Why Choose Flutter for Hybrid Mobile App Development?

Flutter is an open-source UI framework developed by Google. It empowers developers to build native mobile, web and desktop applications from a single codebase.

It is one of the most fast evolving tools for creating cross-platform applications. Flutter developers use it to build stunning cross-platform apps which can render native code on each of the devices such as iOS and Android.

Moreover, Flutter is compatible with Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS and Windows. In 2023, It will be the best platform for hybrid mobile app development

In this article, we will discuss top 10 reasons that make Flutter the best hybrid mobile app development technology

What is Flutter?

Flutter, at its core, is a UI toolkit that enables app developers to create apps that natively compile in their respective OS platforms such as mobile, web and desktop from a single codebase.

Flutter app development uses the Dart programming language, offering a rich set of pre-designed widgets that make the development process faster and more efficient.

Reasons to Choose Flutter for Hybrid Mobile App Development

  • Cross-Platform Development

Flutter is the hottest mobile app development technology for its ability to create apps for multiple platforms from a single codebase.

Write the code once and run the various apps natively such as iOS, Android, and web apps. 

This approach in flutter app development saves time, effort, and resources by eliminating the need to build separate apps for different platforms.

  • Fast Development and Hot Reload

Flutter’s “hot reload” feature is a game-changer for developers. Flutter developers have the advantage of making real-time code changes without restarting the application thereby making development faster and more efficient.

This feature significantly accelerates the development cycle and reduces debugging time.

  • Stunning User Interfaces

Flutter app development provides a rich set of pre-designed widgets and offers complete freedom to create custom widgets.

Never miss an update from us. Join 10,000+ marketers and leaders.

This suggests that developers can craft stunning, pixel-perfect apps with awesome user interfaces that run natively on both iOS and Android platforms. 

  • High Performance

Its performance is exceptional, thanks to its core engine, Dart. Apps developed on Flutter compile like native code thereby ensuring that apps run smoothly and web apps provide a responsive user experience.

This performance boost is especially important for graphics-intensive applications.

  • Strong Community and Ecosystem

There has been a rapidly growing community of flutter app developers, which means access to a wealth of resources, plugins, and packages.

Because it is backed by such a strong community developers find solutions to common problems rather easily which also makes sharing of knowledge more effective.  

  • Cost-Effective Development

With a single codebase, you reduce development and maintenance costs. This makes Flutter a cost-effective solution, especially for startups and businesses on a budget.

  • Expressive UI

Full stack flutter app developers create expressive and innovative user interfaces. This enables the development of unique, visually appealing apps that stand out in the crowded app market.

  • Compatibility with Existing Code

You don’t have to start from scratch when choosing UI software. It is a highly flexible platform which can be integrated to your existing codebase.

So if you need to transition your codebase from your existing technology to this framework, you can do it rather easily. 

  • Comprehensive Documentation

Flutter’s documentation is thorough and continuously updated, which empowers developers to easily learn and implement the latest features in the framework effectively. 

  • App Store Success

Many successful apps have been built using Flutter, including Alibaba, Google Ads, and more. This demonstrates that Flutter can produce top-tier, high-performing applications.

Top Things To Consider When Choosing Flutter App Developer

  • Experience with This UI Software

The first and most crucial factor is to evaluate the developer’s experience with This open source UI software. Look for developers who have a proven track record of working with the framework and have successfully delivered Flutter apps. Check their portfolio for relevant projects.

  • Cross-Platform Expertise

Flutter is known for its cross-platform capabilities. When hiring a Flutter development team you should ensure that the developers you hire have the expertise in building apps for both iOS and Android using a single codebase. Experience with other cross-platform tools is an added advantage. 

  • Proficiency in Dart

Dart is the programming language used in Flutter. Developers should be proficient in Dart to effectively utilize Flutter’s capabilities. Dart’s syntax and structure are unique, so look for developers with experience in this language.

  • UI/UX Design Skills

A key advantage of Flutter is its ability to create visually appealing and responsive user interfaces. Check if the developers have strong UI/UX design skills to ensure your app looks and feels native on both platforms.

  • Hot Reload Experience

Flutter’s “hot reload” feature is a game-changer for app development. It allows real-time code changes without restarting the application.

Businesses should seek developers who are familiar with this feature as it significantly speeds up the development and debugging process. 

  • Performance Optimization

Flutter apps are known for their performance, but it’s essential to choose developers who understand how to optimize the app for speed and responsiveness, especially in graphics-intensive applications.

  • Plugin Integration

Developers should be capable of integrating various plugins and packages available in the Flutter ecosystem. This is crucial for adding additional functionalities to your app efficiently.

  • Compatibility with Native Code

If you plan to integrate your Flutter app with existing native code, ensure that the developers have experience with such integrations.

Are you looking for a Flutter developer

Contact Us

This is common in cases where you already have a native app and wish to expand it with Flutter.

  • Cost Considerations

Consider your budget and the rates of the developers. Focus on the overall value and expertise offered by the developers.

  • Project Timeline

Discuss the expected project timeline with the developers. Ask your Futtler development team for an estimate of project delivery i.e. how long it will take to develop and launch your app. This is important for planning and aligning your app with market demands.

  • Communication and Collaboration

Effective communication and collaboration are vital for a successful development process. Ensure that the developers are accessible, transparent, and willing to work closely with you throughout the project.

  • Client Testimonials and References

Ask for client testimonials or references from the developers. Hearing about their past clients’ experiences can provide valuable insights into their professionalism and the quality of their work.

