What are the pros and cons of using Flutter for mobile app development?

Flutter has been getting a lot of attention lately, and it’s no wonder why. This open-source mobile UI framework can be used to develop apps on both Android and iOS, which gives it an edge over more traditional cross-platform mobile development tools such as React Native, PhoneGap, Xamarin and NativeScript. The biggest advantage of Flutter is that you can build native apps with high-performance and responsive user interfaces that are compatible with the majority of Android and iOS devices, while also benefitting from features like hot reloading and stateful hot reloading.

Pros of Flutter –

Pro: Open Source Platform

Being open source, it has a major advantage in that anyone can take a look at its code and see how it works. Being open source also means that any contributions to it can be made by anyone. Though sometimes it doesn’t quite work as well because there is not one specific group dedicated to making sure everything is perfect. Open source also means it’s free which saves you some money upfront if you’re looking to save every penny.

Pro: Good Documentation

Flutter has an extensive, well-documented API. This is both a pro and a con because it might take some time to get familiar with the entire document library. However, with more than 12,000 pages of information at your disposal, you’re bound to find what you need somewhere in there. The downside is that not all documentation is up-to-date since new features are added constantly.

Pro: One UI design

One UI design makes it easier to translate your ideas into a workable, accessible product that can appeal to any customer. With one design, you will be able to account for both low-end and high-end devices with the same user interface, which will simplify updates as well. Plus, the one design means updating is easy too. If there’s a new feature that you want to introduce on any device, all you have to do is update it in one place! One UI design also helps with consistency; every screen has a similar look so that navigation remains consistent across platforms. This saves your users time while they try to get around your app since they won’t have to readjust their expectations based on what they see at each turn.

Pro: Flexibility

One huge advantage that Flutter has over other frameworks is how flexible it is. In contrast to many older frameworks, you’re not restricted to native rendering, so you can just as easily build your UI with HTML or SVG if that suits your needs better. This also means that you don’t have to rely on third-party widgets or plugins and risk potential bugs with an undocumented library. This degree of flexibility ensures a streamlined development process without sacrificing quality.

Pro: High performance

Developing a native app for your company is costly, time-consuming, and comes with a high risk of failure. As costs increase, every second counts when it comes to giving your customers what they want. Flutter Development Company provides cross-platform apps which give you an edge over other competitors. It uses Java to build animations and layouts that look natural in Android. JavaScript code produces rich user experiences on iOS by enabling the rendering engine built into each OS.

Cons of Flutter –

Con: Learning Curve

Flutter is brand new. It was just released in September 2017, so it’s still being developed by Google. This means that there may be a larger learning curve, as developers will be writing code from scratch without established patterns or architectures to start with. There may also be more bugs or discrepancies than in other apps due to this lack of coding experience on this platform. But if you’re prepared to deal with those things, then go ahead and give it a try! The upside is that any apps written in Flutter will run on both Android and iOS platforms which can significantly reduce the workload required on your team.

Con: No Native SDKs or UI Components

When it comes to cross-platform frameworks, one may experience issues with native SDKs or UI components not being available. This is the case with a framework like Flutter which only provides high-level APIs to render native UI. If a developer wants to tweak the appearance or any aspect of a component, they will need to modify their code in C++ and get it ported over via Crosstool. And this doesn’t even include how difficult it is to debug these applications on slower devices with less RAM.

Con: Slow Development Process

The major disadvantage to developing with Flutter is that there is a longer-than-normal development process. Compared to other frameworks, there are more steps involved in creating an app which means it takes much longer to design, develop, and test.
That being said, if you’re a beginner developer who needs tutorials to help walk you through the process of coding, this tool might be helpful for your purposes. As a web designer who has been doing full stack engineering for 10 years though, I’m not personally a fan.

Con: Limited Third-Party Libraries

One of the disadvantages to building with Flutter is that, because it was just released in early 2018, there’s a limited number of third-party libraries you can use. When considering which framework to build your next project with, make sure that it has enough robust features and functionality so you don’t have to find ways around some limitations.

Conclusion –

If you need a more precise and efficient workflow, or you want to focus more on rendering fluid transitions, then Flutter Development Company is definitely worth a shot. Plus, if you’re looking to build apps with Material Design guidelines in mind, then this is also worth exploring. The ability to have native controls while still embracing a cross-platform solution sets it apart from other UI frameworks on the market as well. However, if there’s one drawback, it’s that many companies with established practices in Objective-C or Swift might be apprehensive about switching to this framework.