The mobile-first shift

Mobile application development has brought a paradigm shift in the digital world. Thanks to technological advancements, we live in a digital realm, where everything is just a click away. Moreover, post-pandemic has made people realize the worth of going digital. As a result, companies are striving to stay ahead of the competition and fulfill user requirements.

According to various studies, an average user effortlessly spends around three to four hours every day on their mobile devices. Surprisingly, this usage timespan is growing day by day. This simply implies that using applications on mobile devices is more convenient and helpful.

Therefore, companies across the world are investing in developing mobile applications to establish business-consumer interactions, and a huge percentage of those interactions are mobile-first. As a result, the industry of app development is growing exponentially.

Committing to cross-platform

Developing multiple versions of the same product has long been the misery of the app development industry. Up until recently, the only other option was to find and implement cross-platform strategies that are efficient and suited to the expanding market for mobile applications.

“It is no longer a battle of Native or Cross-platform. Rather, it is about finding common ground and building in a better way.”

Also, building mobile apps as native apps isn’t fancy anymore. With cross-platform technologies advancing and providing a “native-like” experience, it has become easier and more affordable to create mobile applications.

There are many cross-platform development tools like React, Xamarin, Kotlin, etc. Among all of those, in the current era, React and Flutter is on top of it to develop mobile applications.

Choosing between the two and figuring out which is better is often a challenge. They are significantly distinct from one another, despite the fact that they both work effectively. Invimatic works with both these technologies to serve best-in-class solutions to their clients.

Let's read about why Flutter is a better cross-platform application.

Flutter - A better cross-platform approach

Flutter is being used by developers worldwide and is regarded as the best cross-platform programming tool. From a programmer's perspective, Flutter's cross-platform strategy is unbeatable. Unlike most cross-platform frameworks, Flutter widgets aren’t converted into native components which hampers the application’s performance. Moreover, Flutter’s framework handles the responsibility of drawing pixels directly on the screen which makes the application incredibly quick and responsive.

The write-once concept of Flutter helps users to develop a powerful native experience using a single source code. An app developed using Flutter is already compiled and is therefore machine binary executable. This helps in overcoming a number of difficulties associated with cross-platform development methods.

Flutter employs a single framework, single language, and a specific set of libraries for all the UI requirements (even if the UI is unique for each platform). As a result, the user gets a native-like experience in a cost-effective way. Developers worldwide are adopting Flutter to create stunning apps for many prominent organizations, including Alibaba, BMW, eBay, Capital One, Square, Tencent Group, and more.

The amazing Flutter benefits!

Of all the amazing things Flutter has to offer, we personally love the following ones!

1. Application performance

Flutter employs Dart, an AOT (Ahead of Time) compiled language. Dart, unlike other languages, enables the application to interface directly with the native platform rather than traversing through a JavaScript bridge. Dart follows modern software engineering practices, making it simple to develop descriptive, reactive, and fully-functional applications without relying on external libraries. This enables developers to develop complex applications without impacting performance or setup times.

2. Hot reload

Hot reload allows developers to swiftly rebuild the apps as if it was web page. Moreover, this feature is discrete in nature, meaning that developers don't have to restart the app every time they make a change - it simply resumes where it left off. This offers developers design visibility.

3. Everything is a widget

Amazingly, every element on the screen is a widget in Flutter. Instead of having a single set of rules for all widgets, each widget has a distinct layout model. Because each UI element is a widget, the entire application layout becomes simple and easy to use.

When it comes to Flutter's distinctive widgets, the framework implements Material Design widgets for Android and Cupertino widgets for iOS. Cupertino widgets also look and function well on Android.

4. Number of packages available

Despite its recency, developers across the globe are very excited about what more Flutter will bring to the table. As a matter of fact, the developers' community has already started using the technology. Therefore, several packages for Flutter are already available, including tools for image handling, HTTP requests, different net protocol clients, embedded databases, push notifications, using device cameras and sensors, and many more.

5. Device compatibility

Native widgets in Flutter allow applications to maintain compatibility with different OS versions from iOS 8.0 and Android Jelly Bean. Because Flutter does not directly touch native platform widgets, it won’t harm the application from the outside when Apple or Google releases a new widget.

End Note

In today's world, we need to build for many platforms to reach our users, all while maintaining quality to keep them happy. So, whether you opt for a native platform or a cross-platform app development, it all boils down to how well the code is written. And regardless of the decision, it is feasible to create a high-quality, effective, and functional app.

Although native technologies are unbeatable, we believe that emerging cross-platform technologies are going to change the dynamics of application development. Not only will they serve as a cost-friendly alternative, but they will deliver a native experience as well.

Hopefully, these technologies will improve in the near future to the point where all the applications are created using cross-platform expertise. Till then it is up to us to find common grounds and build better applications.