  • Ongoing Support and Maintenance

Inquire about the developers’ willingness to provide ongoing support and maintenance for your app after the initial development. Your development team must provide post-launch maintenance which is crucial for keeping your app up-to-date and bug-free.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Flutter opens up a world of possibilities for hybrid mobile app development. Its flexibility and performance make it the most opted cross-platform development technology for developers who want to create stunning apps across various platforms. 

By mastering Flutter’s fundamentals, exploring advanced features, and staying updated with the community, you can embark on a successful app development journey.

FAQs

Is Flutter suitable for beginners in app development?

Absolutely! Flutter’s intuitive interface and hot reload feature make it beginner-friendly, allowing developers to see changes instantly and learn through hands-on experience.

Can Flutter apps access device hardware like cameras and sensors?

Yes, UI apps can access device hardware using plugins. There are numerous plugins available that enable Flutter apps to utilize device features like cameras, sensors, and GPS.

Is it possible to create complex animations with Flutter?

Yes! Flutter provides a ton of frameworks to create detailed animation and animation transitions that enhances the overall user experience of the app. 

Does Flutter support integration with backend technologies and databases?

Yes, this UI software supports integration with various backend technologies and databases. Developers can make API calls, handle responses, and interact with databases to fetch and store data in Flutter apps.

What kind of support does Flutter offer for internationalization and localization?

It has excellent support for internationalization and localization. Developers can easily translate their app’s content into multiple languages, ensuring a global audience can use the app effectively.

An Introduction To BuildContext In Flutter and It’s Importance?

BuildContext is the object that stores information about the current build. It provides information such as the minimum and maximum supported Flutter version, the device’s screen size and pixel density, the currently active theme, and more.

The BuildContext is the set of inputs that Flutter uses to create an instance of a widget. It includes properties on the Android and iOS platforms, as well as properties related to the current device and environment.

It can be used to customize the behavior and appearance of your widget, but it’s important to understand how it works in order to avoid any issues.

For instance, you can use BuildContext.host () to get a string that specifies the current app’s host name. You can also use BuildContext.local (context).emulator so you can set up an emulator for testing your app on different devices without needing to change settings in Android Studio every time you want to switch emulators.

Flutter is one of the hottest technologies for cross-platform mobile development. It has been described as a new contender in the app development industry, competing with traditional frameworks like React Native and Xamarin.

Flutter builds on Google’s own Dart programming language and provides a library of scalable, customizable UI widgets to help developers build beautiful native interfaces that run across all platforms. It has been designed to help developers build high-quality, natively compiled apps that run on both Android and iOS from one codebase.

Never miss an update from us. Join 10,000+ marketers and leaders.

What is a BuildContext?

The BuildContext is a locator that is used to point the location of the widget in the widget tree.

In Flutter we have to create widgets through the build method & we have to pass the BuildContext as an argument to the build method.

Each BuildContext is different for every widget. Each widget you create has its own BuildContext and they can locate themselves in the widget tree or reach out to the nearest widget.

This is how we create a widget

[code language=”css”]
Widget build (BuildContext context)=> MyAwesomeWidget();
[/code]

Flutter widget tree

Everything in Flutter is a widget. Whether it is a container, providers, text, button, image etc. everything is a widget, whether it reflects the UI in the app or not.

The UI or display in Flutter comprises stacks of widgets popularly called a widget tree. Each component is responsible for a small unit of the entire UI.

Flutter widget tree

The above image is an example of a widget tree in Flutter. We can observe that every widget has its own place in the widget tree i.e. the Button widget is under column widget.

Widgets are only visible to its BuildContext or to its parent’s BuildContext. That means we can locate the parent widget from the child widget. For the above image tree structure we can get Scaffold from Container by going up:

[code language=”css”]
context.ancestorWidgetOfExactType(Scaffold)
[/code]

You can also locate a child widget from a parent widget and for that, we use Inherited Widgets.

There are three main trees in Flutter:

  1. Widget
  2. Element
  3. Render

Widget

Widgets are immutable, they represent the structure for RenderObjects Fluorescence is optimized, which can easily create and destroy widgets without any significant performance implications.

The same can’t be said for RenderObjects.

Element

In the middle of Widgets and RenderObjects sits elements. These act as the glue between the immutable widget layer and the mutable render layer.

As the configuration of a widget changes (for example, the user calls the set state that triggers a rebuild), the element notices incoming changes and says to the corresponding render object,

“Hey! Please update. ”

Render

RenderObjects are what the visual pieces on the screen correspond to. Their purpose is to define areas on the screen regarding their spatial dimensions. They are referenced by the element. As a consequence we are dealing with another (third) tree here: the RenderObjects together form a tree which is called Render Tree whose root node is a RenderView (being a variant of a RenderObject). The RenderObject, on the other hand, are mutable objects that do the heavy lifting of turning the configuration supplied from widgets into pixels users can see and interact with on the screen.

Unlike widgets that are cheap and can safely be created and destroyed without any significant performance implications, the same cannot be said for RenderObjects.

For this reason, whenever the configuration of a widget changes, the framework looks at the change and updates the associated RenderObject instead of creating a new one each time.

Conclusion

Understanding BuildContext is very crucial to develop applications in Flutter. This improves our knowledge on how Flutter works and helps to build apps confidently.

BuildContext is a facade that provides a consistent API for implementing custom layouts and animations. The code is platform-specific, but the abstraction weaves some of the underlying platform-specific logic out of sight. BuildContext also helps reduce the need to know about the underlying platform details when implementing custom layouts and animations.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

LEARN MORE

Flutter is an open-source mobile app SDK that is used to make a high-quality app with a beautiful and consistent user experience. Unlike native mobile development, Flutter does not require that an app has a single, complete codebase but instead lets you mix and match code for different platforms. It also provides a rich set of pre-built widgets and allows for shared state.

