Do you have an idea for an app you need to set in motion? Or do you already have an app that needs a boost? Let’s talk about Flutter app development!
We wanted to provide you with an in-depth guide on how you can build your app effortlessly. Our guide is to help you meet your growth objectives using Flutter – the newest UI framework that is about to take the world by storm. Leading Mobile application development Company using flutter for their mobile app development.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is an open-source UI framework built by Google. It helps developers create native mobile and multi-platform apps from a single codebase. Since 2017, Flutter has helped developers streamline their processes and achieve greater efficiency. This framework allows them to build both iOS and Android apps from a single code base with one programming language.
What Kind of Apps You Can Develop in Flutter?
Flutter is a good choice if you want to develop 2D cross-platform apps that you want to make available on both iOS and Android mobile devices. It’s also a good choice for building desktop- and web-based interactive apps.
Generally, you can build any type of cross-platform app using Flutter. Many different companies worldwide are already using it, including Alibaba, Yandex, Airbnb, and Uber. That said, you can use Flutter to create apps for:
Retail
Many retail apps have the same set of basic functions such as product comparison, catalog, finding the nearest stores, promotions, and so on. Since the same features and look is required for both iOS and Android, it would be wasteful to build separate apps.
Fintech
Since the banking sector needs to pay special attention to security, it has to follow the most recent tech trends . Many companies from the banking sector choose Flutter for their apps, compared to native ones, since it’s much safer. Native apps can be reverse engineered to restore their original code. Apps built with Flutter cannot be reverse engineered. Flutter-based apps can use security technologies such as Touch ID, Face ID, or a fingerprint scanner. One of the biggest digital banks, Nubank, is the best case of how the banking sector can integrate Flutter into a mobile app.
Suppliers and Franchisees
Since the budget for the internal apps is lower than client apps, many companies choose to build their internal apps through Flutter. Flutter provides a ready-made environment as opposed to doing everything from scratch.
Large Businesses
Businesses with call centers, courier control, and complex internal processes can benefit from Flutter apps due to the advantages listed below.
What Types of Apps is Flutter Not Suitable For?
When it comes to video apps, Flutter experiences significant limitations. For this reason, Flutter is not suitable for apps that need UI rendering.
Furthermore, Flutter isn’t the best solution for apps that closely integrate with their underlying hardware. Those apps, such as mobile stock exchange apps, need deep performance optimization.
If you are building an augmented reality (AR) app, you may want to avoid Flutter. AR requires deep integration with native platforms, so building a cross-platform app would not be useful. Some examples include auto businesses, furniture stores, or interior salons where users need to see products in 3D.
Popular Apps Built on Flutter
Here are some examples of well-known apps that have been built using Flutter.
- Google Ads: Apps built with Flutter allow marketers to manage Google ad campaigns directly from their smartphones.
- Alibaba: This is one of the biggest eCommerce platforms in the world that chose Flutter as their preferred cross-platform solution.
- Google Pay: Being Google’s product, it’s no surprise that this app is built with Flutter. Given that payment apps need to be secure, responsive, and bug-free, we see this as the greatest Flutter endorsement.
- Grab: A popular food delivery app built with Flutter that helps local businesses add menu items, manage orders, and view earnings.
- Realtor.com: A real-estate app that helps people find their dream homes and it’s built with the help of Flutter.
Why Use Flutter to Build Your Applications?
Although Flutter is a new framework, many companies are still choosing it over older frameworks such as Cordova, Xamarin, or React Native.
Advantages of Flutter and its Features
Improved Productivity
Flutter allows developers to use the same code to create both iOS and Android apps. In doing so, they save time and resources since they don’t have to build two separate apps. Flutter’s native widgets also reduce time spent on testing by ensuring compatibility with different operating systems.
Easy to Learn
Flutter developers can create mobile apps without using OEM widgets or a lot of code, making their process much easier and simpler.
Better Performance
Many users say it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between a Flutter app and a native mobile app - a big upside for developers.
Lower Costs
By allowing developers to build apps both for Android and iOS from the same code base, Flutter slashes the coding time by at least half. This means the costs of app development are also reduced. You basically get two apps for the cost of one.
Robust Documentation and Strong Community
One reason many companies choose Flutter is the robust documentation and resources that helps developers solve problems. Furthermore, Flutter has great community hubs such as Flutter Community and Flutter Awesome where developers can exchange ideas and solve problems.
Improved Time-to-Market Speed
Generally, Flutter development only requires up to half the time needed to build the same app separately for Android and for iOS. Developers don’t have to write any platform-specific code to achieve the desired visuals in their application. Plus, Flutter provides a declarative API for building user interfaces, helping boost performance.
Allows Customization
One of the main benefits of using Flutter is the ability to customize anything you see on the screen, regardless of its complexity. Although native platforms also allow customization, it’s usually much harder to achieve the same thing.
App Usage Beyond Mobile
Flutter allows developers to go further than mobile app development. There is also Flutter for Web and Flutter Desktop Embeddings, both of which allow developers to run Flutter applications in a browser without modifying any source code. While the non-mobile parts of the framework aren’t yet production-ready, an experienced Flutter developer can make a Flutter app run on web browsers, Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Flutter Has its Own Rendering Engine
Companies using Material Design for Android and Human Interface for iOS can benefit from Flutter. The Flutter framework provides packages that contain custom widgets used for both iOS and Android.
Hot Reload Feature
Flutter’s hot reload is a great feature that allows developers to save hours’ worth of time. Hot reload lets developers make changes to the code and watch them take effect in real-time while avoiding rebooting the entire app.
Pixel Rendering Feature
Flutter manages every pixel of the screen. This ensures that widgets look the same on every mobile device, removing potential device support woes. This enables developers to create user interfaces that look exactly the same on both Android and iOS using a single codebase.
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Drawbacks of Using Flutter
Now that we’ve seen the benefits of Flutter app development, let’s go over some of its drawbacks:
Finding Flutter Developers Remains Challenging
While Flutter may be seamless, difficulty arises from finding developers experienced with Flutter. The labor market for this technology is just starting to grow, and for now, most developers seeking jobs are still new to Flutter.
Large File Sizes
One of the main tasks of app developers is to create an app that doesn’t consume too much space on the user’s phone. To do so, developers avoid using animations, reduce image sizes, or use a minimum of packages and libraries. Flutter here shows poor results, and their apps generally tend to take too much space.
Insufficient iOS Support
Since Flutter is Google’s product, the support for iOS is much worse compared to one for Android. That said, it can happen that most of the SDK functions that work properly on Android show problems with iOS.
Lacks Password Management Support
If you want to use your own features instead of native widgets, you’ll likely experience some problems. For instance, Flutter applications sometimes struggle with autocomplete input fields. There may be hiccups when extracting passwords from built-in or third-party password managers.
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