It’s 2021, and cross-platform mobile development is one of the most popular trends. The ability to build native apps for Android and iOS from a single code base is becoming increasingly popular as it enables companies to ship mobile apps in record time. React Native has become something of a “standard,” but Flutter is a close second as the next mobile development technology to know in 2021.

How many apps are installed on your phone? Chances are there are at least a dozen (unless you’re in the 1% of chosen smartphone users who don’t have any apps running on their devices — is that possible?). .

From handling your finances to finding your soul mate to managing your health, almost every service and activity can now be integrated into your phone. Growth-conscious companies understand that mobile application development is no longer optional, but necessary to drive business revenue and generate sustained user engagement across all mobile platforms. They also realized that the faster they could release revenue-generating apps, the more advantage they would have over the competition.

The need for novel cross-platform mobile development technologies is intensifying. To solve this problem, today we will take a closer look at Flutter and compare it to two very popular frameworks React Native and Xamarin.

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

  • What is cross-platform mobile development?
  • What is Flutter?
  • Advantages and disadvantages of Flutter
  • A gorgeous application of Flutter
  • When to Use Flutter (and when to avoid it)
  • Cross-platform mobile Development: Which framework to choose?
  • Flutter v. React Native v. Xamarin

What is cross-platform mobile development?

If you are already familiar with this topic, skip to the next section. Otherwise, read on.

When we hear “mobile apps,” most people immediately think iOS or Android. While several other mobile operating systems are available, such as Ubuntu Touch, KaiOS or PureOS, to name a few, Google and Apple’s operating systems are way ahead of the pack. Together they account for almost 100% of the global mobile market.

Globally, Android continues to dominate, with an estimated 86 percent share of the global mobile app market. However, when we look at the revenue breakdown, iOS is more profitable than its competitors. In addition, it controls a significant 44 per cent of the US strategic market. So, if you’re targeting a global audience, you might be able to just focus on custom Android application development. That said, iOS support is a must if you plan to attract US customers. As a result, many companies are looking for opportunities on Android and iOS devices.

Please note that we said “a lot,” not all of it. What is preventing some enterprises from deploying their applications to these two platforms?

“Our iPhone app is available now. Android users can look forward to… Some unspecified future sees it.” How many times have you heard that? Well, that’s because iOS and Android are completely different and require developers to use different programming languages and frameworks. This means having two separate development teams, separate management teams to coordinate work within and between them, and an entire team of UX experts to navigate between the two projects, trying to ensure that the user experience on both platforms remains more or less the same.

Imagine the time, inconvenience, and expense it would take to keep all these teams working in parallel to release the same product on different platforms. This is where cross-platform mobile application development comes in. It allows developers to use a single code base to build software that supports iOS and Android, reducing the speed and cost of mobile application delivery. By providing these capabilities, a cross-platform delivery approach can help companies optimize return on investment and quickly deliver mobile applications to all markets they target.

Of the few tools and frameworks available for cross-platform development, React Native is currently at the top of the popularity chart. However, Google’s Flutter is gaining traction, combining all the features needed to quickly launch beautiful interactive mobile apps with a native look.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is an open source UI SDK (software development kit) created by Google and launched three years ago. It uses Google’s object-oriented Dart programming language. Dart has some similarities to JavaScript and follows a simple syntax that makes it easy for mobile developers to learn.

Below, we summarize some of Flutter’s defining features to set it apart from other mobile application development tools.

Cross-platform support

Flutter is specifically designed to develop engaging, native-compiled applications for mobile, Web, and desktop from a single code base. In mobile development, it can be used to build applications that run on Android and iOS. It also supports Google’s own forthcoming mobile operating system, Google Fuchsia.

The original performance

In contrast to hybrid applications, applications created using Flutter are not just thin native surfaces on top of Web applications. The Dart code allows developers to create truly Native mobile applications that don’t require JavaScript Bridges (unlike React Native, for example) because the code is compiled ahead of time. This allows full native performance on Both Android and iOS without any lag or interruption.