The BuildContext is the context in which the Flutter app is running and is used for determining where to find resources and strings. It can be thought of as the environment in which the app is being used. Flutter provides an abstract class called BuildContext that handles the loading of resources, without requiring the developer to use hardcoded paths. This abstraction is one of the things that makes flutter so easy to use.

Flutter provides a set of high-level classes to help flutter developers build reactive user interfaces. Are you looking to develop an application in flutter framework? Let’s discuss

10 Popular Cross Platform Framework For App Development In 2022

Digital presence has become an important step to growing your business. It doesn’t matter in what sector or what scale your business belongs to, the thing that only matters is your online presence. With the Cross-Platform Frameworks, it has become a lot easier to grow your online presence and reach out to a target audience.

According to a report, 6 out of 10 small businesses are serving online. 47% of customers look for the online presence of the businesses from where they are planning to buy to check the reviews and recommendations.

In such a scenario the business can’t afford to lose its online presence on platforms like Apple App Store and Google Play Store. In a report by TrendForce, the global market share of mobile is valued at 1.39 billion in 2022, which will be a 3.8% yearly growth.

Business wants to penetrate deeper into the markets by developing highly intuitive and engaging mobile applications and increased revenue.

In today’s rapidly advancing technology, you need a strong Cross-Platform framework to develop a secure and user-friendly application.

Our many international clients demand cross-platform application development, as this helps them to get larger benefits in their business and helps them to save a large amount.

It is estimated that in 2023, the total number of application downloads will be 299 billion, up from the approx 247 billion global application downloads in 2020.

Mobile App Downloads(Source: Statista)

What is Cross-Platform Application Development?

A Cross-Platform Application development aims to create a single application that runs identically on various platforms. It uses platform-agnostic technology like HTML and CSS that helps businesses to cover many end devices at a very minimal price.

Cross Platform Mobile App

It is one of the popular methods used for application development. Many top mobile application development companies unlike Andolasoft use this framework.

Difference between Native and Cross-Platform App Development

As there are two app-building approaches to develop mobile solutions, i.e. – Native and Hybrid/ Cross-Platform.

Both have their benefits and challenges that will be suitable for your project depending on your needs and scenario.

The Native development relies on the programming languages and tools that are designed particularly for one platform. These are designed for a particular device and operating system.

Cross Platform Frameworks(Source: Appinventiv)

Whereas the Cross-Platform development aims to develop a single application that will run identically on various platforms. It ensures hassle-free implementation, affordable production, and robust functionality.

Why Choose Andolasoft Cross-Platform Application Development?

Mobile applications have become an important element in growing your business. It is because of the growing number in the digital customer base. With mobile applications, businesses can grow rapidly by developing an instant connection with the target customers.

We at Andolasoft are experts in developing cross-platform applications in platforms like Flutter, Xamarin, PhoneGap, and more.

We have worked with many customers in various domains such as retail, hospitality, education, Fintech, and more. Our experienced mobile app developers convert your ideas into reality by using the latest tech stacks.

Never miss an update from us. Join 10,000+ marketers and leaders.

In this blog, I have listed the top 10 cross-platform app development frameworks that you can use in your business mobile application development.

Here you go,

1. Ionic:

Ionic is one of the best hybrid application frameworks because it bridges the properties that are in demand. It allows the developers to use a combination of languages, such as HTML5, CSS, Cordova, and JavaScript to access the native platform controllers.

Features:

  • It is an Open Source front-end framework. It allows alterations of the code structure that is suitable for each developer and saves lots of time.
  • It is based on AngularJS, which makes it easier to offer extensions to HTML’s Syntax, with core functionalities to imbibe the most useful yet attractive features and components in your applications.
  • The ionic framework uses Cordova plugins that enable access to devices with inbuilt features that include GPS, Camera, and Audio Recorder. It is one of the major benefits of Cross-platform development tools.
  • Ionic (mobile app framework) gives a native-like feel to the application which makes it the favorites among developers. With this framework, the developers can perform perfectly on various platforms.

Ionic (Source: Ukad group)

Benefits:

  • In the Ionic framework, you can get access to many ready-to-use UI components.
  • The developers should know Angular, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript to develop applications using Ionic.
  • The Ionic framework is mostly designed for mobile OS because it is based on the SAAS UI framework.
  • As it is an Open- Source- front-end framework, it enables the developers to change the code according to their requirements.

Challenges:

  • It consists of several unstable native plugins
  • Applications that have lots of graphics and animations are not suitable to develop using the Ionic framework.
  • With the Ionic framework, debugging becomes quite difficult

Developers Tool:

  • Firebase
  • Visual Studio Code
  • Ionic app flow

Are you looking for an Ionic developer

Contact Us

2. React Native:

When you talk about a Cross-platform framework, it is difficult to not include React Native language. It is a framework, built on JavaScript. It is used to write neat code and gives a Native -like feel to your mobile application, which works easily on both iOS and Android.

React Native(Source: Fortunesoft)

Features:

  • React Native is an Open- Source cross Platform app framework, the same as ionic, for which it has a large community of support that helps in supporting and fixing the bugs, improving and introducing more advanced features.
  • It requires one-time coding to develop applications for diverse platforms like iOS and Android.
  • React Native framework is highly compatible with third-party plugins like Google Maps.
  • It focuses on UI to a greater extent rendering a highly responsive interface. The React Native language eliminates the time taken for loading and delivers a smooth interface for the applications.

