apps developed with Flutter load faster is that Flutter uses the Skia graphics library, a high-speed and mature open-source graphics library with a robust back-end. Skia redraws the UI every time the view changes, which results in quick loading of flutter apps. The Skia graphics library delivers up to 60fps, resulting in a fast and smooth experience for the users.
It often happens that an app loses out on users who are using an old phone that is incompatible with the latest update. As technology progresses, old technology becomes obsolete and it is challenging to develop an app that caters to phones using the old operating systems before Android Jellybean and iOS 8. The beauty of Flutter is that it looks the same even on older devices which is a significant achievement as it opens the app to more users.
MVP (minimum viable product) is the most basic version of an app that does not contain unnecessary features. MVP is an excellent way to test and assess the mobile app idea before investing more money and time into developing a full-featured app.
Flutter is the platform of choice for building an MVP and using Flutter allows flutter developers to build an efficient MVP in the most cost-effective way, Therefore, Flutter is the favorite SDK of startups for building MVPs.
Google has ensured that apps built with flutter have an international reach. In the era of globalization, it is very important for an app to have a global appeal. The developers need to build code to enable the app to run in different languages and regions. With Flutter this hassle is eliminated as the SDK provides widgets that simplify the process of internationalization.
Flutter supports more than 78 languages and a wide range of currencies, date formats, layout options(like for Arabic languages that are written from right to left), and units of measures.
Flutter Apps perform fast because of the fact that there is direct code compilation in Flutter as there are no JavaScript bridges involved. The speed of the app plays an important role in customer engagement and users would promptly uninstall an app that takes time to respond.
The dedicated app developer team of Flutter promises a constant performance of 60-120 fps which is the rate at which the modern screens can display a smooth picture. According to research, Flutter fared better on performance parameters as compared to React Native and Xamarin. Another research suggests that Flutter almost matches native app CPU usage.
Flutter has many pros but it also contains some cons as well. Here are a few of the shortcomings of using flutter.
Flutter is a relatively new technology and hence it needs some time to catch up with the established frameworks. The range of libraries is still limited and the flutter app developers might require custom scripts to implement a few functions.
The mobile apps built with Flutter tend to be quite bulky which might prove to be an issue for devices that cannot handle bulky applications.
There is a lack of quality support for iOS applications. While most of the SDK functions work well with Android, there are many problems with iOS. One problem is that of the deletion of EXIF data of photographs on Apple devices. Due to this bug, the photo is displayed in the wrong direction, and data like location and date is missing. Due to the limitations of Flutter, it is difficult to implement iOS special features like Captioning, Audio description, and VoiceOver.
There are issues with auto-complete input fields with Flutter apps. This issue creates problems when the app needs to implement password extraction from built-in third-party password managers.
Flutter developers need to learn a new skill set to develop apps using the Flutter framework as Flutter is a proprietary purpose-built language based on Dart. Many new programmers find Dart a difficult language to learn. This is the reason that the number of expert Flutter app developers is relatively small.
Flutter offers a lot of benefits to flutter app developers and can prove to be an excellent tool for mobile app development and web app development. Right from small startups to big corporations like Google and Alibaba are using Flutter, a testament to the SDK’s versatility. This does not mean that Flutter is ok for all kinds of apps. Like everything, Flutter is helpful for some kinds of mobile apps and not beneficial for others, let us see it in detail.
The creators of Flutter recommend using the SDK for developing 2D cross-platform mobile apps. According to them, Flutter works best with brand-first designs. Flutter lets the UI / UX designers build elegant and expressive user interfaces, hence wherever the aesthetic design is a priority Flutter can prove helpful.
The process for flutter app development is the same as the process for developing any mobile app. To make it easier for you to track we have outlined the process below.
The flutter developers can build an efficient Flutter app by properly following the process.
There are a lot of large businesses that are using Flutter for developing their apps. Let us have a look at some of the most prominent apps developed using Flutter.
Alibaba:- One of the world’s largest ECommerce companies, Alibaba has trusted Flutter, by choosing as the platform for developing the group’s second-largest online retail platform “Xianyu”.
The retail platform has more than 50 million downloads and Alibaba’s app developers have praised Flutter’s impressive UI/UX capabilities. Flutter’s speed and maintenance also made the app developers tilt in favor of Flutter.
Hamilton:- When Hamilton, the hit Broadway musical, wanted to develop an app with a rich feature set which was both elegant and fast, they chose to go with Flutter.
At first, the think-tanks at Hamilton thought about going with two native apps, but they dropped the idea because it was going to take too long to develop two separate mobile apps.