Small tools

The entire concept of UI design in Flutter revolves around widgets that come out of the box in two styles designed to conform to Android and iOS design guidelines. Widgets define the various styles, layouts, and structural components of the UI, such as buttons, fonts, colors, menus, forms, and so on. They can be modified and combined to form more complex elements. Custom widgets can also be created from scratch.

Thermal overload

So-called “hot overloading” allows developers to inject source code changes directly into a running application for immediate visibility without a reboot or loss of state. This feature is useful because it helps avoid a lengthy compilation process, which can be especially annoying when developers need to apply small changes. Not having to wait for code to compile for an unknown amount of time, only to discover that a semicolon is missing when adjusting button colors, seems like a game changer for developers. According to the creators of Flutter, this ability has had a profound impact on their work. However, to be fair, thermal overloading is not unique to Flutter, as React Native, for example, already provides.

Google support

Although Flutter, like React Native before it, is free and open source, we should not forget that there is a tech giant behind it. As an Android supporter, Google has a vested interest in keeping Flutter strong because it facilitates the creation of Android apps and, more importantly, opens the door to cross-platform development. This means that by using Flutter, a mobile developer that builds iOS apps, it can quickly deploy the software to Android phones using the same code. More importantly, as Fuchsia development continues, the new operating system will almost automatically gain access to Flutter based application libraries. So it’s likely that Google will continue to maintain and develop the SDK in an effort to make it as developer friendly and simple as possible. Let’s not forget, though, that mountain View giants have a long history of starting projects and suddenly abandoning them for no apparent reason (anyone remember Google+, Google Spaces or Google Video Player?). .

Advantages and disadvantages of Flutter

We have already mentioned the core aspects of Flutter that may appeal to developers. Now, let’s review some of the business advantages that make it an ideal choice for application owners and discuss some of the SDK’s downsides.

Flutter advantage

To market

As a cross-platform mobile development technology, Flutter significantly reduces application delivery times. Because it makes one code reusable on both target platforms, it can help companies reduce delivery times and capture audiences on Android and iOS.

Refined user experience

Google boasts that Flutter can create a “flexible and expressive UI”, and it will surely deliver on that promise. With a variety of reusable, customizable widgets to choose from, developers can create amazing user interfaces. More importantly, Flutter’s native features facilitate a seamless user experience and top-notch application performance.

Development cost savings

Using one code base instead of two always helps reduce the overall project cost; Therefore, cost-effectiveness is one of the most attractive features of Flutter. By simplifying development and reducing application delivery times, this technology can save significant amounts of money and increase the return on investment for applications.

Save more development cost!

Less development work, faster project delivery, and smaller resource requirements are one thing. But let’s not forget that Flutter is free and open source, further reducing the cost of mobile application projects compared to proprietary licensing tools.

Startup MVP

If you want to test and evaluate your mobile application ideas before fully launching your software, Flutter is the perfect technology for this goal. The SDK allows you to quickly create beautiful, high-performance MVP applications without spending a lot of money (for more details on this, see when to Use Flutter (and when to avoid it)).

International influence

Companies looking to launch in the global market will be pleased to find Flutter’s localization support for more than 20 languages. The SDK also simplifies internationalization with built-in currencies, dates, and units, as well as other built-in features that make it easy to localize your application software.

The disadvantage of Flutter

New technology

New concepts often arouse suspicion. While Flutter is making waves, it is a relatively new tool that needs to catch up with more mature frameworks. The selection of available libraries is still limited, and custom scripts may be required to implement some functionality.

Large application size

There are always compromises in software development. The speed of delivery and great UI of Flutter offset the size of large applications. Flutter applications tend to be very large, which can be a problem when developed for devices that cannot handle large applications.

People are hard to find

Because Flutter uses a proprietary, purpose-built language, its development required a new set of skills that took some time to build. As a result, the pool of developers proficient with Flutter will be relatively small compared to other tools and frameworks. However, this is not to say that finding technical talent with Flutter expertise is impossible.