Benefits:

  • React Native focuses on the UI, which enables the developers to create a highly responsive UI interface.
  • It is a leading cross-platform mobile application development framework, the developers need to code only once in React native. With the one-time coding, the application can run on diverse mobile OS platforms like iOS and Android.
  • It has a large developer community that helps the developers to get adequate support in times of distress during application development projects.
  • It is compatible with all the leading third-party plugins like Google Maps.
  • You can develop mobile applications for different iOS and Android platforms like macOS, tvOS and Android TV, etc. Also, React Native can be instrumental to develop immaculate applications for Windows and UWP.

Challenges:

  • Lots of performance issues were observed during the React Native Development.
  • With the abstraction layer present in this framework, if any bug occurs then it can cause an unexpected bug in the whole application

Developers Tool:

  • JS Editor
  • Emulator, Android Studio, SDK
  • Xcode

Are you looking for a React Native developer

Contact Us

3. Flutter:

Flutter framework has created a different image in the present-day market. As it is an Open-Source- cross- Platform app framework that was first released in May 2017 by Google.

Features:

  • Flutter programming Language promotes portable GPU that renders UI power which allows it to work on the latest interfaces.
  • It does not require updating the UI contents manually, because it holds a reactive framework. The Flutter App Developers only need to update the variables and the UI changes get visible after that.
  • With the Flutter framework, the developers can automatically remake a widget tree and comprehend its cost adjustments.
  • The Flutter mobile application development language has an inbuilt graphic engine. This makes it easy for the developers as they wouldn’t have to make any separate interfaces for iOS and Android.

Benefits:

  • As flutter has an inbuilt graphic engine, the developers don’t have to create separate interfaces for iOS and Android.
  • Using Dart, the developers get to write more structured programming codes. This makes it easier to maintain synchronized hierarchical structures even when writing complex applications.
  • The Flutter Cross-Platform app framework uses GPUs that enable UI power. This makes it easier for the developers to work on the latest interfaces.

Challenges:

  • Not stable
  • Lacks several advanced features
  • Comparatively new dart
  • The dart has few features and the existing ones are not properly refined.

Developer’s tool:

  • VS Code
  • Emacs
  • Android Studio

Are you looking for a Flutter developer

Contact Us

4. Xamarin:

Xamarin was developed as an independent platform, which was developed in the year 2011, before being acquired by Microsoft. As it is an Open- Source Cross-Platform applications framework that has characteristics that make it unique from other applications.

Features:

  • The application developed on the Xamarin Framework are developed using c# which is a modern class platform application development language with the leverage to Objective-C and Java.
  • It supports a direct inclusion of Objective-C, C++ libraries, and Java. It allows the developers to reuse third-party codebases that are encrypted in Java, C++, and Java.
  • It reduces the cost and time of mobile app development, for it supports the WORA (write once, Run anywhere) and has various class libraries.
  • It offers robust compile-time checking. With this facility, the developers witness fewer run-time errors and get well-functioning applications.

Benefits:

  • It uses C# along with with.NET framework for mobile application development for any platform.
  • It provides continuously improved performance to match the native development standards.
  • With the Xamarin framework, you can get lots of learning resources
  • It offers an optimal user experience because of its UI-specific elements.

Challenges:

  • It faces many compatibility issues, using third-party tools and libraries.
  • There is a need for basic knowledge of native languages to use this framework.
  • It offers limited access to Open Source libraries.

Are you looking for a Xamarin developer

Contact Us

5. NodeJS:

NodeJS framework is one of the incredible cross-platform frameworks used for developing cross-platform applications. However, the NodeJS framework is a JavaScript runtime framework developed on the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine.

NodeJS

It is an open-source environment that supports the development of server-side and scalable networking applications.

Features:

  • The entire NodeJS API is asynchronous, it signifies that these are non-blocking in nature, which defines the servers are based on the NodeJS and it doesn’t essentially wait for the data from APIs.

It automatically moves on to another API after calling it, which works as a notification mechanism for NodeJS. It allows the server to get a response from the previous API.

  • JS library is very much speedy in its code execution process, as it is built on Chrome’s V8 engine.
  • It does not buffer, however, it outputs the data in chunks.
  • It delivers smooth and perfectly functioning applications. NodeJS uses a single-threaded model with the event looping functionality. This mechanism enables the server to reply in a non-blocking format, making them more scalable.

 Benefits:

  • JS framework has a large developers community
  • It reduces the response time for slow requests and every developer can execute the database queries simultaneously.
  • V8 engine present in NodeJS is the fastest dynamic language interpreter, which is constantly pushing the boundaries.
  • NodeJS offers a smooth and even application because it uses a single-threaded model.

Challenges:

  • Excessive memory usage
  • Unresponsive applications, such as hanging or looping
  • Bad performance
  • Various functional issue

Developer’s Tool:

  • io
  • PM2
  • Babel
  • JS
  • Meteor

Are you looking for a NodeJS developer

Contact Us

6. PhoneGap:

PhoneGap (Cordova) is an impeccable cross-platform framework used for mobile application development. It uses HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. It offers cloud solutions to developers by providing them the choice for sharing the application in the development process to get feedback from many other developers.

PhoneGap(Source: PhoneGap)

Features:

  • It enables the developers to develop cross-platform applications by using the existing web technologies like CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript.
  • It supports the use of a single code base to develop applications for various platforms like iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone.
  • As it uses an architecture that is plugin-able. This makes it possible to access all the native device APIs and it can be extended in a modular way.

Benefits:

  • It allows the users to use embedded payment systems like App Store and Google Play Store through the PhoneGap Cross-Platform App framework.
  • It provides the luxury to use JavaScript and other libraries like Sencha Touch, MooTools, etc. to manage all the interactions in the applications.
  • The applications that are developed with PhoneGap run very consistently on every leading OS platform that shows very minimal differences.

