Apple's iOS and Google's Android are two popular mobile application platforms that use their native technologies for development. Some notable examples include Swift for iOS with Xcode or Java and Kotlin with Android Studio. However, it is clear that a cross-platform toolkit like Flutter has risen in popularity in recent years, and it provides native output for iOS and Android with a single line of code.
Is it easier to build one app for two mobile platforms than two different applications with separate codebases? We conducted this research to compare criteria such as development cost, efficiency, design, use cases, and more to make your decision-making process more comfortable. By the end of this article, you'll know when to use Flutter or Native technology.
The Battle of Comparisons
What are Native Technologies, and how do they work?
Native application development entails creating an app that is unique to iOS, Android, or Windows, allowing it to fully use mobile features such as the camera, accelerometer, compass, GPS, and other sensors. Native applications are downloaded from app stores such as Google Play for Android and Apple's App Store for iOS. The following are some of the most widely used systems and programming languages:
Swift, Objective-C, and Xcode are all used on iOS.
Android comprises Kotlin, Java, and Android Studio.
Use Cases
- AR/VR apps
- Rich-animation apps
- Gaming apps
- Stand-alone native apps
- Apps with complex/advanced UI
- GPS-centric apps
- Travel-based apps
- On-demand apps with heavy computation
- AI-triggered apps with massive data volumes
- IoT apps that connect to TVs, watches, and wallets
What exactly is Flutter?
Flutter is an open-source platform that uses Google's Dart programming language. It's widely referred to as an improved UI toolkit that allows developers to build cross-platform apps from a single codebase. It enables the development of expressive and versatile user interfaces with native performance. A team of Google engineers and the entire flutter community help and contribute to it.
Use Cases
- MVP mobile apps
- Material design apps
- Apps that work with OS-level features
- Advanced OS plugins with clear logic
- Skia rendering engine apps
- High-performance apps
- Reactivate apps with vast data integration using a lightweight UI with high-level widgets
Speed and Cost of Development
Native Technologies
The time it takes to create mobile apps using native technology varies depending on your budget, schedule, and ability to scale. Native technologies can be used to build small-scale and enterprise-level applications that meet iOS and Android users' needs. As a result, either the development team will be large, or two separate iOS and Android teams will be needed.
Since two codes must be written for two different systems with distinct functionalities, this will increase the project's investment budget. To put it another way, native technologies adopt the "write twice, run twice" concept.
Flutter
Flutter follows the "write once, run anywhere" philosophy, allowing developers to write a single piece of code that can run on two separate platforms. This means that with lower production costs, the time it takes to build would be significantly reduced. Big players like Alibaba, BMW, Watermaniac, and PostMuse, among others, have built their apps on Flutter in as little as five developers.
Not only does it make it easier for developers to write code, but it also makes it easier for novice developers to learn the code. Since the training cost is low, even a new developer can be rapidly trained, removing the need to employ many experienced developers.
Code Maintenance
Native Technologies
Since you'll be programming the software for specific devices, maintaining a native application is time-consuming and costly. The explanation is simple: maintaining two codebases takes significant effort, and developers must find bugs and issues with each platform regularly to produce various updates. Besides, maintenance costs rise in lockstep with the number of supported OS devices.
Flutter
Maintaining a Flutter application is simple since there is only one codebase for two applications. The clarity of code makes it easier for developers to spot problems, find external resources, and support third-party libraries. Furthermore, Flutter's stateful Hot Reloading functionality instantly addresses issues.
Compared to other native frameworks, the time it takes to release quality updates and make immediate improvements to the application is shorter. This level of adaptability contributes to the company's overall stability.
Native Features and Integration Capacities
Native Technologies
IOS and Android's integration capabilities from their respective frameworks and programming languages differ based on the software design pattern and application performance. To summarize, most native frameworks, including Swift, which are used to develop iOS apps, offer enhanced security and expressive advances in functionality, as well as fast integration options.
Let's take a look at Kotlin and Java for Android. Both frameworks provide seamless integration by simply using their default runtime classes or Intellij environment.
Flutter
Integration of specific features of third-party libraries or plugins is not complex with Flutter, but it may seem advanced to developers unfamiliar with Dart's capabilities. Add-on plugins such as CocoaPods, Android Archive (AAR), and others are required to incorporate targeted features for iOS and Android. On the other hand, the Flutter engine has some limitations in integrating native modules through Xcode in Android Studio.