A gorgeous application of Flutter

The number of Flutter apps is increasing every day. Clearly, Google is leading by example, with Google Ads or Google Assistant using the SDK. But who else would love the speed, simplicity and convenience of Flutter?

Alibaba (E-commerce)

The world’s largest e-commerce company is a reliable quivering big market player, among which Xianyu, the group’s second largest online retail platform, has 50 million downloads. Application developers praised the tools for their impressive UI/UX features and ease of maintenance, but the speed of application development made them available for sale on Flutter.

Groupon (Marketplace)

Leading discount marketplaces need to improve their merchant-facing applications, expand payment data visualization, simplify event management, and improve the voucher exchange experience. Rather than rewrite the existing application from scratch to add these enhancements, Groupon integrated the Flutter widget into native code. This helps get these features to end users faster without affecting their experience with the application.

Realtor.com (Real Estate)

Realtor helps Americans find their dream home with a unique Flutter powered mobile app. The company has integrated the framework into its existing Android and iOS apps to provide a seamless user experience across screens and platforms with intuitive, aesthetically pleasing graphical components, high-quality photos, and rich visualizations.

Birch Finance

The finance app simplifies credit card rewards and helps consumers save as they spend. The app uses Flutter to provide its users with a clear and consistent UI so they can easily track, analyze and redeem their reward points.

Hookle (social)

Hookle is a social media aggregator for small businesses. The application helps to display, write, and publish SM posts from one place to multiple platforms. Initially, Hookle’s creators intended to deploy native applications only to Android, concerned about the speed and cost of delivering to multiple platforms. After the discovery of Flutter, they revisited that strategy.

EntrenaPro (Fitness)

EntrenaPro, a mobile fitness app from Spain, uses Flutter to connect athletes with nearby coaches and sports centers. According to the app creators, Flutter enables them to meet very tight product delivery deadlines while providing key components to achieve a lightweight, modern UI. It went from zero to launch in just four months.

Rethink (lifestyle)

Wrapped in a minimalist, soothing GUI, Reflectly is an AI-powered personal diary and mindfulness assistant. It provides an inspiring example of a mobile application that was first created using React Native and then migrated to Flutter. This shift enhances cross-platform portability and allows for the integration of advanced technologies such as machine learning and NLP.

Watermaniac (Health)

Watermaniac helps users stay hydrated by tracking what they drink and sending reminders to take a drink every now and then. The application’s GUI is as straightforward as its functionality, so developing with Flutter is a walk in the park.

When to Use Flutter (and when to avoid It)

It seems that Flutter can offer substantial benefits but limited risks. Various examples implemented in multipurpose applications of varying complexity demonstrate this flexibility. Furthermore, the SDK is not limited to growth-conscious startups and small businesses. After all, global giants like Google, eBay, BMW or Alibaba have also used it to launch amazing apps in record time.

This does not mean that Flutter is the perfect (and only) choice for any business case.

Don’t get us wrong — we love Flutter. It makes our development efficient and enjoyable, while allowing our customers to quickly release their products to Android and iOS. But as they say, you need the right tools for the right job.

Forward! When to use Flutter

  • Flutter creators suggest using their SDK to deliver 2D cross-platform mobile applications, suggesting that it is best suited to brand-first design.
  • As long as aesthetic design and seamless UX are Paramount, Flutter can provide the ability to build an elegant and expressive user interface.
  • By providing the ability to quickly turn ideas into reality, Flutter benefits projects affected by tight budgets and time constraints.
  • As we mentioned earlier, the super-fast turnaround time of new features makes Flutter a perfect candidate to develop a high-performance, impressive MVP.
  • The technology is a perfect match for mobile applications focused on e-commerce, healthcare, lifestyle, banking and finance **. **

The box. When not to use a Flutter

  • ** When application size is a concern. Instant applications need to start quickly and must be kept small. Flutter provides a large number of built-in components that are large in size, so it may be worth considering alternatives to Flutter if they don’t affect the size of your application.
  • Ideal for highly complex applications that require rare libraries and lots of custom coding. While the Flutter widget system is designed to be easy to customize, adding a host of entirely new features and modules is something entirely different. Rapid development is Flutter’s superpower, but developers will not be able to take advantage of it if the application needs to implement highly unique features.

