Introduction
With the progress of technology, more and more companies are opting to build mobile apps to support their business. Having an app has many benefits, from strengthening the brand image to growing the client base. The demand for mobile apps constantly increases as the tech market is ever-hungry. If you are here, you are considering building an app for yourself. In this article, we will show you how Flutter based apps can be a game changer for you.
The app market has competition, with many companies and startups trying to get their apps as fast as possible on multiple platforms. Cross-platform development is the best option to achieve that, and Flutter is at the top of the game. Software developers often believe in killing two birds with one arrow. With Flutter app development, they can build mobile, desktop, and web-based apps with a single codebase. Flutter-based apps can work on iOS, Android, web, and desktop with native-like UI and top-notch performance with low development cost and reduced time-to-market.
The article discusses top Flutter based apps, the Flutter app development process, its benefits for your business, and how you can work with it. Let’s get started.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is a Software development kit(SDK) from Google used to build cross-platform applications. Due to its ease of use, high-end performance, and rapid development, have become a hugely popular framework since its inception in 2018. Flutter lets you build fast, robust, native-like high-performance universal applications from a single codebase. Some important features of Flutter based apps are:
- They are cross-platform- meaning they can work on iOS, Android, Windows, desktop, and web-based devices.
- As you only use one codebase to make apps for different devices, you can work on any device and reach a wider audience.
- Low Flutter app development resources (low costs, less time-to-market, smaller teams, etc.),
- uses ready-to-use components such as widgets(smaller ones) and templates(larger ones),
- scalable, robust, and highly interactive. Give a native-like feel.
- Easy to fix bugs and issues as the developers only have to check one codebase.
Important Flutter Benefits:
Is Flutter good for apps? If yes, then what makes it so good and popular among the masses? If that’s your question, we got the answer. Flutter app development benefits developers and businesses that help build a great application. Some of them are:
Ready To Use Elements:
Flutter has many ready-made elements that can be used immediately in the app or mixed and edited to make new ones. They can be designs like Material(for Android), Cupertino(for iOS), and other collections. These elements can be anything from sliders to app bars. Each component is a code snippet developers copy in the IDE to build Flutter based apps. Two important elements are Widgets and Templates.
- Flutter Widgets: Widgets are pre-written code snippets for individual functions that you can use to build Flutter based apps. They save the time spent otherwise writing a code from scratch. They are UI components you can use to develop your app.
- Flutter Templates: Since Flutter is open-source with a huge developers community, it becomes obvious to have numerous Flutter app templates. They are customizable Lego sets that help create beautiful UI.
Dart Language:
Flutter is written in Dart programming language. Dart is similar to JavaScript and offers a reactive programming model for building user interfaces. This means that the framework will do it for you instead of updating the UI when you change your code. This makes it easier and more efficient to build dynamic and responsive UIs.
Rapid Development Cycle:
Flutter also has a fast development cycle. Flutter has a hot reload feature that helps you see the changes you make to the code immediately. With Flutter, you don’t have to wait for the code to compile whenever you change a piece of code.
Performance:
Another advantage of Flutter is its performance. Flutter’s graphics engine, Skia, draws every pixel on the screen. This makes achieving smooth, 60 frames per second animations possible, even on lower-end devices.
Community:
Flutter also has a large and growing community of developers contributing to the framework. It also includes detailed documentation and a vast library of packages and plugins. You can easily integrate those plugins into your app to add features like maps, network communication, and local storage.
Thanks to Flutter app development, you have easier access to the resources that will give you a rough idea of how your Flutter mobile app might look. What is more, Google offers numerous resources, including Flutter tutorials as well as documentation. These materials will give you knowledge that will make you more capable of expressing your ideas and concerns. Even if you are not a Flutter app developer, you can still actively participate in building Flutter based apps.
Popular Apps Made with Flutter
You must now be wondering How many apps are using Flutter? It is a popular technology so there must be a good number associated with it. Well, there is. As of now, there are over 700,000 Flutter apps on play store. One in every five apps uploaded on Play Store is a Flutter based app. That is highest for any cross platform app development framework.