Challenges:

  • It is not suitable for an app that has several graphic elements
  • PhoneGap framework lacks descriptive documentation which is crucial for application development
  • It lacks support for plugins that have hooks.
  • PhoneGap language cannot be used for gaming applications.

Are you looking for a PhoneGap developer

Contact Us

7. Appcelerator Titanium:

Appcelerator Titanium is an Open-Source Cross-Platform application native app development framework. It was developed in 2008. Its core features are, it includes API to access native UI, many device functionalities, and MVC framework functionality.

Titanium(Source: third rock techno)

Features:

  • It offers various tools that are used for rapid application development. It indicates that a prototype can be developed within very little time and effort that evaluates the users to interact with UI.
  • It processes pre-built connectors that are available for MS azure, Salesforce, MS SQL, the list is however very long.
  • It consists of ArrowDB- a scheme-less data store that allows developers to deploy several data models without putting any extra effort into setup.

Benefits:

  • It has a pre-built connector for Box, MSSQL, MS Azure, and Salesforce
  • It has various tools that make the development process faster.

Challenges:

  • Application Complexity increases
  • It limits the flexibility, as strange bugs and limitations increase.

Developer’s Tool:

  • Appcelerator CLI
  • Amplify

Are you looking for an Appcelerator developer

Contact Us

8. Sencha Touch:

The Sencha Touch helps to accelerate the hardware techniques. If you are looking for inbuilt Cordova integrations, then the Sencha touch cross-platform application works best.

Sencha(Source: i95Dev)

Features:

  • It is famous to develop built-in native-looking themes for many, major platforms like Blackberry, iOS, Android, windows phone, etc.
  • It supports Cordova integration for the Native API access including the packaging.
  • It provides code compatibility between old and new ones.
  • It comes with 50+ built-in UI widgets. It also has several collections of rich UI like Forms, Menus, carousels, and toolbars, etc., that are specifically developed for mobile platforms.

Benefits:

  • It consists of more than 50 in-built and customized UI designs along with a rich UI collection.
  • It supports Cordova integrations, which makes it a lot easier to access the native APIs including the packaging.
  • It provides an impressive backend data package

Challenges:

  • The API designed with Sencha Touch does not give access to the contact, camera, and accelerometer of the device
  • It doesn’t allow push notification

Developer’s tools:

  • App Inspector for Sencha

Are you looking for a Sencha developer

Contact Us

9. Corona SDK:

If you want to develop immaculate two-dimensional mobile applications for various leading platforms, then Corona SDK is the right choice. It is an open-source- cross-platform application framework that renders 10X faster mobile games and better application development services.

Corona SDK(Source: Arpatech)

Features:

  • It is a multi-faceted and lightweight programming language LUA.
  • It is used to develop gaming applications for various platforms like desktop, connected TV, iPad, etc.

Benefits:

  • It offers several plugins for media, analytics, in-app advertising, and several other things.
  • The developers can see the code changes in real-time as the cross-platform app framework responds to instant changes.
  • As it is based on the programming language LUA, it makes the framework more powerful and fast.

Challenges:

  • As it uses the Programming language LUA, which is a scripting language, for which you won’t be writing the native language
  • You won’t get the facility to use advanced and luxury technology

Developer’s Tool:

  • Xcode
  • Android Studio Project

Native Script:

Native Script is an amazing free Cross- platform Framework, which is based on JavaScript. It will not be wrong to say that NativeScript is a preferable choice for many developers who want a WORA functionality.

Features:

  • NativeScript offers accessible, beautiful, and platform-native UI, and without the web views. Developers are required to define once and this let’s the NativeScript runs everywhere
  • The NativeScript developers get complete web resources which come with loaded Plugins for every kind of solution.

Benefits:

  • NativeScript developers can write the platform based APIs in JavaScript only.
  • It supports components like AndroidArsenal, Cocoapods and calls these native methods from libraries.
  • It comes with all types of Plugins that eliminates the use of any third-party Plugins
  • It is a beautiful platform Native UI that can be accessed without the web views.

Challenges:

  • The NativeScript apps are larger than native apps
  • It has some buggy open source Plugins

Developer’s Tools:

  • CLI NativeScript

FAQ:

1. What frameworks are used for cross-platform development?
There are several frameworks used for cross-platform web development. Some of the popular cross platform frameworks are :

  • React Native
  • Flutter
  • Xamarin
  • Ionic
  • PhoneGap

2. How does a cross platform framework work?
A cross-platform framework helps to develop apps that are more compatible with major OS: iOS, android, windows, MacOS and windows. It is an alternative to many native app developments.  It uses one app code for different platforms.

3. How does a business benefit through cross- platform app development?
A business can benefits through cross platform app development in any ways such as:

  • Save lots of time and money
  • It provides high security and authentication
  • Cross platform allows automatic update

4. What the challenges are of cross platform application development?
The major challenge faced by developing a multi-platform application development framework is “how to manage the codebase”. As each platform needs a unique code, which means separate development and extra time required for each platform.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

LEARN MORE

Conclusion:

The above-mentioned list defines the top cross-platform application frameworks, which play a vital role in redefining your app development process.

I think now it will lot easier for you to choose the right platform for your application development after knowing the top ten cross-platform frameworks features.

You can seek the help of an expert mobile application development company, like Andolasoft. We hold 13 years of experience in application development. Our dedicated developers work effortlessly to provide a better cross-platform application that will fulfill all your requirements. If you are planning to develop a cross-platform mobile application for your business or you have ideas, then feel free to discuss them with us. We are here to help you with your quires.

