Flutter App Development: The Fastest Way to Build iOS and Android Apps

Flutter App Development: The Fastest Way to Build iOS and Android Apps

by Vincent Martinot
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
Digital Marketing, Business, Technology

There can be hardly any doubt about the fact that mobile apps have already become an irreducible part of our everyday life. Thousands of apps are launched every month on iOS and Android platforms representing a variety of niches and consumer requirements. The emergence of technologies that allow modular and fast-paced development plays a crucial role in this.

For several years, React Native was the answer to fast-paced app development for both iOS and Android platforms. In fact, the so-called hybrid development popularised with the “write once, run everywhere” approach despite having limitations was embraced by many app projects simply for low-budget and fast-paced development.

React Native changed all these by offering a component-based and modular framework that apart from reusing maximum code across platforms never failed to address platform-specific concerns for UI/UX development.

But React Native has its own limitations such as relying on third-party JavaScript bridges for native UI rendering. This is when Flutter was launched by Google to provide a more comprehensive framework and addressed all major limitations of React Native. Flutter offered a more modular and component-based solution for app development across both iOS and Android platforms. As Malcolm Browncomponent-based of Imperoit  correctly put it, “ After React Native, Flutter was recognized not just as the component-based out powerful SDK for cross-platform projects, but as a more comprehensive SDK for shaping the digital presence of a business across mobile and web.”

The biggest value proposition of Flutter experienced by most developers is the speed of development. Many startups and businesses hire Flutter developers simply for faster and low-budget development while not compromising on quality parameters.
Flutter saves enormous amounts of development time for app projects. Let’s explain here how Flutter really does this.

A modular widget-based architecture
In Flutter, every UI element irrespective of the platform comes as widgets. Flutter provides a vast repository of UI widgets for both iOS and Android platforms. Every single UI element such as font, layout grid, button, scrolling elements, menu, animation characters, etc is represented by a multitude of customizable widgets that can be used easily as per the intended UI design requirements for the app projects.

This widget-based architecture gives developers complete freedom from their dependence on the third-party JavaScript bridge for connecting the platform-specific user interface layer. Flutter doesn’t need to use the UI elements provided by the original operating system. Instead, it builds Android UI and iOS UI within its development environment just by using the widgets.

Ultimately, this results in faster development time since everything can be developed within the Flutter environment and rendered in the respective platforms without undermining the native user experience. While you can develop an app for both iOS and Android platforms at a rapid pace, the custom UI widgets for both platforms prevent you from undermining the native user experience. The Flutter developers can create the same advanced and engaging UI for iOS and Android at a faster pace.

Multiplatform portability of the codebase
Let’s get it straight by saying that the reusability of the code is the basic premise of any cross-platform development framework. React Native and Xamarin developers can also reuse maximum code across both iOS and Android platforms ensuring faster development time. But here also Flutter has a distinct edge over other cross-platform technologies. Flutter not only allows reusing the code across iOS and Android, but it can also allow using the same codebase for web and desktop versions of the app.

This means Flutter developers can easily build an app that with just platform-specific UI rendering can run on iOS, Android, web, and desktop. If a business wants to extend its digital presence across mobile platforms as well as desktop and web, Flutter can make it quicker than any other technology. Developers simply can use the same code for shaping the entire digital footprint of a business.

Hot Reload for real-time code changes
This is another crucial way Flutter can really speed up development. Generally, in an app project, developers need to write and rewrite code multiple times and see the effects of the code changes in the running app. Naturally, with every small change, they need to reload and refresh the app again and again. This delays not just the development process but also the QA testing and debugging processes.

This is where the Hot Reload feature of Flutter steps in. Thanks to this feature Flutter developers can write and rewrite the code and deploy them in the running app and see the effects of the changes in real-time. Developers no longer need to reload and refresh the app for evaluating the code changes they introduced. This saves a lot of development time and makes things easier for the QA testers and debugging as well.

Clean and easily readable Dart code
Google introduced a new language for coding with Flutter and it is called Dart. Dart is an object-oriented, general-purpose programming language that uses a very clean and readable syntax and can easily run on native device platforms.

On the one hand, Dart makes coding as well as code testing easier with a clean and highly readable syntax and on the other hand, by running easily on native platforms, Dart saves developers from frequent development errors and native performance problems. With Dart, detecting the coding errors and addressing the runtime difficulties get easier and faster.

Out of the box Firebase and Skia engine support
Flutter app projects also get the advantages of faster development because of the out-of-the-box support for Google Firebase backend and Skia graphic engine. The first helps developers to configure servers without relying on any third-party software and the second eases the process of creating attractive and engaging graphic user interfaces for both iOS and Android platforms.

On top of these, Flutter also supports multiple Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tools such as Android Studio, IntelliJ, Visual Basic, and several others. This wider IDE support saves time in preparing the project infrastructure.

Wrapping Up
Finally, it must be noted that Flutter is widely preferred by startups for incremental development approaches such as Minimum Viable Product. Because of the modular architecture of Flutter, an app can be developed with key features and UI elements and through subsequent updates, further value additions and changes can be brought in. Ultimately, this approach also speeds up the development process.

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About the author:

Vincent Martinot is a keen writer and managing director at EurecaApps – one of the leading app development companies helping businesses in developing robust mobile applications.

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