Flutter was the solution they wanted as it helped them build a rich app that was accessible by anyone on any device. A major advantage with Flutter was that the expert flutter development team was able to build the app in record time.
Groupon:- When Groupon wanted to revamp its merchant-facing app by extending payment data visualization functions, providing better campaign management from the app, and improving the voucher redemption experience, the company chose to go with Flutter.
The widgets that the company incorporated into its existing app helped Groupon bring all the features that they wanted to bring within record time.
The New York Times:- The New York Times had developed a popular puzzle game using Flutter known as “KenKen” which grew into a full-fledged app used by thousands of users.
Reflectly:- Reflectly is an award-winning mindfulness app that was switched to Flutter after their app development experts did not find react-native to be an apt platform for their app. The react native version was good enough for iOS, while it gave trouble to its Android users.
While the professional flutter developers hired made sure that the app developed using flutter was loved for the cross-platform consistency and high performance.
Conclusion
There are multiple reasons to build an app using Flutter. The continued growth of Flutter demonstrates the belief of the developer community. Top Mobile app development companies are building both enterprises as well as consumer apps using Flutter.
The continuous support of Google provides the necessary confidence to flutter developers to build their top apps using Flutter.
As discussed earlier, finding dedicated app developers who are well-versed in Flutter is a tedious task and hence it would be a good idea to hire Flutter experts that can help entrepreneurs develop mobile apps for their business using Flutter technology.
At Prismetric, we have more than a decade of experience in building state-of-the-art IT solutions for our clients worldwide. We would love to be a part of your journey of developing a world-class Flutter app.
While Flutter is a powerful framework, it does have some limitations that businesses should consider:
Larger App Size: Flutter apps often have a larger file size compared to native apps. This can be a challenge if your target audience is sensitive to storage limitations, as larger app sizes might deter users from downloading.
Limited Native Support: Although Flutter offers a wide range of pre-built widgets, it still may not cover all native functionalities for iOS and Android. In cases where specific native modules or APIs are needed, developers may need to create custom plugins, which can add complexity and development time.
Immature Libraries and Tooling: Some libraries in Flutter’s ecosystem might still be in beta, meaning they may lack stability or advanced features found in mature native libraries. This can impact projects that need cutting-edge functionalities or highly specialized tools.
High Performance Requirements: Flutter’s performance on older devices or those with lower specifications can sometimes be suboptimal. While Flutter is highly efficient, apps that demand intensive graphics or require background services may see slight performance drawbacks.
Each of these disadvantages is context-specific, so they may or may not impact every project. Evaluating Flutter’s capabilities against your project’s needs is essential to make an informed decision.
Flutter is versatile but has certain boundaries that developers need to consider:
Platform Limitations: While Flutter can create cross-platform apps, it’s not yet ideal for every platform. For instance, web and desktop versions of Flutter are still evolving. They’re functional, but developers may encounter limitations in rendering and performance compared to mobile.
Device-Specific Capabilities: For apps that require extensive interaction with device hardware (like Bluetooth, GPS, or camera functionalities), Flutter may require additional plugins, some of which might not perform as optimally as their native counterparts.
UI Consistency on Different Platforms: Flutter aims for consistent design across platforms, but there can still be slight variations in UI elements between Android and iOS. Developers need to make extra adjustments if they want the app to feel natively tailored for each platform.
Despite these limits, Flutter continues to advance, and new features are regularly introduced, reducing its constraints with each update.
Flutter is popular for a range of impressive features that make development faster and the user experience richer:
Hot Reload: This feature enables developers to instantly see changes in the app without restarting it. It’s a massive time-saver, allowing developers to test and iterate faster.
Single Codebase for Multiple Platforms: With Flutter, developers write code once and deploy it across multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, web, and desktop, drastically reducing development time and cost.
Extensive Widget Library: Flutter provides a vast library of customizable widgets that let developers create visually appealing and highly interactive apps without extensive custom code.
High Performance: Flutter apps are built using the Dart language and compile directly to machine code, which enhances performance on both Android and iOS. This makes Flutter suitable even for graphically intensive applications.
Easy Integration: Flutter integrates smoothly with existing codebases, making it easier to use for upgrades or in projects where you need to gradually add Flutter elements to a native app.
These features unders
As the tech-savvy Project Manager at Prismetric, his admiration for app technology is boundless though!He writes widely researched articles about the AI development, app development methodologies, codes, technical project management skills, app trends, and technical events. Inventive mobile applications and Android app trends that inspire the maximum app users magnetize him deeply to offer his readers some remarkable articles.
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