Share your comments below if you have more information on cross-platform application frameworks.

Top Reasons Why Flutter Become A Trend In Application Development

Flutter is one of the most dynamic and popular product that was developed by Google in the year of 2017. In the year of 2018 Flutter was introduced to mobile app developers and from there it received huge response and popularity for its ability to develop feature-rich app interfaces. It also manages to gather huge community in a very short period of time.

Flutter is a great tool from Google for creating cross-platform applications which – starting from the newest stable version – can be deployed to the web, desktop, and mobile.

Google is encouraging the Flutter as a better and easy to learn framework that allows developers to create quality maintainable solutions.  Easy, it is just the next cross-platform framework.

History of Flutter

Flutter is basically an open source UI development kit to develop cross platforms apps from a single code base. The earlier version of Flutter was known as codename “Sky” and first ran on the Android operating system. It used Dart language and at the 2015. Dart developer summit with the stated intent of being able to render consistently at 120 frames per second. Google announced Flutter Release Preview 2, which is the last big release before Flutter 1.0. On December 4, 2018. Flutter 1.0 was released at the Flutter Live event, denoting the first “stable” version of the Framework. On December 11, 2019, Flutter 1.12 was released at the Flutter Interactive event.

History of Flutter(Source – medium.com)

Lifecycle of Flutter

Lifecycle of Flutter(Source – dev.to)

Why is Flutter the best Cross-Platform Technology?

We all know Flutter is developed by Google and used Dart programming language for its development work. Because of Dart language developers love Flutter. Dart has ahead of Time Complied to fast, predictable, native code, which allows Flutter to be written in Dart.

Flutter’s Dart language is strictly types and object oriented in nature. In Flutter, the programming style is declarative and reactive.

Also Flutter has enough to showcase its reliance and efficiency. Apps like Google Ads, Reflectly, Alibaba, Hamilton, which we discussed, are the simple portrayal of Flutter’s ridiculous efficiency. These apps with millions of download and daily users, generating millions of queries per second, show the reason why these technology giants trusted Flutter with their apps.

Never miss an update for us. Join 10,000+ marketers and leaders.

Some Amazing Apps Made With Flutter

Flutter has many of a plethora of applications that are increasing in multiple folds each day with large enterprises trusting flutter for their large user base apps shows the amount of trust that Flutter offers.

  • Google Ads (utility)
  • Xianyu by Alibaba (eCommerce)
  • Reflectly (Lifestyle)
  • Birch Finance (Finance)
  • Hamilton Music (Entertainment)

Why Flutter Has Become A Trend in Application Development

Today most of the prominent platforms look forward towards considering the use of development packs that are reliable as well as successful in a viable and novel way. The flutter new version itself is quite a promising framework that aids in the development of cross-platform applications. Recent stats show that Flutter is preferred by over 2 million users along with half a billion developers.

1. Proper utilization of widgets:

Apps that are using Flutter framework make use of all available features that are offered by framework concerning all of its libraries and components. Such a precise plan using restriction can be easily manipulated to develop any robust UI interface design.

2. Dynamic approach of development:

The main point of focus for using Flutter framework because of its flawless features that allow the developers to view the significant progressions made within a shorter time frame. Developers can also see the progressions of test systems, equipment, and emulators.

3. Specific Use for Cross Development Platform

Flutter app development services also allow the developers to develop flutter app that can be easily created, accumulated, coded and used on various platforms. A system like this could potentially come up with a single codebase that could cater to both IOS as well as Android development.

4. Expressive and Flexible UI:

Quickly ship features with a focus on native end-user experiences. Layered architecture allows for full customization, which results in incredibly fast rendering and expressive and flexible designs.

5. Approach for Efficient Marketing

Flutter is considered to be on the position of Hot Loading that helps in the efficient revival of the cycle of development. Also, the time that is required for keeping things under control while developing an application can be effectively utilized by the developers. It offers a significant boost to the cycle of development.

6. High Performing Applications

Flutter App development typically makes use a popular programming language called Dart, which simplifies the work of app developers, particularly while building transitions and animations.

7. Native Performance

Flutter’s widgets incorporate all critical platform differences such as scrolling, navigation, icons and fonts, and your Flutter code is compiled to native ARM machine code using Dart’s native compilers.

8. Growing Flutter Community

Flutter is continuing to see fast growth in its usage with over more than 2 million developers in the last 3 years from its release. Despite of unprecedented circumstances, in March there was 10% month-over-month growth, with nearly half a million developers now using Flutter each month.

Some interesting statistics:

  • There are approximately 90,000 Flutter apps published in the Play Store, with nearly 10,000 uploaded in the last month alone.
  • The top five territories for Flutter are India, China, the United States, the EU, and Brazil.
  • 78% of Flutter developers use the stable channel, 11% use beta, and 11% use either dev or master.

The Future of Flutter

The increasing popularity of Flutter framework telling that more and more mobile app developers are showing their interests towards Flutter. Also Flutter community is working hard to polish the framework which is already putting flutter ahead in the race. Over 2 million developers have used Flutter in the last 2 years of its release and it’s constantly growing. In these unprecedented conditions, Google saw 10% month over month growth in March, making it nearly a half a million developers using Flutter every month.

Flutter

New Features And Improvements

Flutter 2.2 is the best version of Flutter yet, with updates that make it easier than ever for developers to monetize their apps through in-app purchases, payments and ads.  Flutter API and cloud services extend apps to support new capabilities. With tooling language features Flutter allows developers to eliminate the whole class of errors, increase app performance and reduce package size.

