Apparently, Android is one of the popular and preferred operating systems for people across the globe. Still, there are other big players in the market like iOS, and Android is nowhere near to becoming the only mobile operating system. So, if you want to reach a wider audience then you certainly have to make your mobile app available on other platforms as well.
Now, porting your Android mobile application to iOS takes a lot of time and resources. But what if you can reduce your mobile app development time by building a single application which can seamlessly run across platforms. How wonderful would that be, isn’t?
This is where Google Flutter comes into the picture. A user interface toolkit which claims to do the exact same thing, by providing you a way to build UIs for Android and iOS from just one codebase.
By the time you finish reading this post, you will know what Google Flutter is, its features, and how you can use it to your benefit.
The Core Features of Google Flutter
- To start with, the earlier version of Flutter only supported Android platform and was known as the Sky. But its latest version will be of a great help to both Android and iOS mobile app developers.
- The new version of Flutter has an impeccable feature and that is Hot Reload. Using this feature, mobile app developers can easily get an access to a comprehensive range of widgets along with working on the powerful user interface.
- With the help of Flutter, the app developers will be able to integrate flutter into their mobile applications on WebView component as this will make it simpler for your users to see the web content within the app. In addition, navigating and stabilizing the application becomes much easier.
- Google Flutter now include support for, formatting the images, the inline videos, etc. thus, making apps more fun and better than before.
- With an added feature in Flutter, app developers can now localize their applications as well as use it for international purpose.
- Google Flutter will now support the latest versions of Apple operating system ie., iOS 11 and iPhone X.
Why Should You use Google Flutter?
Unlike Android’s other versions which are based on Kotlin and Java, in order to use Google Flutter, you will have to learn Dart. Of course, the thought of learning a new programming language itself could be off-putting but there are some driving reasons for why you should give it a try.
Cross-Platform:
Google Flutter will help you in creating a single user interface to run on both iOS and Android by utilizing the same framework, libraries, and renderer. To make sure your app runs effortlessly on both the platforms, Flutter offers widgets designed according to Material Design (Android) and Cupertino (iOS) specifications.
Hot Reload:
It is normal for app developers to work on the specific app’s code when the app is running on an Android-powered smart phone to test the changes as you make them. But it takes a really long time for the Android Studio to publish each and every change to the running mobile app. So to help you in being more effective and productive, the new “Hot reload” feature of Google Flutter can easily integrate the updated source code into the Dart Virtual Machine so that app developers can instantly see the changes.
Compatible With Other Programming Languages:
Without having to rewrite the complete current app, Google Flutter seamlessly integrates with Java on Android and Swift and Objective-C on iOS.
Makes The App Development Faster and Better
Since Google Flutter will now be supporting both Android and iOS, it will make the cross-platform mobile app development easier for app developers. Regardless of the platform you choose, you can now have an app that runs effortlessly on both operating systems.
The reason for considering it for developing native application platforms is because it allows you to customize widgets and design an engaging and rich native interface. Without having to use WebView, you can easily draw widgets using Flutter’s extremely rendering engine.
Eye-Catching User Interface
An eye-catching and attractive user interface has always been an important part of the mobile app development. Now, by using Flutter, you can certainly anticipate getting a natural and breathtaking design for your mobile applications. With Material Design (Android) and Cupertino (iOS), developers can build highly responsive applications.
Accessible Native Features and SDKs
The Flutter makes the app development simpler and better via native codes, 3rd-party integrations, and platform APIs. In addition, you can get your hands on native features and SDKs on Android and iOS.
The Functional and Reactive Framework
In order to build creative UI designs, Flutter has an effective tool in the form of platform layouts. Not just that, app developers can also get extremely flexible APIs to use all their creativity to design in 2D and other animations. The functional and reactive framework lets app developers integrate their creativity and efficiency rightfully. Just like Java and Swift, the Dart programming language also offers benefits such as supporting a rich library.
Will Google Flutter Replace Java?
Google Flutter is very much native to iOS and Android, and its design language is just like Java. App developers cannot create the user interface based on templating language because there is none. It makes it extremely simpler to develop high-end applications.
But the intention of Google behind launching Flutter is certainly not to replace the current Android frameworks instead to make it much easier for app developers to build cross-platform, high-end mobile applications. The main purpose of the Google Flutter is to let app developers develop a platform that allows them to share minimum codebase between platforms.
Conclusion
Google has launched Flutter to make the app development process easier. So do the lives of app developers. The first and foremost purpose of this effective tool is to provide a native user interface look with native widgets and buttons.
Currently, this giant tech company is still working on an open-source mobile operating system, Fuchsia, which is written in Flutter. We will have to wait and watch whether it surpasses React native or not. Nonetheless, it can be said that Google has indeed launched a useful software development tool that will let developers create responsive and efficient user interfaces.