5 Reasons To Consider Flutter For Your Next Mobile App Project

A growing number of mobile applications in the market has led to cutthroat competition. In such a situation, factors such as time to market, app quality, performance, and user-friendliness, all contribute to the success of a mobile app. What if I said it is possible to achieve all of this using just a single framework? Yes, you heard me right! Flutter makes it possible for developers to create high-quality apps in a short period of time.

Flutter is comparatively new as compared to the other cross-platform development technologies but it sure has managed to carve a niche for itself. More and more developers are opting to learn and work with Flutter. Primarily because it is easy to learn and use. Businesses prefer flutter app development as they get two apps in the cost and time investment of a single app. As Flutter continues to grow, here are a few things worth knowing about it.

What Is Flutter?

Flutter is a free and open-source framework by Google to build mobile, web, and desktop applications using a single code base. It is a goldmine for cross-platform app development as it consists of both – a software development kit (SDK) and a widget-based UI library. Developers building Flutter apps will do so by using the Dart programming language. Dart is a typed object programming language. The syntax is similar to that of JavaScript.

More and more companies are opting for Flutter as it combines the ease of development with native-like performance. At the same time, it also maintains the visual consistency between the platforms. A report by Statista on the use of cross-platform mobile frameworks shows a steady rise in the use of Flutter in the last three years.

Why Choose Flutter App Development?

Flutter is often compared with other cross-platform development frameworks such as ReactNative, Xamarin, and Kotlin. But there is a reason for its rising popularity among developers and business owners alike. Following are some practical reasons why developers choose to work with Flutter and it’s a profitable choice for businesses:

1.) Single Codebase For Multiple Platforms:

Native apps are the pinnacle of quality and performance. But for native app development, developers need to write two different sets of code for the two major platforms. The process is time-consuming, expensive, and tiresome. This was one of the major reasons companies used to think twice before developing a mobile app until cross-platform development came into the picture.

Flutter makes cross-platform development possible without compromising on quality. Right from designs to features and functionality, it is possible to achieve a near-native experience with Flutter. Thus, Flutter is a game-changer for both – businesses and developers. Businesses because they can get a cross-platform app without compromising on quality. For developers, it is a boon as more can be done in less time and effort.

2.) The Hot Reload Feature:

As an app owner, a quicker time to market is a crucial advantage as timing is everything today. An app can lose out on significant users just because a similar app was launched a few days earlier. Flutter makes it possible to speed up the development process due to its revolutionary Hot Reload feature. The hot reload feature allows developers to see the changes in code in real-time. They can try new elements or elements and it will take less than a second to see how it appears at the front end.

Also, the same feature helps streamline the designer and developer collaboration. A designer’s vision and developer’s implementation have always been a matter of conflict in the app development process. Going for flutter app development eliminates this friction. It allows the designers and developers to try out different options in real-time to come up with an optimum solution. For instance, ‘make the animation faster’ or ‘increase the pixel size’. Any change is visible upfront, leaving a lot of room for experimentation sans the lengthy review and rework process.

3.) An Ideal Choice For MVPs:

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the basic version of an application with only the essential features. It is an ideal choice for startups and small businesses as it can help them validate their app idea and acquire the initial funding. SMBs use the MVP version to test their idea, collect feedback and make a better app in the next iteration. Keeping in mind the importance of MVPs, the following are some reasons to choose Flutter for the same:

• Flutter app development is cost-effective as there is no need to create and maintain two mobile apps
• Only need one developer to create an MVP
• There is no difference in performance between a native and flutter app
• Easy personalization of the app UI with the help of widgets

4.) Support For Older Devices:

Operating systems are regularly updated to offer an unbeatable user experience. But it is a major concern for app owners and developers. For developers, the concern is on a technical level that their mobile app may not work the same way on the older OS version now. For business owners, the concern is users leaving or uninstalling the app due to poor performance.

Whereas if an app is developed using Flutter, it will appear the same, even if it’s running on the older versions of Android and iOS. In many ways, this is an advantage:

• It saves the developer’s time
• It reduces cost
• Offers a brilliant user experience

5.) A Growing Community:

Despite being a new entrant, Flutter already has a robust community of developers. What’s more? It’s growing every day. Anytime a developer gets stuck while working with Flutter, all they need to do is post their query on the community. As more and more developers are getting on board and experimenting with the framework, it is becoming easier to find answers to queries. Some of the user communities for Flutter are:

• Flutter Awesome – It lists the best Flutter tools and libraries.
• Awesome Flutter – It is a Github repository that is linked to Flutter Awesome and contains a list of videos, articles, and more.
• It’s all widgets! – This is an open list of applications built using Flutter
• Flutter Community – A Medium publication with articles, tutorials, and more.

Best Flutter App Examples

Google Ads:

The app is developed by Google using Flutter. It is a tool for businesses that want to manage their ad campaigns anytime and anywhere. Google Ads offers users a ton of information, all within a click. The app gives insights into an ad campaign’s statistics like impressions, conversions, clicks, and direct support from Google.

Xianyu by Alibaba:

Alibaba owns the world’s largest eCommerce platform. It leveraged Flutter into its shopping platform. Xianyu is fast, smooth, and user-friendly. The platform has more than 50+ million users regularly.

Reflectly:

Reflectly is a unique take on a regular journal app. A user can not only store his/her daily thoughts in a single place but also shows how the user has improved over time. The app was originally built using ReactNative. Later on, realizing the benefits of Flutter over ReactNative, decided to go for the former.

Watermaniac:

It is an Android app that helps users keep track of their daily water intake. A user can set daily goals, know the water intake in the past, and get a notification when it is time to take the next sip. Watermaniac is lightweight due to Flutter.

PostMuse:

This is a story editing app for Instagram. Users can choose from a huge collection of typography, frames, and more. The role of Flutter is that it helped build PostMuse with limited resources. As a result, they could release the app soon after completing the development process.

Conclusion:

Flutter is proving to be a powerful framework for app development. Irrespective of some of  Flutter’s drawbacks, it is time to test its true potential. While it is still not certain that Flutter will be able to completely replace native app development, it certainly has a bright future. Let’s say it fails to replace native development, it still is the best UI design framework right now. Ultimately, it will not be wrong to say that for businesses looking for quick and high-quality app development, Flutter is a perfect choice.