You definitely must have heard about this one term fluttering in the air: ‘Flutter’.
Flutter, a relatively new mobile app development framework, has been gaining a lot of popularity among mobile app developers in recent years. Don’t you agree?
But why is that so? Are other frameworks not up to the mark? Or is it just the simplest and ever-evolving tech stack?
Well, this open-source software development kit, which was released by Google in 2017, has sparked a worldwide developer frenzy and quickly became one of the most widely used frameworks for building high-quality mobile applications.
Moreover, as per Statista’s report, cross-platform mobile frameworks used by software developers worldwide from 2019 to 2021, Flutter being Flutter holds the first position in the cross-platform frameworks.
As per the statistic above, it is evident that the Flutter app is capturing the app development world at a higher pace by becoming the most popular one in the cross-platform framework market.
It takes a lot of notions, creativity, and, of course, modern technology to create a robust and solid application.
Guess what?
The Flutter framework has got it all.
One of the primary reasons why Flutter has gained popularity is its ability to create high-performance apps with a beautiful and engaging user interface.
Therefore, in this article, we’ll explore some of the reasons why Flutter has been gaining so much traction over Native and what are some of the trending Flutter libraries for developers in the year 2024.
Flutter’s unique combination of performance, cross-platform capabilities, ease of use, and integration with other Google technologies has made it a popular choice among developers looking to build high-quality mobile applications. Its growing popularity is a testament to the framework’s effectiveness in creating beautiful and engaging user experiences across multiple platforms.
Flutter’s unique functional style makes it easy for developers to create visually stunning apps that are optimized for speed and performance.
But, how? Is Flutter (what we call it): the magician?
Well, this is because Flutter uses a reactive programming model that allows for fast rendering of UI components, resulting in smooth and responsive user experiences.
Another reason why Flutter has been gaining popularity is its cross-platform capabilities. With Flutter, developers can build mobile applications that work seamlessly across multiple platforms, including Android, iOS, and even the web. This is because Flutter uses a single codebase, which means that developers can write code once and deploy it on multiple platforms without having to rewrite it for each platform.
The best part of all?
Well, Flutter is easy to learn and use, making it an ideal choice for both seasoned developers and beginners. Its simplicity and ease of use have made it popular among developers who are looking for a fast and efficient way to build high-quality mobile applications. Furthermore, Flutter has a large and supportive community of developers who are always willing to help and provide guidance.
React Native and Flutter are widely used since it is possible to create cross-platform apps using identical code. This provides the same ease as native development while saving money and time. Hybrid apps are also simpler to modify and upkeep than native ones.
Furthermore, React Native was used by 38% of developers in 2021, while Flutter was used by 42%, as per the study launched by Statista.
React Native and Flutter are amazing choices for developing a cross-platform application, however, certain aspects give Flutter an upper hand over React Native. So, let’s dig deep into it…
Programming languages used by the two frameworks are a key area of distinction. Based on JavaScript, React Native makes use of JSX. But Flutter utilizes the capabilities of the Dart programming language.
Both frameworks have quite different architectural designs. React Native employs the Flux framework, which also necessitates JavaScript linking, while Flutter uses the 2D graphic rendering package Skia. Here, JavaScript linking is required for React Native to facilitate interaction between JavaScript and Native code. Flutter, however, does not require a programming bridge.
Excellent documentation is available for Flutter and React Native. Flutter, however, provides documentation that is better organized and formatted. Since it relies so largely on third-party libraries, React Native documentation is not adequately maintained.
Flutter can do wonders for your application when it comes to customization with its developed widgets, whereas React Native uses and incorporates 3rd party customization tools. Therefore, flutter offers more efficiency and compatibility with applications. Moreover, Flutter development is designed with Widgets, whereas React Native uses JSX.
Since Flutter uses Dart, it has a higher compiling rate than JavaScript and thus delivers high performance by default. It saves a lot of time for developers as it runs on a single codebase. Flutter’s popularity can be attributed to its integration with other Google technologies, such as Firebase and Google Cloud Platform. This integration allows developers to leverage the power of these technologies to build robust and scalable mobile applications quickly and easily.
Flutter is an open-source mobile application development framework that has gained immense popularity in recent years. One of the key reasons for Flutter’s popularity is the availability of a large number of libraries that allow developers to create high-quality apps more efficiently.
These libraries provide pre-built components, tools, and utilities that can be easily integrated into an app to add functionality and improve performance. Now, let’s explore the different types of Flutter libraries that developers can use in 2024 to create exceptional apps.
The user interfaces created by Flutter are known for being stunning and functional. However, building a fantastic user interface from scratch might be difficult, especially for inexperienced developers. This is where UI libraries are helpful. A selection of pre-made widgets that may be readily customized to match the theme of the app is offered by UI libraries.
Well, a few of the well-known Flutter UI libraries areas follows.
Google developed the design system known as Material UI. It offers a selection of pre-made widgets that adhere to the Material Design principles.
