Why choose Flutter for mobile app development in 2024?

The mobile app industry has already been on the rise, and it will keep increasing its revenues by 10 times, according to Statista.
That’s wow! App stores are crowded with tools for every human need, be it – a song directory, pet vet app, or a sales store.

In recent years, Flutter and React Native have been the leading frameworks in cross-platform development. Occupying the first position in the diagram, Flutter has started to steadily drive the lead.

Though being the front-runner, Flutter has still challenges to work with. In this article, we will describe the pros and cons of the framework, the difficulties we faced, and the solutions we took.

So, let’s go.

Flutter mobile development fundamentals

The framework architecture of Flutter is designed for a cross-platform development process.

It is implemented by deploying several core components, such as Dart programming language, Flutter engine, design-specific widgets, development tools kit, and foundation library.

Let’s dive into the domain and gain an insight into what Flutter actually is.

The upsides of the Flutter framework

Flutter is an open-source framework released by Google in 2018. It is basically a tool kit, an SDK, for the developer to create applications. It contains libraries, widgets, and the required tools for the work process to flow quickly, smoothly, and efficiently.

The list of the big companies’ apps built by Flutter cross-platform is presented in Flutter Apps in Production and An open list of apps built with Flutter.

Advantages of Flutter

A single code base

Flutter runs the code written in Dart. Dart is an object-oriented programming language launched by Google and picked up to implement Flutter.

Dart allows for a single code base to be reused for every platform. The API is stable and well-supported.

It supports Ahead Of Time as well as Just In Time options of code compilation.

During the Flutter app development process, the JIT compilation enables Flutter’s stateful Hot Reload.

With Dart, the flow of development cycles is extremely fast. Respectively, with the changes applied, Flutter app developers can see the actual look of the application in less than a second.
Fast development flow and smooth performance.
The Flutter mobile application becomes AOT-compiled as soon as it has been created and ready to be released.

AOT option allows you to efficiently compile the Flutter mobile app code into the binary native code. Just like with natively coded applications, the start time is speedy and further performance is smooth.

Widget customization

In Flutter, everything is a widget. Using various compositions of widgets, you can draw the user interface, introduce changes into the outer look of the application or even execute the data transmission process.

Developers can create totally customizable widgets. By painting every pixel to the screen, you gain complete control over the application.

Concerning the design-specific widgets, Flutter holds both Cupertino layouts resembling Apple’s iOS Human interface guidelines design language and Android Material Components of the Material Design, which is a design language developed by Google in 2014.

The layouts are defined by using the Dart code only. There is neither XML nor templating language in the Flutter development kit, just as there is no visual designer tool either.

All graphical elements, such as buttons, backgrounds, and texts are written by the graphic Flutter engine.
Compilation flexibility
Due to its compilation flexibility, Dart may be used in a combo with JavaScript and, thus, implemented in the browser or even on the server side by either being compiled natively or into the JavaScript programming language.

There are other benefits of Flutter development, such as:

• a low learning curve;
• it is app-oriented, not platform-oriented;
• it is well-documented;
• suitable for various niches;
• Flutter engine and Flutter DevTools have ever-growing capacities;

it’s great for MVPs.

The downsides of Flutter

Dependence on the IT community

To interact with certain native features, Flutter has to use third-party libraries and plugins. Once built by iOS and Android developers, they need to be constantly updated.
The IT community has actively been growing since Flutter was released, and tons of important plugins have come into widespread use.
File size
The file built by Flutter is more disk space-consuming than the one coded natively. The Flutter application that goes into the App store is heavier than its native equivalent.
This file size challenge has already been faced by the Flutter developers and the file size reduction is underway. Performance & Optimization documentation may appear to be a viable solution.

Instability

As Flutter was released from the beta version not so long ago, some sort of operating instability may still occur. Google has already focused on gaining stable and reliable framework performance.

Now let’s compare Flutter and other cross-development mobile frameworks.

Flutter vs React Native vs Native

React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework released by Facebook and applied to build cross-platform applications.

The framework interacts with native platforms by using a so-called “JavaScript Bridge”. This is a context that may cause a jank. A noticeable choppiness of the application performance is detected. And the performance of critical applications may get affected.

