What is Flutter App Development? Advantages & Drawbacks of Flutter
Flutter is now the talk of the town when it comes to cross-platform mobile app development. To run seamlessly on both iOS and Android platforms, Flutter has grabbed its place at the top list of cross-platform technologies. If you are a hardcore developer and always looking for new hacks to improve your mobile application development, then Flutter is the renowned technology you should focus on. Due to some of the well-known features of Flutter, it has been drawing a lot of attention from all organizations.
When a developer develops an application for iOS and Android, he/she must write different codes for both platforms. It has become a costly and time-consuming option for every developer and business owner as well. Thus, native app development increases the budget of a business owner.
Table of Contents
- Is Flutter a Cross-Platform App Framework
- What's Flutter Exactly
- Benefits of Flutter App Development Services
- Disadvantages of Flutter App Development Services
- Is Flutter Good for Development
- Frequently Asked Questions
Is Flutter a Cross-Platform App Framework
Apart from Flutter, various frameworks in the market can write the same code for Android and iOS platforms. Such tools are known as cross-platform mobile app development frameworks. Even you can hire flutter developers from a mobile app development company.
Among all the cross-platform tools - PhoneGap, Xamarin, React Native, and more, the Flutter framework has become a renowned platform among developers, entrepreneurs, and users. It’s an open-source platform that is used to develop a cross-platform mobile application with single source code.
So, if we conclude things here, we could say that Flutter is a developer-friendly programming language as they have to write less code to develop an application. Though mobile app development with Flutter looks easy and reliable, as of now, it comes up with many advantages and disadvantages.
Here, in this article, we will explain to you in detail about Flutter app development, its advantages, and drawbacks. But first, let’s understand what’s Flutter.
What's Flutter Exactly
Flutter is an open-source and free technology developed by Google in May 2017 for creating native Android and iOS apps with a single codebase. Flutter is based on Dart programming language and React Programming Architecture that supports Android Studio, Firebase APIs, inline videos & ads, and offers the development of high-performance applications. It’s more like an SDK for applications designed for touchscreen devices that work well with iOS and Android.
Flutter is not a framework, but it’s a complete SDK - Software Development Kit, which already contains everything you will need to build cross-platform applications. This includes a rendering engine, ready-made widgets, testing and integration APIs, and command-line tools.
Having various features and benefits Flutter offers, it’s one of the most popular Google software types available. Like all other technologies, Flutter also has both pros and cons.
Benefits of Flutter App Development Services
Flutter has attained superiority in the market because it has mesmerized a large community of developers and other app owners. Let’s look at the advantages of getting in touch with the Flutter app development company for developing a mobile application.
1. Hot Reload
The best part of this feature - Hot Reload, is the feature through which developers and designers can quickly identify all the changes and improvements that have been made to the code right away in the app. That’s why Hot Reload strengthens the bond between developers and designers when they are looking for improvements on how the app looks and check effects immediately.
2. High Performance
Many factors impact the performance of an app, including CPU usage, frame number per second, request number per second, average response time, and many more. The rate of Flutter is 60fps, at which contemporary screens display a smooth and clear picture.
With this frame rate, a human eye can identify any lag. If you compare it with React Native and Xamarin, this framework is ahead with 220 milliseconds launch time and 58fps.
3. Immediate Updates
Flutter offers hot reload functionality that allows you to instant updates without the need for plugins. A hot reload also allows you to view updates in real-time. If you face an error while running the code, the framework lets you fix it immediately and carry on without having to restart it.
With hot reload, you can improve your productivity, and it also allows for experimentation without lengthy delays and assists with fast iterations.
4. Custom Widgets for Quick UI Coding
Flutter has ready-designed and custom widgets. These widgets are used to create an excellent app interface and its appearance. While many approaches could be utilized by different objects like controllers, views, and layouts, this framework features a unified and consistent object model. Every object in this tool is a widget, including fonts, color schemes, menus, buttons, and padding. By combining the widgets to form layouts, you can utilize widgets on any customization level. The widgets of Flutter are consistent and have extensive capabilities.
