An Intro To Flutter: One Of The Most Popular Google Frameworks

What Is Flutter? What Can You Use It For?

Flutter is a popular framework from Google commonly used to cross-develop both Android and iOS applications with a single codebase. What does it mean? Basically, Google has created a new great tool that makes developing mobile applications faster and cheaper than ever. Until recently, software houses would need two separate development teams to create a mobile application for these two most popular platforms: one responsible for building a product tailored for iOS, and the other doing the same for an Android environment. In this scenario, we would need a group of specialists who knowSwift to create an iOS application and Java or Kotlin to write an Android application. But fortunately, now, for Flutter, we only need one team.

More Effective Development for Mobile Apps

Google’s idea was quite simple: to build one framework where you can create code that you can freely adapt to the specifics of both:Android and iOS platforms. Sounds very promising, right? And with Flutter it has become a reality. Flutter gives us the opportunity to create an application framework that can then be effectively adapted to both platforms, significantly reducing the project’s timing and costs. One team of programmers can successfully build a product adapted to both systems, sharing their knowledge and experience with each other. All of this makes creating such a product much more effective, which is why more and more software houses are using Flutter.You can say that Flutter provides more and easier solutions in an optimal time and for reasonable money. This factor makes a huge difference when choosing a company, which we entrust with building a product adapted to the specifics of both platforms. If this is what you need - go with a company that knows how to make the right use of Flutter.

How Did It All Start?

As previously mentioned, Flutter was created byGoogle. The idea was to offer an open-source UI software development kit enabling developers to work cross-platform. Its application is wider than only mobile app purposes of Android and iOS. It is an SDK toolkit that allows you to build mobile, web, and desktop applications, such as Linux, macOS, Windows, andGoogle Fuchsia. All of this is a single codebase.

Flutter was first mentioned in 2015, two years before its official release, unveiled at the 2015 Dart developer summit. Subsequently, it was May 2017 when the first version of Flutter, known as "Sky",was officially available. At first, it only could run on the Android operating system. And 5 years later we already have Flutter 3.3 Viking Edition available on the market.

Introducing New Language

One of the most important things to know about Flutter is that it is based on the Dart language. It is not a new language in the programming world, but one that has got forgotten for a while, and therefore some people just have learned about it thanks to Google technology. Dart is an object-oriented programming language. After its release in 2011, it had a such great competition to face, that for a while nobody even noticed it. We are talking about such popular languages as C ++, C #, and Java. All of them were also already way too developed to be threatened by this new invention. Sometime had to have passed and it was only when Flutter was released that Dart have “revived”.

It is worth mentioning that it is actually the programming language that makes one of the biggest differences between Flutter and its main competitor - the React Native platform. React is based onJavaScript, a language widely well-known among programmers who do not need to learn it additionally to build cross-platform applications. As a result, it maybe easier to find an expert specializing in developing applications based onReact Native technology than in Flutter. On the other hand, Dart is a fairly intuitive language with clear syntax. It fairly resembles Java, therefore people who already can use Java can quickly gain skills in using Dart. And we strongly recommend it, because Flutter works faster than ReactNative, which has a positive effect on the users' experience.

Who Is Using Flutter?

There are plenty of brands that are using Flutter-sourced apps in their business. Allow us to mention just a few.

Google Ads

Since Flutter is a Google technology no surprise it is being used to develop different Google products. We will mention just two of them.

The first one is Google Ads (till 2018 known as GoogleAdWords) it is a great marketing solution created by Google, which very quickly gained popularity among users. It is used to promote businesses online in text, photo, and video formats. Since its creation, many companies have registered a large return on invested funds thanks to the use of this tool. Google Ads was entirely built using Flutter. And you have to admit - its functionalities are masterfully planned. Through Google Ads, users can check and administer their advertising and marketing campaigns. The product also offers the possibility of contacting the customer support office and receiving valuable feedback from theGoogle team.

Google Pay

The second Google product developed using Flutter isGoogle Pay. Google's online payment application was first launched in India. At that time, the product was called Tez. It was an easy-to-use mobile application. The software quickly gained many followers. Currently, Google Pay is being used by over 70 million users around the globe, with funds greater than 10 billion dollars. 

BMW

The automotive giant - the BMW Group has decided to take the automotive application market by storm. They have used Flutter technology to implement this idea. Their first flagship product was My BMW - an application created entirely with Flutter. After its premiere, the software very quickly turned out to be a key product for BMW’s customers.

Alibaba

Alibaba is one of the largest eCommerce service providers in the world. Several million people use this platform every day. The creation of such efficiency was possible thanks to the use of Flutter technology. Alibaba is one of the best Flutter-designed web applications with plenty of functions. Its main goal is to allow people comfortably shop online, even if the buyer and seller are living in different parts of the world. Why the team of developers working for Alibaba have chosen this technology? We can name at least several important reasons. Firstly, the clarity of UI/UX design that Flutter provides. Secondly, significant savings in time and money. And last but not least - easy maintenance. And there is more!

