Is Flutter replacing native app development?

  Mohit Singh    December 2, 2020    361

 

Technology has been continuously expanding and growing every day. With the use of new trends and modern technologies, application and web development aren’t the same as before. Simplifying the complex process of development, native application development is continuously being replaced by techniques that appear to be better and increasingly useful.

Flutter application development is the latest development trend. It is an open-source, free, and a new framework. It is used to design applications for platforms with just a single code. The growing user demands according to the diversification of the platforms are creating a major demand for support in the development process which the flutter application development appears to suffice effectively. With the new versions and platforms, the companies have been battling to come up with a faster and simpler development process. In this way it has been a big opportunity for flutter application development to rise and grow.

Also know- How to Estimate the Cost of Flutter App Development?

Flutter vs Native Application Development-

Let’s discuss key aspects of Flutter that has influenced the native application development.

1. Productivity-

Working with the traditional tool and tech support, developers have been striving to develop an application from scratch each time there’s a requirement for a similar application, but for a different platform. 

This makes work complex for the developer and will in general influence the efficiency and effectiveness. The development also has a few tech requirements to complete the requirement for each new development for the new platform. 

Flutter app development has been a good decision for this. The process requires less code to be written and fewer tools that are specific for a particular platform.

The developers don’t need to start the development process from scratch every time they proceed with a development process for an application for a new platform. This helps the developers to be effective and also time-efficient making it a great decision to work with.

2. UI Elements-

The development process is backed by the Flutter itself. It helps by offering a great variety of host services of powerful UI elements to build a custom UI with more ease and has been equipped with its widgets to empower the high end UI support. Flutter application developers are experts to build highly responsive UI interface designs.

3. Technical Architect-

Supported by Google, both the frameworks, Android and Flutter have their different support architecture. The Native Android application uses Kotlin or Java language, while Flutter uses Dart as a programming language.

Also know- Kotlin vs Java

4. Testing Support-

Android being a prominent platform in the industry gives some tools to test the native applications developed by the developers. Flutter provides its robust testing platform that allows the developers to test the application at different steps of the development process. It also has a combined feature of testing the widgets which allows testing the execution of UI interface developed through widgets. The tests are run in a separate process that can be run in real time or on real devices also.

5. CI/CD Support-

The development and launching native applications is somewhat complex outside the IDE. Yes, Android Studio provides all the support required to build automation and testing capabilities. However, third-party CI/CD servers, for example, Jenkins and TeamCity are warranted because Android doesn’t have a dedicated CI/CD system from Google. Keeping that in mind, Flutter leads the way as it has the support of Codemagic. The latter enables CI/CD systems without glitches. It additionally automates the identification, testing, building and packaging of Flutter applications without the requirement for configuration. Codemagic further streamlines development, testing and launching of applications to Play Store.

Is Flutter All Set to Replace Existing Native App Development?

In spite of the fact that it is a new programming language, Flutter is easy to learn. It has now come up with a full-fledged working model after a successive beta version test. Flutter application development is widely preferred by some of the leading brands and is gaining popularity rapidly.

Application development using this language is efficient and less tedious. With its support, it is simpler to develop similar or more better interfaces. This gives Flutter application development some advantages and an edge over the native application development process. However, proceeding with Flutter application development is not a very wise decision. Proceeding with a development process and choosing one among many is completely dependent upon the requirements, budget, and goal of the development process.

Points to consider before selecting Flutter or native app-

  • Flutter application development is cost-effective. It incurs less amount of money than native application development process to make it more suitable for SMEs and other small organizations.
  • Simultaneously, it requires no separate development process for different platforms and equips an organization with a single application for numerous platforms to use effortlessly and features.
  • Organizations needing to present a feature-rich platform for separate platforms and have no financial limit and time constraints would like to most likely proceed with the development of a native application. The native application still provides best features and specifications however the organizations not requiring the extreme advantages of the equivalent may not require it and may proceed with the Flutter application development process and work with similar efficiency.
  • Flutter is loaded with features and options that make it a reliable choice but not perfect yet. Flutter lacks features and support like OpenGL, Maps, Video Support, and Accessibility Support. Despite everything, it has gaps that are required to be filled to make it a complete package.
  • The native development network is larger than the Flutter development community and subsequently, has differences in the services available.

All things considered, Flutter would make up an ideal choice for the application development for businesses attempting to come up and make up an application very similar to a native application. A few cross-platform frameworks keep coming and going from the market but native applications have been the prominent choice of the industry for long. For the organizations to prepare an application for themselves yet are equipped with less resources, Flutter is a great decision to proceed with.

Future Prospects-

Both the platforms, Android and Flutter are supported by Google as the parent organization. It is a well known fact that Google has been working over various cross-platform platforms among which Flutter is the one. Cross-platform development is expected to gain the peak of its journey in the near future and a framework like Flutter is being viewed as the drivers of the cross-platform development industry.

As per an experiment conducted to test the performance and speed of the native as well as the Flutter applications, the main thing the results deliver is that a native Android application seems to perform better than Flutter applications by a complete non-trivial margin with regards to performance.

CPU utilization on the native application is profoundly low and is less than half that of the Flutter application. Memory usage is low on the native application and increased on Flutter applications. The two stood close in competition and delivered similar outcomes but with no clear win over each other.

Conclusion-

The battle between native and cross-platform applications will continue for the next many years to come. The future needs something with capabilities like cross-platform development, but with the strength and support like native application development. Hence, it’s a tough fight between the two.

The industry will continue to develop and continue searching for gaps to work upon and build the bridge to make an ideal combination of both the platforms that would be capable to suffice the need and integrate the benefits of both the platforms with efficiency and effectiveness. Flutter is in demand and will go a long way to support small requirements till the time it grows. With continuous efforts and significant changes, cross-platform capabilities in the development will make up a great framework for the developments to happen in future.


 Article keywords:
flutter, flutter apps, mobile apps, technology, flutter app cost, hire flutter developer

 


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