Its documentation includes step-by-step guidance for overcoming these challenges and successfully integrating it with iOS and Android devices. It may lengthen the time to market, but this is often ignored due to the cost savings resulting from the use of Flutter.
It's also worth noting that Flutter now supports all current iOS versions, including iOS 14, but it has its limitations and the features which change with each new update. The combination of Flutter and iOS 14 has not yet reached its full potential.
Application Performance
Native Technologies
Even without external library kits, iOS and Android apps work admirably due to native performance capabilities. Even though "Core Animations" are developed for your app, native apps made with native technologies perform well at 60 and 120 frames per second. The maximum GPU usage native technologies load over RAM ranges from 30 to 45 percent of total GPU performance.
It's also worth noting that native technologies will use up to 118 MiB of computer memory if your software is incredibly resource-intensive. In the long run, unless you select unique external-SDK alternatives to boost performance with low memory usage, it can overload the users' system for the rest of their lives.
Flutter
Flutter does not need a bridge to communicate between native modules since native components are available by default. On a standard computer, the "hello world" app always ran at 60 frames per second, and the time it took to make each frame was less than 16 milliseconds.
There were fewer frames that were dropped. Flutter also uses the Skia graphics library, which allows the UI to be redrawn each time the application view changes. Flutter runs smoothly at 60 frames per second in this manner. At the moment, it can run at 120 frames per second.
Application Size
Native Technologies
Consider a simple "hello world" app to get a sense of the bare minimum size that Native technologies provide for iOS and Android platforms. Android apps with Java are 539 KB in size, while those written in Kotlin are no more than 550 KB.
A simple hello world app on iOS can be as small as 1 MB or as large as 3 MB. The maximum size for Android apps is 15 MB, while the full size for iOS apps is 35 MB. The size can be minimized even further by using external or third-party software.
Flutter
An essential "hello world" app built in Flutter was 7.5 MB in size. The Dart Virtual Machine and C/C++ engine affect this app's size. To avoid size problems, Flutter will self-contain all codes and properties. Furthermore, using a unique tag like – split-debug-info reduces the code's size.
Decision Making
If you want to do the following, go with native technologies:
- Build high-performance apps with a solid OS embedded connection between the app and the device.
- Make full use of the mobile device's hardware resources to access native tools.
- Create one-of-a-kind MVP applications that cater to a specific market.
- Work within a development schedule and budget to create advanced native applications.
- Continually update or modify the application in response to new OS versions and technology stacks.
- Provide unflinching protection and reliability with basic or complex features.
- Create applications that work flawlessly and quickly, with a simple user interface to navigate and appeal to a wide range of users.
Choose Flutter if you want to:
- Create a single codebase that includes both front-end and back-end functionality.
- Establish a deep materialistic and fluid design background.
- Build native applications that use real-time databases and cutting-edge cloud services.
- Use reactive widgets and on-demand mobile features to build an MVP.
- Integrate code magic to enable Continuous Integration to ensure a smooth development process (CI).
- With cross-platform applications, you can shorten your time to market and reach a broader audience.
If you want to stop using native technology, bear the following in mind:
- Avoid an enormous upfront cost and quickly get the app out into the market.
- Create applications with a minor or inexperienced development team.
- Stop an exponential spike in repair and update costs.
- Provide consumers with a native app with fewer in-app payment options as a workaround.
- Avoid the growth of global application compatibility and the problems that come with it.
Avoid choosing Flutter if you want to:
- Build native apps with no UI or functional constraints.
- Emphasize native performance and versatility over novel designs.
- Create brand or feature-specific applications for a stand-alone company.
- Use a specified model standard or widely agreed MVP, MVC, and MVVM architectures to build mobile apps.
- Eliminate the time-consuming error-fixing mechanism with Flutter's several layers of abstraction.
Flutter is an open-source application development framework that is helping the developers to create future-ready apps for both iOS and android by the use of a single code.
Flutter allows the developers to use the same code which reduces cost estimation and time consumption.
Being a leading and renowned Flutter mobile development company worldwide, Mobiloitte has gained competence over this revolutionary technology founded by Google.
Our skilled native developers who are master at developing iOS and Android apps are the pride of Mobiloitte.We use the latest tools to build a highly productive and responsive application in the given time.To work with us:https://www.mobiloitte.com/flutter-application-developmentMail us:[email protected] us:+91 9999525801
Technology advancements, consumer demands, and a good range of other factors have an immediate impact on mobile app trends.
