The demand for mobile applications is growing immensely. Not having a mobile application is now significantly affecting businesses. Consequently, developers are looking for innovative ways to design and develop mobile applications to gain a competitive advantage.

They are looking for a method to develop faster, better, and cheaper. In results, Google developed Dart language to build applications on Flutter. It is helpful in developing cross-platform mobile applications in an affordable manner. No wonder the majority of startups are now using Flutter for mobile app development.

What is Flutter?

Google offers an open-source mobile UI framework named Flutter that offers developers and designers to create high-quality mobile apps. It is used for both iOS and Android mobile at fast-paced application development. Though this platform is still emerging, it is adopted by big giants like Hamilton Music, Alibaba, and a lot of startups.

Flutter is the latest mobile app SDK from Google, designed especially for cross-platform mobile app development. Flutter is not necessarily new to the industry. It was first introduced as “Sky” at the Dart Developer Summit, in the year 2015, and ran on Android OS. In 2017, Google released its alpha version. Not so surprisingly, there were already plenty of apps developed on it even before its official release in 2018.

Why choose cross-platform app development over native development?

Flutter recently gained immense popularity mainly amongst startups due to its cross-platform advantages. It allows a lightning-fast speed app development without compromising UI design, performance, and scope of testing.

Less Time Consuming

Flutter introduced the concept of the faster application development cycle. It alleviates the need for writing the same function in a different language and for a different platform. Hence, developers take less time to develop and deliver cross-platform applications.

Less Testing Requirement

Considering the base code for the application is the same, testers need to test the application on different devices in a single platform, ultimately reducing the testing period. Even the quality testing team has to test a single version of the application, reducing the testing period to almost half of it.

Affordable

As they say, “Time is Money.” Reduced development cycle and testing period saves a lot of money and thus the cost of production is reduced.

Wider Reach

Evidently, a cross-platform, mobile application gives the app a wider reach as compared to the native apps. Flutter makes the app capable of reaching a wider number of users across a number of iOS platforms.

Why Choose Flutter for iOS app development?

Mostly because it is a cross-platform application framework. But why go for the Flutter platform when there are already a number of cross-platform mobile application development frameworks available in the market? Because Flutter is remarkably efficient and gained immense popularity in a short time span. However, there is more to the Flutter framework. Read further to know more-

Fast-paced mobile app development

Flutter is intended to give the concept of fast-paced mobile application development a new definition. There are other cross-platform development platforms that use a number of different compilers to compile code for various iOS platforms.

Flutter makes use of Dart programming language by Google for compilation and interpretation of the code. Dart programming compiles the application code into the native OS code, effectively eliminating the need for different compilers. In addition, it enhances the reloading, ultimately, increasing the pace of programming applications.

UI Customization

Flutter doesn’t use native components to build a user interface as other cross-platform frameworks do. It makes it highly capable of building its own user interface which can be used across multiple OS platforms. Various cross-platform frameworks are somehow partial with UI rendering as they intend to leave out certain components and features. But not Flutter, it is known to render the application to all the OS just the way it was built and the way it was intended to.

Built-In Testing

Another advantage Flutter offers is built-in testing. Dart programming language offers a dedicated unit that is capable of the support unit and widget testing. Unit testing tests the business logic while widget testing tests the functionality of the UI. therefore, Flutter eliminates the need to add additional testing plugins and tools.

Continuous Delivery and Integration

Apple highly emphasizes on the importance of continuous delivery and integration. It is the sole reason Apple was using the X code server. But at the same time, there were many iOS developers struggling with X code as it is not scalable enough for efficient development and sociability of large projects. This is where Flutter comes in the picture as it offers high sociability along with faster integration and delivery.

Increased Productivity

One of the biggest advantages offered by Flutter is its capability to increase productivity. High productivity can ultimately be the key performance enhancing factor in a business. Developers don’t have to recompile the code every time there are changes in Flutter. Instead, changes are visible right after they are made and saved which also increases the developer’s performance considerably. Flutter also eliminates the use of Gradle, which is known to slow down the development process. Whereas, Flutter connects designers with developers to facilitate easy collaboration and a faster development cycle.

CI/CD Assistance

The most recent development in Flutter is that Google has now tied-up with Never code in order to offer Codemagic CI/CD solutions. Codemagic is a CD solution that is capable of detecting, developing, testing, and packaging the application built using Flutter, that too without needing any additional need for configuration. It results in increased scalability and better integration of large applications.

Wrapping up

Considering Flutter is still emerging and might look like a hodgepodge of various Google technologies and concept, nonetheless, it works wonders and results in wonderful cross-platform iOS and Android mobile applications. It is highly appreciated in startups because it alleviated many pain points faced by startups trying to release to multiple platforms. The versatility, efficiency, and robustness offered by Flutter are remarkable. In conclusion, Flutter definitely wins the development world irrespective of its time in the market!

Author Bio:- Khushboo Mandal is working as a Content Writer in Softuvo Solution. A passion-driven writer with an engineering degree loves to write about technology and make complex topics easy to understand!