What major apps use Flutter?
1. Google Ads
Is Google using Flutter? That shouldn’t be a concern as “Flutter is a UI kit of Google.” Google developed it and it uses Flutter app development in all its major projects, including Google AdSensce app. This is a mobile application that allows you to manage Google ad campaigns directly from your smartphone. It’s a condensed version of a desktop platform for you to track ad output from any location – you’re not restricted to your workplace.
The app includes campaign statistics, the ability to update bids and budgets in real-time, live alerts, keyword editing, and the ability to contact a Google expert. It’s both intuitive and aesthetically pleasing.
This flagship in Google’s advertising ecosystem allows businesses to display ads to a global audience through the Google search engine and other Google entities within a pay-per-click model.
Google Ads significantly lowers the entrance threshold into digital marketing, as businesses pay only when users click on their ads. Multiple targeting options allow companies to set campaigns to reach desired audiences, and intuitive UI enables checking their performance and optimizing them in real-time to improve their results.
Flutter turned out to be a technology able to wrap up all these complex data-based features under an intuitive user interface and make the app easy to maintain and update.
2. eBay Motors
eBay Motors, owned by eBay is one of the famous Flutter apps on play store. It allows users to search and buy vehicles, as well as vehicle parts and accessories. Besides eCommerce features powered by an Escrow payment system, eBay Motors enables users to get in touch with the resellers via chat, set alerts for new listings, and save searches.
Thanks to Flutter, eBay Motors provides users with great UX, seamlessly combining different parts of complicated business logic, and Flutter’s extendability allows developers to shape it due to local users’ habits – for example, by adding other payment systems to the checkout.
3. Google Pay
Google Pay is one of the most popular digital wallets in the world that significantly accelerated the adoption of digital payments globally. Yet, the app development was extremely challenging due to the local requirements of every region. Separating units between iOS and Android seemed to be a waste of resources, so the Google team once again opted for Flutter.
Flutter enabled the Google team to save the time needed to develop the app on iOS and Android and lessen their codebase by 335 percent. According to Google, they were able to save 60-70% on development time due to the single codebase. It is also one of the most popular Flutter apps on play store.
4. Xianyu by Alibaba
When we think of Jack Ma, we picture Amazon and world domination. To carry out their plan, the developers launched the Xianyu platform, one of the most downloaded flutter apps on play store.
As Flutter has signed on, over 200 million registered users are taking advantage of it!! There must be a lot of Chinese merchandise in the air around here today.
When looking at a robust system to implement and scale, they decided that the Flutter framework was an excellent option. Apps with hundreds of millions of monthly active users have switched to Flutter.
5. Postmuse – Instagram photo editing app
Instagram is about to become the next Facebook. That is not an exaggeration; it is simply the way things are. Facebook is seen as a tool used by your elderly uncle to snoop on your high school graduation photos.
And with so many new companies now using Instagram, it’s only natural to have professional-looking Instagram images for. This is where PostMuse enters the picture.
Instagram allows you to view, edit, and design multiple Instagram photos. If you can’t find anything to agree with, then PostMuse protects it. This flutter based app also helps recommending the best picture, so your social media marketing looks authentic. It is one of the most used flutter apps on play store.
Websites Built with Flutter
Flutter, being a cross-platform framework, builds amazing web applications. Flutter based apps for web are rich in graphics with high interactivity with end users. Some popular Flutter apps examples are:
1. CatGPT-3
CatGPT3 is a Flutter app that integrates the ChatGPT API, allowing users to chat with a powerful language model trained by OpenAI.
To power the app’s chat functionality, CatGPT3 uses the riverpod generator, which provides a simple way to manage state in Flutter. This allows the app to keep track of user input and responses from the ChatGPT API in a streamlined and efficient way.
In addition, CatGPT3 also utilizes two popular networking libraries for Flutter: Retrofit and Dio. These libraries enable the app to communicate with the ChatGPT API over the internet, sending and receiving data quickly and reliably.
2. DevWidgets
DevWidgets is a handy toolkit for developers, directly inspired by DevToys. It includes various tools like generators, formatters, and converters.