Once a mobile device enters a beacon perimeter, an application will devour the signal emitted by the beacon and send appropriate instructions and notifications to the users.
As marketers approach the new decade with innovative strategies, mobile app developers must be savvy about the way to build apps that utilize this technology for excellent results.Mainly, this technology interacts with customers of varied companies using Beacon and helps enrich customer experience through the appliance .5G Technology5G wireless services are one among the leading tech trends in android and iOS software development for 2020.The 5th Generation Wireless Technology (5G) will have a maximum speed of up to 10 Gbps or maybe 100Gbps, making it 10 (or even 100) times faster than the present 4G network getting used .
beat all,5G will offer our clients improved performance and faster network speeds, which can combine to form our apps more functional and delightful than ever before.Take a glance at the expected growth of 5G smartphone connections over subsequent four years.Worldwide Smartphone Connections 2020 will have roughly 15 times more 5G connections than in 2019.
But we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface with how these advanced technologies are often used.
once we develop an Android or IOS application, AI can help to spot issues and troubleshoot in real-time.
It is essential to set up physical separation and make the compiler complain from code reviews and refactoring.
It is one of the most prominent reasons why Clean Architecture Layers need to be split in the Dart modules.
Finally, the core is useful for sharing the code between the layers.
You can consider BLoC as the presenter disguised in ViewModel, which is inserted inside the widget tree using a BLocProvider.
Thumb Rules to Keep in Mind#1 – One BLoC for Sibling Widget It is important to display asynchronous batches of data obtained from heterogeneous sources, including a remote server, local storage, database, or lengthy computation of a complicated task on every screen.
You might need a global onboarding BLoC that holds the onboarding generic logic.
Now the IT industry is expanding its progress and giving way to mobile phones to grab the screen of all platforms and all sizes.In the recent competitive world, cross-platform mobile development is becoming the preferred choice of leading mobile software development companies over native app development.
This helps start-ups to significantly reduce the development costs of their mobile applications without compromising on quality standards.What is cross-platform application development and why startups choose it?Cross-platform applications refer to those applications that can be used on different platforms without changing the encoding.
With cross-platform application development, any Smartphone user can download and use the application.Application development costs on multiple platforms are relatively lower than other application development technologies and are developed using CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.
With these standard languages, developers can create an application that can be recognized by Android, IOS, and Windows platforms.Most startups opt for cross-platform application development and the reasons are listed below:Cost reduction:Native app development strategies forced the developer to develop an app in two or three mobile app development languages for different platforms.
Now any mobile developer with a deep understanding of the multi-platform application development programming language can develop an application for any mobile platform.What is mobile app development for a flutter?Flutter is an open-source cross-platform application development kit developed by Google that allows the developer to develop a prominent application for various mobile platforms using a single code.
With Flutter for mobile application development, you can develop a scalable and expressive application that provides a rich user experience.
Those who live in large cosmopolitan cities with no busy traffic and no parking space refuse to own cars that are compatible with ride-share services such as Uber.
The appeal for individual vehicle rides makes business people consider how to assemble an application like Uber and can effectively dispatch it in nearby business sectors or around the globe.Globally recognized companies have always been role models for those taking the first steps to success.
So if you want to create an app like Uber, it is important to understand the company policies for technology and business processes.The following are some apps like Uber that offer the same services:a) Curbb) Easy Taxi.c) Lyft.d) Gett.e) FlywheelHow does Uber work?Before developing an app like Uber, let’s understand step by step how the app works:a) First of all, the customer requests to travel through the app.b) The customer must enter the source and destination before boarding.c) Next, they need to select the car type and payment mode.d) The customer then confirms the location of the pickup/source.e) The app searches for drivers near you.f) The driver’s request is accepted or rejected.
If a driver rejects the request, it is automatically transferred to another driver closest to your pickup location.g) At the end of the ride, the ride fee will be automatically deducted from your additional payment account (credit/debit cards, PayPal account, or previously saved wallet accounts).
These ratings will further help other riders to make a better choice for their trip.To develop a robust application that is easy to use for drivers and riders, we need to include features and functionality that benefit users.
But it does not rely entirely on Google Maps, sometimes purchasing mapping technology teams to solve their logistics problems.Push notification and SMSOnce the ride is booked, Uber notifies the rider on various occasions.