Google continues to be the primary contributor to the Flutter project; we’re delighted to see the growth of the broader ecosystem around Flutter.

I’ve worked with the team at AndolaSoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

LEARN MORE

FAQs

Who will use Flutter?

Both developer and designers can use Flutter to give life to the apps.  For Flutter developers, it simplifies the development life cycle, speed up the development and reduces the cost. For Flutter designers, it provide canvas for high end user experience

What kinds of apps can develop with Flutter?

Flutter is designed to provide support for mobile apps on Android and IOS devices. It used single code base and generate build for Android and IOS in one click.

Apps that need high end user experience are well suited for Flutter. Its ecosystem provide wide variety of hardware support

What makes Flutter unique?

Flutter is different from other framework because of its UI widget. It used its own high rendering performance engine to draw the widgets. Its uses Dart language which is easy to learn and implement. This gives developers tremendous control over the system

Is Flutter back-end or front-end?

Flutter is basically designed for front-end development

Conclusion:

Flutter is basically the quickest framework to develop cross-platform mobile application. Flutter has bright future and huge opportunities for developers. The risk factor is also very less here compared to other cross-platform.

App development made faster with enormous UI customization potential and separate rendering engine. It is also suitable for any target platforms.  So, if you are inspired with Flutter, you can choose this as your next development framework and we are here to help you. Let’s discuss

Top 7 Reasons To Consider Flutter Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

As the numbers of smartphone users are increasing worldwide, which has helped many businesses and startups think of developing a robust mobile application. This helps them to stand at the top in the competitive market.

Flutter is defined as the open-source software development framework launched by Google. It has obtained high recognition in the Flutter app development market because of its unique approach. The specific framework develops apps for multiple platforms as it has got the best from both cross-platform and native development.

Based on data from 2020, there are almost 1.96 millions Flutter-based apps present in Google Play Store. This has transformed the position of India in the app development industry and enhanced the demand for mobile app development services

Flutter Mobile App(Source: medium)

What does Flutter provide?

  • Highly optimized apps.
  • Excellent support for text.
  • Framework with the react-style feature.
  • Have material design with a large set of widgets.
  • Perform unit and integration tests with APIs.
  • to get connected with the system and 3rd-party SDKs, consists of interop and plugin APIs. 
  • Have Dart Dev Tools for testing and debugging.
  • Presence of command-line tools for building, testing, and doing the compilation of apps.

Why to use Flutter for cross-platform app development:

There are multiple reasons behind using Flutter. With Flutter cross platform you can get several benefits such as:

Never miss an update for us. Join 10,000+ marketers and leaders.

1. Single Codebase

Flutter makes it possible to use one code base for both the app platforms like Android & iOS. It makes sure to minimize your app development cost.

The number of resources required for building apps with Flutter would be less in comparison to other available platforms. Applying a single code base is a cost-effective method used by the framework to design easily manageable apps. 

2. Easy and Excellent Documentation

As Flutter has been introduced by Google, full support is available from the material design team. This has made app development tasks a lot easier for those who have just started to learn.

The framework comes with a superb documentation feature that allows developers to start a project. The documentation is understandable and helps developers to solve all possible issues they can get during the project.

3. Reusable Components:

With the cross platform the developers can write the code language once and use it again for other platforms. By using the single code, the developers get to develop iOS and Android apps.

The flutter for web has its own widgets and designs. Hence, it becomes a lot easier to create a flutter cross platform application.

4. Use Widgets

Just like other progressive languages, Flutter makes use of widgets as the core element. These widgets permit developers to find out what they’re doing with the code and save the overall development time that wastes in making basic user-interface elements for different platforms. It is the most important aspect of  Flutter that makes it beneficial and favorable for developers.

While using Flutter, developers just need to create a single UI element and it can be used for any screen. On the other hand, this saves time for Quality specialists, as they wouldn’t have to perform the testing for the Flutter mobile app design on different devices with different screens sizes.

Flutter contains the widget toolkit, but all components perform natively. It gives a native app-like experience and boosts performance. To get the best experience with Flutter, you can even take mobile app development services from known companies in India.

5. Native Functionality

Flutter is basically an advanced framework that uses a specific communication method for connecting data to the native languages. It uses Platform Channels for linking which helps developers to access hardware.

When you use Flutter, it has libraries that let you establish connections with device hardware like microphones, cameras, and GPS chips. You can complete all essential tasks using Flutter libraries.

6. Great Performance

Flutter has been considered as one of the amazing frameworks that ensure standard performance. It is even better and powerful in comparison to other cross-platform technologies.

The current standard of this framework is 60 (FPS) which makes it completely unique. For the smooth appearance of screens, Flutter uses JavaScript Bridge.

Particular development tools such as Flutter Inspector and Dart Analysis assist developers to analyze their code and maintain the highest level of performance.

There are also some similar tools present in Android Studio that helps in optimizing and debugging the code. For the expected outcome, approaching Flutter app development companies can also be a good idea.

7. Getting popularity

Developers found Flutter as the most useful framework for cross-platform app development. There are multiple reasons behind its popularity:

  • Flutter approves and supports native code and allows developers to do anything a native language can.
  • Flutter has plenty of widgets with outstanding solutions. It is saving the development time which is profitable for the businesses that are expecting instant results.
  • The special framework is capable of supporting six operating systems. Whether it is Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, or Web, a developer will just have to use one code for launching their app on six different operating systems.

8. Large community

The Flutter community is increasing every year. Now, the number of GitHub stars has grown from sixty-four thousand to one lakh seventeen thousand.

It shows the interest of the development community in Flutter. This community is still increasing as lots of developers are contributing to it and improving the framework.