The main difference between the two is that DevWidgets is exclusively for Flutter development, while DevToys supports multiple programming languages. Nevertheless, both tools are equally useful for developers looking to save time and improve their workflow.
You can find many useful tools like an HTML Encoder, JSON tools, Markdown Editor, SQL tools, text tools, and more. Whether you need to quickly generate some code or format some text, DevWidgets has you covered. And if you ever need to convert some code from one format to another, the conversion tool will come in handy.
3. Frenchie Games Website
Frenchie Games is a website that features different mobile games made by the company. The website is built using Flutter, which helps to create a great presentation of the different games. The website uses an animated page view to scroll between the different games. This helps to create a more interactive experience for the user.
The website has a clean and simple design that makes it easy to navigate and find the game you’re looking for. The developer has also used Figma to create a custom font for the website that gives it a unique look and feel. Overall, the Frenchie Games website is a great example of how Flutter can be used to create a portfolio website.
4. Music Motivated
Music Motivated is a new web app that helps you learn 60 different scales on 10 different musical instruments. Simply select your instrument then select your desired scale. You will then be able to select up to 8, out of the many, different chords in key with the selected scale on your particular instrument.
The app also shows you how to finger the chords on your instrument so you can practice them at your own pace. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced musician, Music Motivated can help you take your skills to the next level.
Flutter App Development Step by Step
Any app development process is based on cooperation between the software house and its client. For this reason, it’s a good idea to learn some basic concepts from the mobile app development field. Once you do this, you will cooperate more efficiently with your Flutter app developer and shape your application to suit your needs. The more you engage yourself in the project, the better Flutter app quality you can expect.
That’s why we would like to present the process of app development using Flutter in detail. We will also present specific features that might benefit your app. They will be supported by examples of well-recognized apps as well as our solutions. That way, you will find it easier to imagine and clarify your future Flutter app. If need be, you can always come directly to us. We will gladly explain how building a mobile app using Flutter works on real-life examples.
Step 1: Identifying the Audience of Your Flutter Based App
Let’s assume that you have an app idea, and you want to take it out into the open. Establishing the right target audience requires doing some research and making decisions on your part. One of them is choosing an operating system for your app. You might start with one platform, but do you want to limit your audience?
Luckily, Flutter is a cross-platform app development framework. If your application doesn’t include any platform-specific features, it will immediately work on Android as well as iOS devices. It means that you will get three ready-to-use versions of your application: iOS, Android, and a web app version. Web application development is quite easy with Flutter. This technology can generate web apps from their mobile counterparts.
The codebases for all operating systems are the same, so you don’t need to worry about any discrepancies. Since the apps are rendered in their systems using native components, they will carry the “native feel.” Nevertheless, there are some native features you might want. You can still get them by creating a native-based subtree within your Flutter app. A skilled software house should pull this off without problems.
Step 2: Building your Flutter app development team
Unless you are using team/body leasing services, you aren’t going to build a Flutter app development team. However, there are a few things worth knowing about engaging people to build your Flutter app.
Firstly, when you choose Flutter to be your mobile application development framework, you engage fewer people in the process. For instance, a small, versatile mobile app requires only two Flutter App Developers with iOS and Android experience and one Backend Developer – three people altogether. Such a small team can still get the application up and running.
Secondly, a smaller team means lower Flutter app development costs and fewer people to stay in contact with during meetings with your Flutter app development company. Of course, we must admit that larger apps will require hiring more Flutter app developers. Nevertheless, their number will be smaller in comparison to the team needed for native app development.
Step 3: Boosting Flutter App Development
Mobile app development takes time. However, rapid changes in the market might encourage you to strike sooner than later to secure a wider audience. The execution of your app strategy might last quite a while. Unless, of course, you resort to Flutter app development.
Creating a mobile app using Flutter takes even up to 50% time less than regarding other programming languages. Testing Flutter mobile apps is also less demanding, so it can be completed relatively fast. To make the deal even sweeter, Flutter is very friendly towards creating Minimum Viable Products (MVPs). These are smaller versions of your app that can test its reception. Consequently, you can greatly reduce the time to market.
