Flutter: The future for cross-platform app development?

Flutter is an open source framework from Google and is based on the Dart programming language. It enables the development of natively compiled apps for iOS and Android devices as well as web and desktop applications from a single code base.

How Flutter works

The widget as a fundamental component

A Flutter app is basically a widget, which in turn can consist of numerous other widgets. A widget itself contains not only its representation layer but also the logic that defines its behaviour. The basic widgets, such as buttons or input elements, are provided by Flutter itself.

A unique rendering technique

Unlike other frameworks, Flutter renders its user interfaces entirely on its own engine, which allows for better performance and faster development.

To do this, Flutter basically occupies the area of the screen when the app is started and then draws each widget with its individual state on this canvas. This process is repeated every time the state of a widget changes, so that user actions are responded to immediately.

Using your own engine has many advantages:

High performance

Flutter achieves high performance thanks to the native compilation of Dart and its own rendering engine.

Better performance on mobile devices

Flutter's engine is specially optimized for mobile devices so that apps also run optimally on older devices.

Independence from platforms

By using its own engine, it is less prone to platform- and operating system-specific problems.

Main features of Flutter

Variety of widgets

Flutter offers a variety of ready-made widgets to quickly and easily create a user-friendly interface.

Platform-specific design

Flutter enables platform-specific design through native widgets for iOS and Android, allowing for seamless integration and impressive user experience.

Optimized engine

Flutter uses its own engine, which ultimately leads to better performance, faster development and fewer errors.

Hot Reload

Hot Reload allows developers to see their changes in real time without having to recompile all the code. This significantly speeds up the development process.

Impressive animations

Flutter offers inherently simple approaches to implementing impressive animations in apps.

Integrated debugging tools

Flutter offers a range of built-in debugging tools that make it quick and easy to identify and fix problems.

And many more functions..

to develop modern applications.

Advantages and disadvantages of Flutter

No technology is perfect in itself, but is better or worse suited for certain use cases. For this reason, we also highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the Flutter framework in this section.

Modular widget architecture

Flutter's modular widget architecture enables the development of small, reusable components, leading to better structuring and faster app development.

Dart as a basis

Flutter is written in Dart, a modern and typed programming language that offers high speed and efficiency.

Native compilation

One of the key advantages of Flutter is that it compiles to native code, resulting in powerful apps that provide a smooth and responsive user experience.

Cross-platform development

Flutter allows developers to build apps for multiple platforms such as Android, iOS and web using a single codebase.

Development speed

Flutter offers high development speed through hot reload, Dart as a programming language, custom widgets, active community and comprehensive documentation.

Open Source

Flutter is open source, which means that all source code is public and can be viewed, modified and used by anyone free of charge.

Steep learning curve

For developers unfamiliar with Flutter, there can be a steep learning curve as they get used to the new technology.

Fewer plug-ins and libraries

Flutter is a relatively new technology and there are fewer plugins and libraries compared to more established technologies such as React Native.

Peak performance

For a cross-platform framework, Flutter runs very performantly thanks to compilation to native code. Compared to native apps, however, performance issues can occur more quickly for very complex use cases or animations.

Deployment to the web

Currently, web support is still in its infancy and has some weaknesses, such as content indexing. However, Flutter gives this feature a high priority, and should they make a breakthrough, this could in turn become one of their greatest strengths.

Our Conclusion

In summary, Flutter provides a modern and efficient solution for mobile app development that offers unique benefits such as a modular and structured architecture, an efficient language, and hot reload. Although there are some limitations, such as a smaller community and limited support for third-party libraries, we believe that Flutter should be seriously considered for tech-savvy companies looking for a solid app framework or even considering a cross-platform development strategy.

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Projects using Flutter

Quadra Ligna

App revolutionizes window renovation: simplified measurement, optimized user experience, seamless data synchronization.

To customer

Blick

For the Blick App: Strategic, future-oriented technology selection and prototyping for top functionality.

To customer

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