Can you imagine being able to develop natively compiled applications for multiple platforms such as mobile and desktop, as well as web applications using just a single codebase? This framework exists and, in this article, we will understand what Flutter is.
In the past, you had to choose whether your app would be mobile or desktop, universal or native. The native ones performed better as they were written in separate code for each platform.
This made them expensive, taking more time to develop, and hiring a team of developers specialized in each platform was still necessary. However, Flutter, based on the Dart language and created by Google, in 2017, changed this scenario.
What is flutter anyway?
Flutter is an open-source development kit with which you can develop interfaces for various platforms for apps, websites and portals.
With it, it is possible to create mobile, desktop and web projects with a single code, making the application development process easier and more optimized. That’s because Flutter, in addition to being cross-platform, is a native application.
A native application is developed based on the operating system on which it will work and uses features of the device, such as the camera and GPS.
Advantages of a native app
- Faster, as it needs less processing
- More development quality and fewer bugs
- Improves user experience as it utilizes mobile device hardware and software
- More usage modes, as it can be used with a slower connection or even offline
- More security, as it does not need intermediaries, being a very stable application
In addition to all these advantages, Flutter also helps when developing versions for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux and all other operating systems. Its programming language is Dart, very similar to JavaScript.
Another feature of Flutter is that the structural elements, such as menus, layouts, buttons and others, are widgets, so they can be used from packages already ready in the framework or create them from scratch.
As one of the most complete platforms at the moment, large corporations use Flutter for application development.
Main features of Flutter
By combining the quality of native applications with the flexibility of cross-platform application development, the framework brings many advantages and benefits to application building.
Flutter contains everything needed to create the best user interfaces (UI), enabling designers to easily render operating systems.
Regarding the user experience, Flutter works in the User Interface (UI) layer of applications, without intermediaries between devices. As a result, native applications developed in Flutter have better performance and fluidity, benefiting user interaction.
See Flutter’s architecture
Flutter is a great choice for companies that need quality application development and a great user experience, but have a tight budget. Precisely by having the same code base for all platforms, the code process is much faster.
In other words, using a slightly more technical explanation, let’s assume that your business is developing a cross-platform application using Flutter’s MaterialApp widget.
This widget, for example, builds several other useful widgets at the root of your application, including a browser. This browser manages a stack of widgets, called strings and known in Flutter as routes. In this way, the browser allows you to move smoothly between application screens.
How has Flutter changed app development?
Now that we have a better understanding of what Flutter is and how the framework works, let’s understand how it positively impacts mobile app development processes.
Less development time
Undoubtedly, the time factor is one of the most requested and taken into account when hiring an application development team. Big businesses and companies aim to develop the highest quality app as quickly as possible.
Because of Hot Reload, creating applications in Flutter allows for more agile development, as the developer can instantly see the changes made to the code while programming. With this, he can iterate and optimize the test procedure quickly.
In this way, the development team saves time, as problems are identified and resolved at the same time the programming is done.
It even happened with one of the apps developed in Flutter, the Hamilton App, which takes the experience of the American Broadway musical beyond the theatre, as the team had to develop the app in less than three months and still had to make a big change in the code. the night before it was released in stores.
Flutter apps are more budget-friendly
The quality offered by the applications developed in Flutter has an excellent cost-benefit for all the usability and loading speed that the framework provides.
It is a perfect option for testing MVPs, allowing you to test prototypes quickly. The cost of Flutter is generally lower when compared to different frameworks to develop the application on each platform. Not to mention that you don’t need a specific team to develop the application for Android and another team specialized in iOS, further reducing costs.
Google and Community Support
Because it was created by Google, obviously, the development team also has the official support of the technology giant.
With this, you guarantee your application a higher quality, always updated documentation and the security that this framework will not fall into disuse, with the risk of losing your application.
In addition, Flutter is also a free and open-source framework, providing all the necessary documentation to be analyzed further. It also offers external consultations to resolve any issues that may arise in the future.
More current and longer-lived apps
Another very interesting point about Flutter is that it makes the app’s lifespan longer by always offering the same widgets for all platforms. With it, there is no problem of changing the aesthetics of older devices, requiring fewer interface updates or constant layout adjustments.
Also, because these widgets are part of the application code developed in Flutter, without intermediaries, there are much less incompatibilities in the different versions of each operating system. That is, your branded app will continue to work on newer versions of more modern mobile devices.