5. Mild Learning Curve
Learning a Dart programming language is the easiest thing to learn. Many developers with little coding knowledge can develop prototypes and apps with the framework. The mobile app development experience will not weigh into this development.
6. Cross-Platform Rendering Engine
Flutter has a high-performance rendering engine to render your app cross-platform without affecting UI changes. It uses Skia for rendering and offers next-level cross-platform integration to help your user use the app seamlessly throughout any platform.
You will find many video lessons, documents, a starting guide, and practical lessons over the internet.
Disadvantages of Flutter App Development Services
Likewise, Flutter has downfalls too. The Flutter technology is not mature at the moment, which means it still has a lot of room to grow, expand, and get better.
1. Large File Sizes
One big loophole that cannot be ignored is the large file size of apps developed in Flutter. Now in some cases, these file sizes could be a significant issue and cause a developer to choose an alternative tool for the development. As we can see finding sufficient memory storage space on the phone does not happen everywhere in the world with most of the users. Many older devices are unable to store additional apps without users being forced to pick and choose between an app or photos/music on their devices. However, this file size offers you improved runtime and performance, so it’s not easy to understand the audience you are appealing to.
2. Lack of Third-party Libraries
Third-party libraries and packages have a significant impact on software development as they enable some features for developers. These third-party libraries are normally free, open-source, pre-tested, and easily available. You may not find every single feature you need for the development for now.
However, since Flutter is new to mobile app development, it’s not easy to find such free packages and libraries. The tool is still in the growing phase and improving. Hence, you will have to wait for this toll to be used or choose an alternative for long-term development.
3. Issues with iOS
Flutter is developed by Google. This is why developers are worried about its implementation for iOS. Since Google is directly interested in fixing bugs in the shortest amount of time, building Android apps on Flutter is fast and enjoyable.
One of the latest updates in Flutter is a pixel-perfect iOS appearance. iPhone settings were created on the framework to enable the Cupertino widgets. But based on iOS 10 and iOS 11, features were updated later and released for a while.
4. Dart
Flutter uses a Dart programming language. However, it has both benefits and drawbacks. This object-oriented programming language is not as great as other languages like C#, Java, Objective C, and JavaScript.
Not many freshers will be able to develop an app using this language. So, this is an essential factor to keep in mind while developing a cross-platform application.
Is Flutter Good for Development
So, by identifying its advantages and disadvantages, we have concluded that Flutter has many more pros than cons for business and development teams. You can surely build beautiful, high-performance, and amazing cross-platform mobile applications that fit your custom needs and requirements. It’s worth considering Flutter, especially if you want to develop an app for both iOS and Android, because it is more cost-effective to hire a Flutter developer than to hire two native app developers (one for Android and one for iOS).
We hope you understand, What is Flutter? So, what is more than saving money and time? You can surely give it a try. For that, The One Technologies is the right choice as a cross-platform mobile app development company. We develop outstanding mobile apps for your industry.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are the key advantages of using Flutter for app development?
Flutter enables seamless cross-platform development by allowing developers to build natively compiled applications for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. Its expressive UI framework and efficient hot-reload feature enhance developer productivity, ensuring swift iterations and consistent, visually striking user interfaces across various devices.
- How do you ensure the security and performance of Flutter applications developed by your team?
Developers at The One Technologies prioritize the security and performance of Flutter applications through rigorous code reviews, adherence to best practices, and implementation of industry-standard security measures.
- What types of apps are best suited for Flutter development?
Flutter is well-suited for a variety of applications, particularly those requiring a consistent and visually appealing user interface across multiple platforms. It excels in developing mobile apps, including startups, eCommerce platforms, and multimedia-rich applications.
- How do you approach the design and development process for Flutter applications?
We follow a comprehensive design and development process for Flutter apps, combining user-centric design principles with agile methodologies to ensure efficient collaboration and the creation of visually compelling applications.
- What level of expertise does your team have in Flutter, and what certifications or qualifications do your developers possess?
Our team boasts expert proficiency in Flutter, backed by relevant certifications and qualifications, ensuring a high standard of skill and knowledge in delivering top-notch Flutter development services.