Another design system developed by Apple is, Cupertino. It gives users access to a selection of pre-made widgets that follow the iOS Human Interface Guidelines.
A toolkit called Flutter UI offers a selection of programmable widgets that can be used to design an appealing and responsive user interface.
Your Flutter application can come to life using animations. They can help your app stand out from the competition and give users an engaging experience. But making animations from scratch might be challenging. Animation libraries are helpful in this situation.
The most well-liked Flutter animation libraries are as follows.
Rive is an extremely capable animation tool that enables you to produce intricate animations and save them as Flutter code.
Fl Flare is a vector animation tool that enables you to make scalable, compact animations that are simple to incorporate into your Flutter application.
Animate Do is a library that offers a selection of ready-made animations that can be quickly applied to your Flutter application.
Some sort of network connectivity is necessary for the majority of mobile applications. You’ll require a networking library for performing these duties whether you’re retrieving data from an API or transmitting data to a server.
Several of the most popular Flutter networking libraries are as follows.
Dio is a potent HTTP client for Dart that offers several functionalities, such as response monitoring and request cancellation.
The HTTP package is a simple HTTP client for Dart that offers fundamental functions including sending and receiving HTTP requests and answers.
Retrofit, a well-liked HTTP client for Android, is the foundation of Chopper, a package that offers a high-level HTTP client for Dart.
Any Flutter app development process must have state management. It enables you to maintain the consistency of your UI and the state of the data in your program. Flutter offers several options for managing state, including native stateful widgets, the Provider package, and third-party state management libraries.
Widely used Flutter state management libraries include.
In your Flutter app, you can transfer data across widgets thanks to the provider, a well-liked state management framework.
Bloc is a state management package that makes it easier to handle complicated application states by dividing them into smaller pieces that are easier to handle.
GetX is a state management library that gives Flutter users a simple, cost-effective way of handling the state.
For saving data in Flutter apps, persistence libraries offer a variety of tools and functions. These libraries assist programmers in managing local databases, caching data, and saving data to disc.
Basic persistence capability is provided by Flutter’s built-in collaborative preferences library, but there are several external persistence libraries, like Hive, Moor, and Sqflite, that offer more sophisticated capabilities like type-safe searches, reactive streams, and migrations.
Flutter programs can work with photos thanks to the tools and facilities provided by image-handling libraries. These libraries assist programmers in downloading, caching, and manipulating images from the internet.
Several well-known Flutter image-handling libraries are as follows:
Flutter Image offers a collection of widgets that a real ready constructed to display images and feature placeholders and error management.
Image Picker gives app developers access to the camera and gallery on the device so they may take or choose pictures to include in their programs.
Flutter Image Compress enables programmers to reduce the size and enhance the speed of images by optimizing and compressing them.
Tools and utilities are provided by navigation libraries for managing navigation in Flutter apps. These libraries provide the creation of navigation stacks, route management, and transition handling.
Flutter’s built-in navigation library provides basic navigation functionality. Still, additional third-party navigation libraries, including Fluro, Autoroute, and Beamer, offer more sophisticated capabilities like type-safe routing, deep linking, and transition animations.
Let’s glance at some of the trending libraries in Flutter that can help you kickstart your app development project with utmost ease and efficiency.
The provider functions as a barrier for Inherited Widget for managing the state. You can maintain a state object there, allowing it to be accessible from any widget in the widget tree that originates from it.
Using URL Launcher, plugins can be effortlessly deployed to any page. It makes it easier to open a certain URL using recognized protocols that have a variety of uses in applications for smartphones. URL launchers assist a wide range of URL systems, including mail to, HTTP, and others.
FL Chart is a fantastic library for building graphs in Flutter. For the aesthetically pleasing outcome, it is a clear path. To make it easier for visitors to find the materials in the section, graphs, and chart scan be altered in a variety of ways.
Get It is a very helpful and well-liked library for Flutter. It reverses both the inversion of control implementation and the dependency injection mechanism. Additionally, it also adheres to a set style pattern and is run through again to make it distinct.
An iOS or Android device is capable of searching for a file using specific path providers. Path Provider is a helpful plugin for finding frequently used places on the filesystem. Path providers direct you to the appropriate info using keywords or categories.
As a top-notch Flutter app development company, we excel in utilizing our wealth of experience and skills to employ dynamic, expressive, scalable, groundbreaking, and adaptable frameworks for constructing feature-rich applications. We offer end-to-end Flutter app development services for Android and iOS platforms to enable rapid deployment with a single codebase. Our core philosophy revolves around delivering solutions that resonate with your customers and catalyze significant growth for your business. If you have any concerns regarding all things related to Flutter, then contact our Flutter experts!
Flutter’s libraries are tremendously useful and can completely change the way you work. They significantly ease the burden of the work.
Antino is here for you whether you’re a startup, an established brand, or an aspiring entrepreneur. Get in touch with us if you need any help with Flutter-related IT concerns or advanced product development!