Cryptograph

The example from the crypto world! Flutter made it possible to create this popular application for cryptocurrency analysis. There are over 1,600 different forms of cryptocurrencies on the market today, such asBitcoin, Ripple, Dogecoin, and Ethereum. This application allows you to obtain the latest data on market capitalization, percentage changes, trading volumes, and exchange rates for each cryptocurrency. 

Phillips Hue

Philips Hue is an app created for controlling lighting in smart homes. Since Phillips is also selling lamps, light bulbs, and other light accessories, this solution came quite naturally to the brand.

To be more exact Philips has ordered the creation of not one, but two applications made with Flutter - Hue Sync and Hue Bluetooth.They allow you to change the light level in your home and synchronize it.

Philips was one of the pioneers in the Flutter sourced apps use. It has started in 2018. They made this choice because from the very beginning the tool was in perfect alignment with the company's goals and has served it successfully until now.

The New York Times

As we mentioned before, Flutter is not limited to creating mobile applications only. It provides many more possibilities and gadgets. One of the examples can be the New York Times KenKen. The product is available for mobile devices, laptops, and personal computers.

KenKen is an application that offers several games and puzzles of various difficulty levels. Every person who likes this kind of mental entertainment and exercise will find something for themselves. This product is currently one of the most popular mobile games for use on Android devices. Using Flutter, the user efficiently navigates the application, while solving puzzles.

Benefits Of Using Flutter

Consistency

If a group of developers is working on the same technology to create an application, it is simply much easier for them to communicate and cooperate. And Flutter offers that! What is more, it allows the teams to find the best possible solution much faster. This has a positive effect on the application development process, significantly shortening it. It applies to many different project stages, such as architecture design, code writing, implementation, and testing. It also gives us the possibility of maximum consistency between the application versions - which is very important since frequently the problems on the user side are related to the fact that the application versions are inconsistent. Thanks to Flutter, this problem can be completely avoided.

Easy to learn

Another (and important!) benefit is the fact thatFlutter is relatively easy to learn. If your development team already has already some experience and knowledge of other programming languages, getting to knowFlutter should not be a big problem for them. Therefore, the Google tool can be easily and successfully adapted to the team's work mode. It will help to create and implement solutions quickly, cheaply, and effectively.

Change verification and other perks

Flutter allows the developer to quickly verify changes in the code, offers a wide selection of widgets, and creates interesting animations that translate into a better perception of the application by the user.

Rich testing support

You will probably also be happy to learn that Flutter comes with rich support for testing. And this comes from unit and widget tests up to the integration tests. The different testing approaches involve varying levels of complexity and trade-offs. 

Fast loading time

Applications built with Flutter take less time to load views than those based on the React Native platform. How come? In the case ofFlutter, the code is written in Dart, which ensures it is immediately compiled into the native code. Therefore, the user can see changes in the application way faster. React Native, on the other hand, must first connect to the native elements via bridges and this takes more time.

Access To the Native Solutions

Another great thing about Flutter is that it allows you to combine cross-platform technology with native solutions. This grants the applications to easily connect with the system components. As a result, the user can freely get access to e.g. a camera, a music player, Bluetooth connections, or a GPS transmitter.

However, keep in mind that these functions will not work as smoothly as in the case of native applications - this is simply impossible. And the more such functions appear, the more profitable it will be to build a native application instead. In such cases, we usually recommend that customers choose the native option.

When else can native solutions turn out to be better?Compared to native technologies, Flutter gives you access to a smaller number of libraries and ready-made solutions, which for some projects means a longer implementation process. In addition, the code architecture in Flutter is simplified when compared to the developed architectures used in native programming. This can make it difficult to maintain more complex designs.Especially since sometimes minor problems in the native code turn out to be serious obstacles in cross-platform solutions.

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Shall, I start using Flutter?

If your teams already have the basics of programming in other languages, Flutter should not be a big challenge for them. Let's assume that you already have experience in working on mobile projects and you are aware of the specificity of Android or iOS platforms and are willing to learn something new. In this case, we strongly advise you to give it a go and try it! Flutter is extremely intuitive, and you can really enjoy working with it. Google framework also gives you many possibilities and allows you to feel the true joy of programming.

In case your team previously only created applications for one platform, then of course you should take in mind how to adapt to all the specifics of the other platform and get to know its technicalities.However, this should not be a problem and will give you a great chance to develop and add some new skills to your portfolio.

Lastly, it is also worth bearing in mind that there are still not many programmers on the market, who already have experience in creating projects in Flutter. By joining this group, you will certainly gain an advantage over the competition.

We hope that this portion of knowledge has sharpened your appetite for more. If you want to learn more about Flutter, or you have some questions that need answering - please do not hesitate to contact us, by clicking the link below.