Cross-platform mobile Development: Which framework to choose?

Without the possibility of taking advantage of popular cross-platform mobile application development frameworks, developers need to build two separate but identical applications for Android and iOS. More importantly, once the design is complete, the application needs to be maintained and upgraded separately. Therefore, the technology you choose to implement your code affects not only the upfront cost, but also the total cost of ownership of your application. The wrong technique can result in inefficient maintenance or even a complete application rebuild that will erase all the work, effort, and investment that went into the first iteration.

So choosing between Flutter and other leading tools and frameworks is not just a matter of developer preference. It affects your money, your time, and your business. That’s why it’s worth taking a few minutes to understand the major differences between popular cross-platform mobile application development techniques.

Flutter and React Native and Xamarin

Of all the cross-platform mobile application development frameworks, arguably the three most commonly used include Flutter, React Native, and Xamarin. We’ll compare these tools to see how they stack up, taking into account different aspects.

Let’s remind you of a few caveats: cross-platform development doesn’t fit all. We have pointed out that Flutter is a great solution in some cases, but may not be entirely beneficial in others. React Native and Xamarin do the same. For that reason, we don’t pick the ultimate winner. Instead, we will compare the three techniques to help you decide which is best for your specific implementation.

What is React Native?

React Native is a JavaScript framework designed to use JavaScript to write interactive mobile applications with a native-feel. The code used to build the application can be used on Android and iOS without having to be recompiled or rewritten, making the framework truly portable. What’s more, React Native allows up to 70% of the code used in Web applications to be reused in corresponding mobile applications, greatly reducing programmer workload. The framework calls the native rendering apis of Objective-C in iOS and Java in Android, effectively building a standalone application rather than a “website within a framework.” Facebook supports React Native.

What is Xamarin?

Xamarin, owned by Microsoft, is an open source, cross-platform application development framework. It uses.net and C# to build modern and high-performance applications for iOS, Android, and Windows. As one of the first technologies to support the deployment of applications from a single code base to multiple platforms, Xamarin has the support of a broad community of more than 60,000 active code contributors from 3,700 companies. This powerful platform is widely used in enterprise environments and has been praised for its native-like performance, stability, and wide tool selection.

1. Platform maturity

Software development is the art of balancing exciting, cutting-edge technology with proven, proven solutions. Established organisations based on tradition, especially in highly regulated industries such as banking or healthcare, tend to opt for instruments that have been around for some time because they are seen as more reliable. Dynamically scalable startups tend to adopt cutting edge solutions that offer the agility and scalability needed to easily adopt change, often at a lower cost than mature platforms. How do React Native, Flutter and Xamarin compare in maturity?

  • ** reaction primitive. **JavaScript was introduced in 1995, and Facebook has been using React Native since 2011. Over the years, React Native has been adopted by thousands of companies, including Instagram, Shopify and Walmart. RN currently supports more than 110,000 sites worldwide, according to SimilarTech, a testament to the maturity of the framework.

  • The first stable version of Flutter was released in 2017, which could make the SDK a young player among other software development tools. Flutter uses Dart, a purpose-built, extensible, versatile language designed to eventually replace JavaScript (at the moment, this seems unlikely). We can debate whether three years is enough to prove its worth; However, Flutter adoption rates are impressive and show no signs of slowing down.

  • Hello marin. Xamarin, the oldest of the three, had plenty of time to evolve and improve when it was first released in 2011. Until 2016, access was limited to business users because the tool used to be licensed software. Once the code is moved to the open source model, the platform becomes available to the public. Xamarin is probably the most comprehensive cross-platform development suite available today, including proven and well-tested technologies such as C#,.net, and Microsoft Visual Studio.

