Planning to launch a mobile application for your business? Well, we live in a hyper-competitive world where the digital ecosystem is growing as we speak. In fact, many startups are failing due to wrong choice of mobile app development platform. If you’re thinking of building a cross-platform application, then you should definitely choose the Flutter toolkit as it speeds up the app development process and reduces the cost.
Flutter – Google’s UI toolkit for building cross-platform solutions, is well-known in the market for its widgets and gaining huge popularity. According to Statista Data, Flutter’s popularity among developers has increased from 30% in 2019 to 42% in 2021, and this trend is expected to grow. So, what makes Flutter so compelling? Here, in this article, you will get the answer to this question along with the main advantages and disadvantages of Flutter app development.
Speaking about the attractive features of Flutter, it has many pros that you can find in other technologies such as React Native or Vue. Apart from that, Flutter has more features that are unique even in the well-known cross-platform development market. If you have been wondering why flutter is gaining huge momentum, here are top reasons:
One Code - All Platforms
The main feature that makes Flutter so popular is its ‘write-once’ approach. Developers now have to write code once to create applications for different platforms like Android and iOS. This significantly cut the development cost and reduces the efforts of developers as well as users. Flutter is a hybrid development framework that simplifies testing, bug fixing, and maintenance. However, single code base for all platforms is not a rule. If you want to build different apps for different platforms, Flutter is an ideal choice.
Hot Reload or Hot Restart
Development speed is an important factor in the modern app industry. How quickly you can turn an app idea into a reality is the success factor for the entire business. Flutter mobile app development is trending due to features like Hot Reloading. This feature allows developers to watch any changes in the code in real-time.
Moreover, the same feature works for UI designers who, in collaboration with developers, can see the progress of their work side by side. This significantly boosts the productivity of developers and speeding up the bug fixing process. This functionality inserts all code changes into a running Dart Virtual Machine, updating all classes where changes have been made. This in turns helps the framework to rebuild all widgets and display the effect of changes on the screens of developers and designers.
Simplified Testing
Another advantage of Flutter app development is simplified testing process. Since only one code is needed, it accelerates the testing process, making it simple and efficient. The ‘Write once’ approach enables developers to reuse it with different plugins, reducing development time.
Enhanced Performance
Flutter’s speed is one of its key features. That’s why, Google experts and the Flutter community are always striving to improve the performance of Flutter applications. Back in 2017, at its initial stage, Flutter displayed superior performance in comparison to its competitors. The work completed in three years is incredible. Loading speed acceleration was more than 3.5 times. Flutter is now considered the best solution for optimizing the performance of a multi-platform application.
Faster Time to Market
It is worth mentioning that Flutter mobile app development accelerates time to market. This is possible due to the cross-platform development, allowing you to build applications for multiple platforms at the same time.
Also, the simplicity of Dart’s syntax and the nature of Flutter as a framework allow writing less code, which fastens the app’s time to market. Speaking about design, there is no need to interact with the native elements of the app platforms, all thanks to the widget-based approach, speeding up the development process.
Easy Set up and Maintenance
Building and maintaining the Flutter app is easy due to a single code used in programming. Single code-base helps improve the performance of the applications and reduces the maintenance efforts. This toolkit allows developers to make changes swiftly without the hustle of going back and forth on the codes and resolve the issues, if any occurred. Therefore, it is less expensive because you do not need to spend extra money on powerful machines.
Appealing Design
When it comes to design, one cannot forget about another Flutter feature: its widgets. Widgets are an essential component of the Flutter toolkit. It is worth noting that due to ready-made widgets and object-based model development, the design process simple and easier. A widget is any background or dot on the Flutter app interface. Simultaneously, you are not limited in your ideas; widgets can be merged to create more complicated designs.
However, there is a drawback also. Because the widgets organization is structured as a tree, you need to carefully consider the widget combinations you are interested in before starting development. Finally, the widget-based approach simplifies the app designing process when compared to native development.
Best Suited for MVP
Flutter app development can help you show your MVP to investors. You don’t have to build two different apps for Android and iOS. Now, you can easily explain your business model and obtain funds.
Hence, you will save time and money by skipping the process of developing and testing product prototypes. Apart from that, Flutter’s connectivity with Firebase eliminates the need for separate backends when creating a simple MVP. As a result, the Flutter mobile app will be a huge success for your business.
Every process, product, technology, or toolkit has its drawbacks, Flutter is no exception. Despite all of the Flutter’s advantages, it has some drawbacks;
Large-Sized Apps
The very same widgets that help you build high-quality, appealing Flutter apps are the main drawback of this toolkit. The size of the final app becomes larger than that of native apps build in a multi-platform development-environment due to widgets. And, users have to spend more time in downloading or updating apps because of their large size.
Poor Set of Libraries
Flutter’s novelty is both an advantage and a drawback. Because of its novelty, Flutter doesn’t yet have more tools, libraries, and readymade solutions. Therefore, developers face certain limitations when using this toolkit. At the same time, it is critical to emphasise that all of these limitations can be overcome if the developer has significant experience working with Flutter.
Insufficienct Support
Flutter community is big and evolving. But, in terms of support, it is still difficult to compare it with other communities, for example, React Native. Though, Flutter Git and Stack Overflow threads and its main site, are a good place to find support, but they may not be sufficient.
Flutter is Best Suited For
Google’s Flutter is surely a game changer for mobile app development industry. It has enormous potential for enterprises working on various platforms with go-to-market features. Not to mention that it will save you money, resources, and a significant amount of time. Flutter app is an excellent solution for your business; all you need to do is contact a flutter mobile app development company to assist you with your concept.
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Jagwinder Singh
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