Flutter is a free, open-source framework that is being used to develop and design applications for various platforms. Flutter mobile app development is quite new to the market, and the users are not yet accustomed to it. However, it is very easy to learn. Thus, it is getting popular and is preferred by leading brands across the world.
Flutter vs Native App Development: What Do Developers Prefer?
Native application development, as compared to Flutter for mobile application development, creates software programs that run on specific devices and platforms like desktops, smart TVs, or a smartphone. In native app development, mobile applications need to write in a platform-specific language like Java, Swift or Objective-C.
Flutter, on the other hand, is cross-platform development software. It requires the user to write the code only once. The resulting application can run on both iOS and Android. It makes the developers work easier as they need to simply modify the same code instead of writing another one from scratch.
Will Flutter Replace Native App Development?
Flutter has many advantages for business and development teams to build beautiful, high-performance, and outstanding mobile apps to fit their custom needs and requirements. It’s worth considering Flutter for mobile app development.
Key Differences Between Flutter and Native App Development:
Productivity
With native app development, a developer needs to write the entire code again and build an app from scratch, even for similar app requirements, on different platforms.
With Flutter, the developer becomes more efficient as it simplifies their work as they need to code only once. They can focus on other tech requirements to create new developments on any platform. Flutter is an effective and time-efficient choice over native app development.
User Interface
Flutter offers a wide variety of host services of powerful UI elements to build a custom user interface with ease. It has been equipped with its widgets to empower the high-end UI support as Flutter backs the development process. This can result in an app with a highly responsive user interface.
Architectural Frameworks
Flutter and Native app development are both backed by Google but have different architectural frameworks. Native Android app development uses languages like Java or Swift, while Flutter uses Dart as a programming language.
Supports Testing During The Development Phase
Developers can only test their Android apps when using Native app development, as Android is a prominent platform in the industry. On the other hand, Flutter provides a robust testing platform that allows developers to test the app at various steps of the development process itself.
Additionally, it has a combined feature of testing the widgets, which allows developers to test the execution of the UI interface developed through these widgets. These tests are run in a separate process that can run in real-time or on real devices, as well.
CI/CD Support
The entire process of developing and launching native apps is a bit complicated outside the IDE.
Even though Android provides all the support needed to build automation and testing capabilities, but native apps require third-party servers because Android doesn’t have a dedicated CI/CD system from Google.
Hence, Flutter gets the upper hand as it has the support of Codemagic that enables CI/CD systems without glitches and automates the identification, testing, building, and packaging of its apps without the need for configuration.
Many cross-platform frameworks have challenged native app development in the past, but it has managed to be a prominent choice for developers. Yet, Flutter has become a great option for application development for businesses trying to create an app very similar to a native application. Therefore, it gives a strong competition to its predecessor.
