Flutter is a cross-platform framework that has quickly become one of the most popular choices for developers since its release in 2017. With billions of smartphones being used worldwide, apps have become the center of our daily routines. In the race of creating the most user-friendly and efficient cross-platform apps, Flutter stands out as the winner. It has been the go-to choice for many renowned brands when it comes to building their mobile apps such as Alibaba, BMW, eBay, Google Ads and many more! Let’s see why its future is bright and how Flutter can benefit your business and developers.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is an open-source UI software development kit created by Google. It is based on the Dart programming language and offers developers the ability to build applications for mobile, desktop, and web platforms using a single code base.

Since its launch, Flutter has been used in numerous real-world projects, where it has achieved great success. Some of the notable examples include the Xianyu app by Alibaba, which is a popular e-commerce platform in China. Additionally, BMW has created its own Flutter mobile application called „MY BMW“, which has launched in 40 countries worldwide, and eBay Motors leveraged Flutter to launch its iOS and Android apps in 2019. Finally, even Google Ads, which is Google’s own mobile ad platform, was rebuilt using Flutter.

Benefits of Flutter for App Development

Flutter offers several benefits that make it attractive to both developers and companies. Here are some of the main reasons:

Single set up with excellent documentation

Flutter is a powerful mobile app development framework created and maintained by Google. As such, it benefits from the full support of Google’s Material Design team. This means that developers using Flutter can rely on expert guidance and resources when designing and building their apps, even for beginners. Its exhaustive documentation offers step-by-step guidance and solutions to common challenges, making it easy for developers to resolve issues and keep their projects on track.

Single codebase

Nowadays, mobile apps are expected to be available on Android and iOS platforms, but native development can be time-consuming and costly. Flutter offers a single codebase for both platforms, saving time, money and minimizing testing & maintenance. It increases efficiency and productivity for businesses and provides customers with high-quality apps that work seamlessly on both Android and iOS platforms.

The go-to-choice for MPV

Flutter is popular with both big companies and startups on a budget. In Flutter you can develop UI blazingly fast, which shortens the time to market. This can be a crucial factor for a startup that aims to deliver its product as fast as possible. With the ability to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) quickly and efficiently, it provides startups with a cost-effective solution for their app development needs. Flutter also provides all the necessary tools for application development and integrates well with prominent cloud platforms such as Firebase and AWS, offering features like analytics, authentication, hosting and storage.

Extensive range of customizable widget

Flutter comes packed with an extensive set of widgets for creating user interfaces. With these widgets, developers have the power to customize and reuse components in their projects, making them advantageous future development endeavors. But that’s not all! The Material and Cupertino Design standard widget sets are included by default in Flutter, thus little work must be done to adhere to the most important design standards for mobile applications. Material Design is Google’s design language, while Cupertino adheres to Apple’s iOS Human Interface Guidelines. This allows developers a tons of creative alternatives to create slick-looking apps.

Own engine for rendering

Flutter’s native rendering engine allows developers to create user interfaces that look and feel identical across all platforms. To overcome typical challenges posed by the rendering process, Flutter uses the Skia graphics engine, which is highly optimized for rendering 2d graphics, and requires only a painting canvas for rendering, rather than specific user interface components. This approach reduces the complexity of the rendering process and makes it more efficient. This makes Flutter an ideal choice for building high-performance mobile apps that are visually appealing and engaging.

What awaits Flutter in 2023

Exciting news for Flutter developers! Last February, the release of Flutter 3.7 and Dart 2.19 was announced at the annual Flutter Forward conference, introducing new features and improvements to the framework. These updates make it simpler for developers to build visually stunning and high-performance mobile applications. The following 4 main areas will be developed in the upcoming releases:

  • Breakthrough graphics performance
  • Seamless integration for web and mobile
  • Support for early to new and emerging architectures
  • Introduction to several new widgets and Flutter News Toolkit

Wrapping up

Overall, Flutter’s future appears to be bright and it’s quickly becoming an important player in the coming years. With its fast development cycle, high performance, beautiful user interface and cross-platform compatibility, it’s easy to see why businesses and developers are turning to Flutter. Next to that, the growing Flutter community is constantly investing in new tools and features, and there is no doubt that Flutter will continue to grow and evolve in the future.