In the React Native framework, developers cannot get full control over the software tool and prevent possible security issues and data leakage.

Flutter vs React Native comparison reveals the main differences both in the Dart language capabilities and in Flutter’s new framework architecture itself.

Flutter applications have a faster start-up time and a quicker performance. Looking natively and performing efficiently, they provide a perfect user experience. They are secure enough to be used in any market niche your business belongs to.

If you set the cross-platform approach represented by Flutter vs Native (Kotlin, Java, Swift, Objective-C) or any other native coding option, the differences will at large lie in the development process and become obvious during post-launch support.

The need to hire a doubled number of specialists and run a project in a time- and resource-consuming way will probably make such a project a pricey one.
Maintenance and considerable support costs for two separate applications should as well be considered.

With so many benefits, Flutter appears to be one of the most popular and capable technologies to build cross-platform applications.

Building cross-platform apps with Flatter: TBR Group’s expertise

Here comes a true industry showcase of the apps created by TBR Group which have already been published in the app stores.

TBR Group is a company that specializes in web and mobile programming development.

Swishboom

This Flutter mobile app is available only in the App Store.

Swishboom mobile app – “How it works”, “Find a Sister” and “Your Job” pages.

Swishboom connects the families in want of babysitting service to the baby care providers available for job employment. The application allows for creating personal networks for both families and babysitters, scheduling working hours, extending the existing network, and making the babysitter jobs easy to apply for.

Neural Reader Most Natural TTS

Flutter for mobile app development was considered a perfect technology to accomplish Neural Reader Most Natural TTS mobile app project.

Neural Reader Most Natural TTS mobile app – “My Library”, “Reading” and “Dictation” pages.

Available on the App Store, Neural Reader is designed to be the most human-like Text-To-Speech audio reader, and the most accurate Speech-To-Text live transcribtion tool. The app provides several subscription plans.

Śpiewnik Wywroty

The Wywroty Songbook is the largest database of Polish and international song arrangements. It was originally created by guitar player for guitar players.

Śpiewnik Wywroty mobile app – “A prompter booth”, “The most favorite Polish Songs” and “Chord charts” pages.

Vetsie for Vets

Vetsie for Vets belongs to pet care telemedicine. It is cross-platform and cloud-based.

Vetsie for Vets – “Book Consultation” feature and “Add Vets” feature.

More information on the app is available at Building a pet care app with Flutter: TBR Group guide.
The challenges of the development process and their solutions

Below there is a list of issues and the solutions we faced while crafting the apps.

• not all the existing Dart packages support the Null Safety guarantee sound. Due to this reason, some packages have to be manually rewritten to obtain the Null Safety sound support;
• Flutter applications have bigger sizes than native ones. Since the Flutter app contains the core engine, framework, ICU data, and LICENSE file it will take some space on a disk. For example, for Android, a min Flutter app size is 4MB while the Kotlin app can take 550 KB. However, this is a default drawback for all cross-platform solutions.;
• to implement Video & Audio chat, a Vetsie application core feature, the TBR Group used a powerful Agora SDK platform. This is similar to FaceTime conversations technology and ensures reliable and secure communication. The app Vetsie for Vets itself has been written using a Flutter web plugin in combination with the JavaScript programming language. Such a programming combination was rooted in Agora SDK itself. Agora SDK does not support chat features for Flutter web options.

For more information and details on how we did it, please, refer to the Writing a Flutter Web plugin with JavaScript: a step-by-step guide.

Summary

Flutter has already been redefining the software development for mobile, web and desktop solutions applicable for projects of any kind and scope.

Having a bunch of numerous benefits and out-of-the-box capabilities, Flutter dares to challenge projects of any complexity.

Flutter’s potential weak points can practically be avoided with a proper development approach.

Flutter app development costs may vary and depend on the preferences of your business projects, goals, and priorities.

What technology to use for mobile app development in 2024 – Flutter or alternative solutions?

This is a dilemma you might have already faced as a business owner and mobile developer, walking the way to your mobile app creation.

Get your unique project communicated and discussed. Find a comprehensive solution. We are always here to assist you!