2. User interface

The whole point of mobile applications is to delight users by achieving their goals or solving problems in a quick, easy and enjoyable way. This is why THE UI is a key element that makes mobile applications stand out. In terms of UI design, these three techniques are markedly different.

  • React Native is based on off-the-shelf components that are Native to the system it runs on. This results in a high-quality UI that is almost indistinguishable from native applications. React Native uses a simple, XML-based syntax for custom layouts and stylesheets.

  • Flutter is suitable for use with a set of proprietary widgets. From a designer’s point of view, this is convenient because it makes it relatively easy to achieve a stylish and elegant look. In hybrid mobile application development, the lack of oversight is an advantage.

  • Xamarin uses native widgets for UI rendering. User interfaces can be designed using platform-specific methods or through Xamarin.Forms. Platform-specific code is fast, but requires knowledge of a native language, such as Kotlin, Objective-C, or Swift.

3. Development time

Building a mobile application isn’t hard — the challenge is delivering it on an agreed time and budget. This is why the number of technologies that support coding is growing exponentially. Essentially, businesses are looking for new ways to reduce the time it takes to launch new applications, and software companies are trying to provide them.

  • React Native has proven to be one of the easiest ways to quickly build mobile applications, as the technology allows programmers to share up to 70 percent of their code. In addition, RN developers generally agree on the convenience and usability of the language used by the framework. JavaScript is the most commonly used programming language, favored by 70% of programmers!

  • Speed is one of the main advantages of Flutter, which makes development very efficient due to thermal overloading, predefined widgets, and pre-build tools. However, it’s worth remembering that Dart, which Flutter uses, is a relatively new development and cannot compete with JavaScript in terms of popularity and maturity. Although it is a very simple and very effective language, few developers know about it, which can affect development time if anything goes wrong.

  • Xamarin’s Visual Studio comes with a wealth of pre-built tools, components, and plug-ins that make development leaner and more efficient. On the other hand, as a mature, powerful enterprise platform, Xamarin requires more time to install and set up than other solutions. The framework is also notorious for delayed support, which negatively impacts the speed at which updates can be deployed in existing applications.

4. Application performance

Cross-platform mobile development tools do have slightly lower performance than native frameworks. Still, from the user’s point of view, the differences in how the application operates are negligible, and they generally don’t affect their experience anyway.

  • React Native although it is the most popular Web development language, JavaScript was not specifically designed. It is designed to manipulate the document object model. The fact that developers can use it for powerful, full-performance applications is a testament to the language’s versatility. Still, JavaScript has been used for more than its original purpose. Therefore, it is not optimal in terms of performance.

  • Flutter, on the other hand, uses Dart, a language designed to replace JavaScript. As a purpose-built tool, Dart performs much better than its predecessor. More importantly, because it is state of the art, Dart borrows all modern paradigms and solves many of the problems inherent in JavaScript and other established languages. This has a huge impact on performance.

  • Xamari takes full advantage of system – and hardware-specific apis and 64-bit support to deliver near-native performance levels that satisfy application users.

5. Community and support

Open source software thrives in healthy, engaged communities of technology supporters. Without them, there would be no knowledge sharing, no technical input, no code. In addition, by listening closely to users and developers, software vendors gain insight and drive their products to be continuously enhanced and adapted in a direction relevant to the end user. Which of the three comparison frameworks resonated most with the global developer community?

When we took a quick look at Github, React Native outperformed its competitors with more than 155K repositories and more than 500,000 submissions. However, Flutter is rapidly catching up, with nearly 113K repositories as of April 2020, including 335K submissions. Xamarin is lagging behind because the framework has less than 37K repositories available.

These results are consistent with what Google Trends tells us. In the past 12 months, we may have noticed a steady increase in Flutter searches. Interest in Google’s open SDK has outpaced the popularity of React Native. Xamarin fell behind again, being 3-4 times more popular in searches than its competitors.

