What is Flutter?

Flutter was first introduced by Google as a beta version back in 2015., and was officially launched in December 2018. Since then, there have been several thousand Flutter apps published on app stores. Here at Bornfight, we recognized the potential of this framework and in this blog post, I would like to simply explain what it is exactly and what benefits working in Flutter brings.

So… what is Flutter?

If you clicked on this blog post, this is probably the section you are most interested in. So let’s get right to the point. In a nutshell, Flutter is Google’s open-source UI software development toolkit used for building applications for mobile, web, desktop — used for cross-platform development. The core idea of Flutter is that it allows you to create native mobile applications for iOS and Android using only one codebase and programming language. It does support some other platforms like Linux, Windows…, but here at Bornfight we primarily use it for Android and iOS development. 

This “native-like” app is a good enough substitute for the experience you get from the real native developed applications even though you are using only one codebase for developing an app for two, or more, different mobile platforms.

Now that we covered what Flutter is, we can get a bit more techy. 

Flutter consists of SDK (Software Development Kit) and Framework (UI Library based on widgets). By using these widgets, developers can build the entire UI. Those are ready-to-use widgets that have a native feel to them and consist of sliders, buttons and text inputs. If there is a need, developers can even create their own widgets. 

Flutter uses Dart as a programming language and since the day it was released it started putting pressure on React Native (React Native uses JavaScript as a programming language), which is still on the throne when it comes to cross-platform development frameworks. 
Recently, there has been an upgrade and we are now at version 2.5.0. of Flutter. If you want to check out all of the new releases, you can read about them here.

All the Flutter benefits

Well, at least the most important ones…

It is time-saving

Flutter is used to develop cross-platform applications. That means using the same code for building apps for different platforms (in our case for iOS and Android). That speeds up the development process and gets the app faster to the market. And maybe even more importantly, that means that both apps can be launched at the same time.

One more thing that is speeding up the development process is the hot reload. That is a function that gets the changed code reloaded in less than a second, making the bug fixing process much simpler and faster. 

Cost of production is reduced

Not only is the time reduced, but using the same code means reduced costs for the client as well, which means that not only will the app hit the market sooner, but it will also be cheaper to produce than the truly native application. 

Open-source 

Open-source means that Flutter is available for free and may be redistributed and modified as liked. It has very well-written documentation that is free to use and a large community of developers. This brings me to the next topic, and that is…

Flutter Community

One of the most impactful things about Flutter is its rapidly growing community that’s constantly developing new libraries and upgrading the overall system. This is made possible thanks to Google being the creator and supporter of this framework.
This is a great thing if you are new to Flutter and want to expand your knowledge of it, or even if you are a Flutter veteran who just wants to keep updated with news and new releases from the Flutter world. On this link, you can find all online communities, such as Reddit, GitHub and Discord, and some resources to learn a thing or two about Flutter.

Flutter at Bornfight

Flutter has become a part of our mobile app development process here at Bornfight. In the past, we were mostly a native app development company, and now we use Flutter for most of the app development projects. If you are interested in learning more about the process and why we decided on Flutter — you can read our other blog here! 

One of our services is mobile app development with Flutter. To bring you closer to our work process, let’s talk about three aspects of building mobile applications with Flutter. First, we have Design and Development, where we follow the MVP approach — to turn your business ideas and concepts into profitable applications that offer a great user experience. Secondly, we are upgrading and improving your Flutter-based app with new features, and lastly, testing its weaknesses and maintaining the app for the long run. If you want to work with us, you can learn more about app development in Flutter here!