Thanks to a very flexible programming language called Dart and a skilled Flutter app development company, you can enter the market much faster and capture your audience before your competition has time to act. The best part about app development using Flutter is that your Flutter app can be ready sooner than your competitors’ native apps started earlier!
Another important Flutter app feature, in the context of fast, efficient software development, is called hot reloading along with hot restarting. We have already mentioned it before, but let’s dig deeper. In simple words, when the Flutter developer introduces changes to the app, they won’t have to restart it to see these changes. This approach significantly accelerates application development, eliminating the need to restart the application after each change, and allowing the developer to focus on programming valuable functionalities.
How to Install Flutter
The best way to install Flutter is to follow the official installation page. You can choose your operating system and follow the instructions.
Once you have installed Flutter, you can use its inbuilt tool called Flutter doctor to check the components. For example, on Mac, you should see a similar response on running flutter doctor
Hello World in Flutter
Let’s create a simple hello world app using Flutter.
We can use the flutter create <app name> to create a new app.
Now we can cd into the directory and change the main file. It will be located under <app_name>/lib/main.dart. Replace the code in the main.dart file with the following code.import ‘package:flutter/material.dart’:
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
void main() {
runApp(MyApp());
}
class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return MaterialApp(
title: 'Hello, World!',
home: Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: const Text('Hello, World!'),
),
body: const Center(
child: Text('Hello, World!'),
),
),
);
}
}
This code defines a Flutter app that will display “Hello, World!” in the center of the screen. The main() function will call the runApp() function with an instance of the MyApp class.
In the build() method of MyApp, a MaterialApp widget with the title “Hello, World!” is created. The Scaffold widget contains an AppBar with the title “Hello, World!” and the Center widget will place the text on the center of the screen.
This is how the output will look after you run the flutter run command.
Hello, World!
Flutter vs React Native
Flutter vs React Native are two of the most popular cross-platform mobile app development frameworks available today. Both offer the ability to build high-performance and visually appealing mobile apps for multiple platforms.
But there are some key differences between the two frameworks that you should consider when choosing the right one for your project:
- React Native is JavaScript-based and is an extension of the React library. React-native uses native components for building the UI, which provides a native look and feel for the app.
- React Native has a large and established community compared to Flutter and is a great choice if your existing products use JavaScript or React.
- Flutter offers a unique approach to building user interfaces by using its own set of customizable widgets. This approach gives Flutter a unique look and feel compared to other mobile development frameworks.
- Flutter’s fast development cycle and hot reload feature allow developers to build applications faster than other alternatives.
- React Native has an easier learning curve compared to Flutter. Since most developers know JavaScript, they don’t have to learn a new language like Dart to build apps with Flutter.
- But React Native’s reliance on native components makes it difficult to achieve consistent performance across multiple platforms. It can also lead to inconsistencies in the UI between iOS and Android.
- Flutter offers better performance, with its graphics engine drawing every pixel on the screen. With Flutter, you can get smooth and fluid animations even on lower-end hardware. Flutter also offers a unified and consistent look and feel for the app across all platforms, as developers use the same set of widgets for building the UI.
So React Native and Flutter both have their own strengths and weaknesses, and the right choice depends on your specific needs and requirements.
React Native is a good choice for businesses with existing investments in JavaScript and React. Flutter is a better choice for projects that need high-performance, unique, and responsive UIs along with a fast development cycle.
Some Popular apps built with React Native include Facebook, Walmart, Instagram, Bloomberg, SoundCloud Pulse, and Gyroscope.
Conclusion
Flutter is an awesome framework for building mobile apps. It offers fast development times, beautiful and responsive designs, and a single codebase for both iOS and Android. Its hot-reload feature allows developers to see changes in real time, reducing overall development time.
Additionally, Flutter’s widget library allows for the creation of custom and complex designs with ease. In terms of performance, Flutters races far ahead of alternatives like React-Native. If you are looking for mobile development solutions, Hire Flutter developers from Optymize. We provide top 3% of the best mobile developers from the world that will help you build highly interactive and scalable applications. Book a free session now!