  • React Native has no competition in terms of community size, being used three times as often as Flutter and twice as often as Xamarin. The fact that JavaScript has been around since 1995 favors the framework. RN has an amazing community of programmers who have contributed to the technology and are backed by one of the Internet’s giants, Facebook. Finding a React Native developer wasn’t a challenge either.

  • FlutterGoogle support is not something to oversee, but the tech community is still small compared to React Native. However, we can observe a significant increase in the number of Flutter supporters, who are also enthusiastic about the tool. The fact that Flutter is the third most popular framework means that it is gaining momentum.

  • Xamarin is owned by Microsoft, which has invested heavily in the tool to provide enterprise-level stability. In the nine years of Xamarin’s existence, the framework has built a large community of enterprise-based supporters and contributors (more than 1.6 million). They share their knowledge and insights in the official Xamarin forums, as well as in document repositories, videos, tutorials, and online courses.

6. Project documents

Setting up an environment to support a new development framework takes time. The same goes for testing created apps and publishing code to the App Store and Play Store. Comprehensive, user-friendly documentation makes life easier for developers because they don’t have to reinvent the wheel and figure out nearly the same steps in every case. What documentation support does the three frameworks provide?

  • Unfortunately, the official React Native documentation leaves a lot to be desired. It lacks structure and organization, and assumes that developers already have experience setting up RN frameworks and building cross-platform development projects. It also provides adequate support for automatic deployment of iOS apps to the App Store and does not help with CI/CD best practices.

  • Flutter scored much better here. The framework provides rich, well-structured, and detailed documentation for setup, testing, and deployment to simplify developers’ lives and speed the delivery of mobile applications.

  • Although Xamarin offers a variety of resources for developers starting to use the framework, their quality is often questioned as incomplete or outdated. Especially if the developer has no previous background in Microsoft products such as Visual Studio, the platform’s learning curve can be steep.

7. Target users and applications

These three software development frameworks are widely used and accepted, but each of them performs best in a given context. What makes some companies prefer React Native over Xamarin? Why did they decide to use Flutter?

  • React Native is versatile enough to support projects of all sizes and industries. With its maturity and broad customer base, the framework has all the necessary components to maintain its position as a cross-platform mobile development powerhouse. React Native will be the most intuitive and useful framework for developers with JavaScript experience.

  • Flutter may be the youngest framework here, but thanks to Google’s support, it has entered the cross-platform mobile development race in a big way and now has a good chance of winning it in the long run. The company was quick to recognize the versatility and convenience of the framework, so Flutter’s customer portfolio is steadily expanding and becoming more diverse. The technology is widely used by growing, dynamic brands that need to roll out mobile applications quickly. Companies that value high quality design and user experience will also benefit from developing their mobile applications using Flutter.

  • Xamarin is considered the first choice for enterprises that prioritize application stability and portability over rapid development and ultra-modern appearance. Think of any multinational, dirty, rich company that most likely already uses the framework for Web and mobile application development (think Bosch, Samsung, Cognizant, SAP, Kellog’s; Too many to list). That’s not to say startups will never choose Xamarin, but in many cases they see investing in the platform as overkill.

Status of Flutter in 2021

Flutter is one of the most advanced mobile technologies. Like every innovation, it has its limitations. Still, its multiple strengths certainly mask a few shortcomings, and Google’s backing makes it a strong candidate to dominate cross-platform mobile application development in the near term.

The Mountain View giant regularly releases new updates, adding widgets and libraries to extend the application capabilities in the stable and beta channels of the framework. The latest stable release, version 1.12.13, offers MacOS support, iOS 13 visual refresh and API improvements, among others. Currently, the beta stream provides Web support to generate Web content rendered using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These modifications open up a way for Flutter to compile from a single code base to mobile and Web platforms, a feature that makes SDK dominance more likely.

Since its inception, Flutter has been wildly popular among developers, but it has also been embraced by app owners. Now, with Google’s efforts to perfect Fuchsia OS, Flutter may well be the next big thing in app development. You don’t have to wait to take advantage of its features.