The latest  1.17 version of Flutter has done a lot of improvisation. It has resolved almost 6,339 issues in comparison to the last version 1.12. This type of improvement has been obtained due to Never code collaboration.

It is a great integration and development tool used by Flutter app developers to resolve issues effectively.

Now, it is easy for the Flutter team to resolve bugs on time. Developers communities are capable of reducing the operative memory consumption and size of the apps. They even managed to improve the performance of all iOS apps by 50%-60%.

I’ve worked with the team at AndolaSoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

LEARN MORE

So, the community has an important role in Flutter’s development. If its supporters will be increased, it can be easy for newcomers to learn and find Flutter app development service providers for those who are interested to invest in new projects.

9. Effective and Flexible UI:

By using the Flutter app development tool, you can control the entire pixel on the screen. This is because it moves everything from themes, animation, gestures, widgets that render in a single framework.

Therefore using flutter software provides you the flexibility to customize, develop and animate app designs.

Conclusion

Flutter has the immense ability to empower both Android and iOS app development using a single source code. It has all set of qualities that fasten the development process. To make it a more developer-friendly framework, Google is continuously adding new features to it. 

There are multiple reasons why professionals think that Flutter is the evident leader of mobile apps in the upcoming future. The organizational benefits of Flutter are considerable.

It has made it easy for companies to get their products fast into the market, minimize costs, and target more customers at once.

Are you planning to develop your mobile app with flutter cross platforms, contact us our expert will help you.

Importance of Mobile Application in Blockchain Management

Blockchain technology is one of the modern-day secured technologies and is now applied in mobile app development. It has been streamlined in the mobile development industry to ensure that clients get the best, convenient, and secure transactions.

What makes the transaction more secure is how data is encrypted into a safe mesh. In this article, we are going to explore the importance of blockchain technology in mobile application development.

Today numerous companies have adopted blockchain technology in their management systems. HTC abs Facebook are some of them. Its use will increase in the future since it’s also used in supply chain management.

Benefits of Mobile applications in Blockchain Management

Numerous benefits come with mobile applications that offer blockchain solutions to their clients. With blockchain technology, your apps will have:

  • Enhanced security
  • Transparency
  • Better tracking abilities

Its developers are not quitting there; they are working on other ways to use blockchain, and in the future, it will be used in multiple domains such as finance, supply chain, and other sectors of the economy.

It will play a vital role in Decentralized mobile applications. As a mobile application developer, you can get clients from any sector seeking to secure their transactions and data sharing processes.

Logistics, real estate, and health care services are some of them.

1. Enhanced Security in Mobile Apps

The greatest gain in using blockchain technology in building mobile application is its enhanced security features.

It’s cryptography techniques are advanced, making it safe and secure when handling transactions using your phone.

Basically, blockchain is made up of interconnected blocks with all the information about a particular transaction. These blocks also provide timestamps to other blocks.

What makes it difficult to alter any block is that all the data is encoded and saved using a cryptographic hash. Security in mobile application is also increased using high-level encryption and cryptography, benefiting both the mobile developer and the client seeking mobile development.

Developers can now spend less time on security and more time building apps.

2. Highly Reliable

Besides enhancing the security of mobile apps, blockchain also enhances the reliability of mobile applications. Blockchain has a reliable infrastructure, that is why many companies are benefiting from it.

Copies of data are replicated across multiple devices in different locations thanks to blockchain nodes distributed worldwide.

Chances of blockchain crashing are minimal due to its decentralization. Data and blocks are processed in different locations, making it reliable.

3. Increased Transparency

Since all blockchain records all transactions in public ledger, it makes it easier for anyone to track transactions wherever and however they want.

This makes it quite transparent, and users don’t need to worry about fraudulent transactions and scams. The whole system is incorruptible and fully scalable.

This means that mobile apps that use blockchain technology can easily increase the number of users to meet their requirements.

4. Things are Kept Simple with Blockchain

Developing and maintaining apps that use blockchain technology is complex and time-consuming. Although developing a new blockchain is an uphill task, the implementation part of it is quite simple.

Mobile app developers have work cut out for them, since building a mobile-based blockchain app is easy. The cost of development and app maintenance since everything is catered to from the word go.

Entrepreneurs will have an easy time developing feature-filled apps using blockchain technology.

5. Enterprise-level Mobile Apps

The tools are resources used to build blockchain are available. Therefore developers can easily access them and start developing apps quickly. Since the technology is open source, developers can contribute to making blockchain even better to improve its implementation.

Enterprises can benefit from this by giving directives on how they want their enterprise-level apps developed to suit their needs. In the future, blockchain technology will be used by government institutions and enterprises to store data that can’t be manipulated.

Since this data is viewed anywhere and anytime with anyone, it will make the information transparent and reliable.

6. Importance of decentralized ledger system

Blockchain is powered by a network of computers that are decentralized, which is the ledger system. Data is synced and parsed collaboratively using these computers.

When change is made, it reflects all the computers holding the ledger. The system can decide to keep or neglect the change or changes depending on the nature of the change.

The distributed network of computers is used as servers for clients. The client is a mobile application in this case. The entire system becomes better when developers get more storage and enhanced data streaming.

Conclusion

Companies and businesses are looking to do ways to improve their transactions in terms of security, convenience, and reliability. That has prompted them to seek blockchain solutions because it provides all these features.

The technology has substantially improved and is now incorporated into mobile app development. There are numerous companies using blockchain in their apps, including Facebook, Coinbase, and Block. One. This is meant to make transactions fast and secure for both clients and these companies.

The beauty of using blockchain is that anyone can access information anytime, anywhere, using any device, making mobile apps built-in blockchain technology convenient.