Cross-Platform App Development is widely adopted by a lot of enterprises and is finally on-track to reach great heights. It is especially gaining traction for three things: one, low cost to build applications; two, super-easy maintenance; and three, one application for all the platforms.
And this blog is dedicated to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of Flutter, one of the leading open-source cross-platform software development technologies developed by Google.
Pros of Using Flutter for Cross-Platform App Development
Hot Reload
The Hot Reload feature of Flutter greatly increases the speed of development. Usually, whenever developers make changes to the application, they have to run the app to see how the change has affected the application. But with Hot Reload, developers can see the changes instantly.
Hot reload keeps the application running and enables developers to make changes on the go.Less Code
Flutter is entirely built with Dart, an object-oriented programing language. And this enables Flutter to not rely on a JavaScript bridge and thus increasing its overall performance. Flutter also uses less code to perform operations, which implies that it has got fewer bugs to worry about during testing.
Widgets
Widgets are essential to build fast, extensible, and customizable app interfaces. Flutter makes use of high-quality widgets to build faster UI. Developers also have the freedom to create their own widgets or customize the existing ones as required. Each widget created is a part of the hierarchy formed by the root widget, and all the widgets inherit the properties of the parent widget it is nested under.
Support
Flutter is backed by Google and has the support of a huge team of contributors. Despite being new, Flutter is already becoming a regular name of mobile app development. Flutter has a lot of updates scheduled to bridge the gap between various platforms and club them as one.
Cons of Using Flutter for Cross-Platform App Development
Mobile-only
Flutter is a mobile-only platform for app development and is not supported by web browsers. So if you are looking for a one-stop solution that caters to both mobile and web app responsibilities, Flutter may not be the right choice for your development.
Limited Library
Although Flutter has many helpful libraries with impressive functionalities, it is still relatively new. Not all the features that can be summated to native apps can be implemented with Flutter, at least not with the limited libraries it has. If developers need to add the functionalities, they will have to build libraries themselves, which is time-consuming.
Continuous Integration
Flutter is rapidly evolving, but as of now, it is not supported by Travis and Jenkins CI platforms. However, Travis and Circle CI platforms can be used by setting up the toolkit to achieve automatic building, testing, and deployment.
Google plans to bring app development under one wing: Flutter. It aims to bring out the complex visuals and the performance of native apps with the help of its Dart powered software development kit. Although Flutter has a few inconsistencies to overcome, the upcoming releases are expected to address them.