A Complete Guide On Flutter App Development

Flutter app development has a robust feature called- ‘Hot Reload’ that allows developers to witness the modifications made in the app in real time. 

Updated 16 February 2024

Omji Mehrotra
Omji Mehrotra

VP - Delivery at Appventurez

Flutter is one of the ever-growing and dynamic open-source frameworks, created by Google, allowing experts to create aesthetically pleasing user interfaces. Additionally, Flutter app developers can build mobile applications for Android and iOS using a single codebase while providing native performance. 

A study by Statista has shown that 46% of software developers leveraged the features of Flutter technology. Having said that, Flutter app development is the most popular cross-platform framework and the top choice of business owners. 

Nevertheless, what exactly the buzz of Flutter is all about? 

Let’s get started with the introduction & advantages of creating a Flutter app, various examples of Flutter mobile app development, prominent challenges, and the estimated app development cost. 

 Flutter App Development

What Is Flutter? 

As mentioned above, Flutter is a powerful and advanced cross-platform tool that provides native code across multiple devices and operating systems. In other words, Flutter is compatible with any web browser, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows. 

Flutter comprises two major components- a Software Development Kit (SDK) and a Framework:

What’s New in Flutter 3.19?

Flutter has recently released Flutter 3.19, which includes an advanced version of Dart SDK for Gemini. It is a widget that allows developers to put fine-grained control to widget animations, rendering boost to make updates in Impeller, Windows Arm64, and more. 

The new SDK of Flutter enables developers to create customized Generative AI-based features, like smart chatbots, visual search engines, and image descriptions into apps built with Dart & Flutter with the help of Gemini AI. 

The integration of new SDK and cross-platform capabilities of Flutter & Dart can create more interactive experiences across multiple platforms. This innovation is just the first step towards the transformation as more is yet to come. 

You can read more about this new release here to gain valuable insights.

Key Advantages of Flutter App Development

Flutter app development is a cost-effective and speedy process with interactive app interfaces, delivering a streamlined user experience. There is more to this framework that makes it the top choice of developers. 

app development using flutter

Let’s explore more reasons why Flutter app development is an ideal choice:

Rapid Development Process

The primary advantage of Flutter application development is a quick development process, all thanks to the hot reload feature. It enables the developers to quickly and easily build UIs, integrate features, fix bugs, and more. Hot reload not only speeds up the development process but also allows developers to view the changes in the code in real-time. 

Highly Customizable UI Design

From conception to creation, mobile app design services should create interactive user interfaces, and it is important to make everything as simple as possible. This is when Flutter app development comes into the picture. It enables the developers to design user-friendly UIs, where everything about the app can be customized, from icons to colors & layouts.

Suitable for MVP Development

With the help of Flutter software development, you can build a minimum viable product and present it to your investors. MVPs, help in testing and validating the app idea by collecting user feedback to improve the app’s design or functionality. And, with Flutter’s compatibility with Firebase, developers don’t need separate backends to build a simple MVP. 

What Makes Flutter a Unique Cross-Platform?

flutter new features

Hot Reload 

Hot reload is the most interesting feature of the Flutter app development framework. It lets developers make the changes in the code and look at them simultaneously – without restarting the entire app development process. The hot reload feature eases quick iteration and app design refinement. Most importantly, it reduces the development time.

Cross-Platform Framework

Another feature of Flutter for app development that makes it unique is its cross-platform capability. It allows developers to create natively compiled applications across multiple platforms using a single codebase, which makes it a cost-effective solution. Additionally, it eases the process of adding new features as the code will be added only once.

Plethora of Widgets

App development using Flutter is done by leveraging the characteristics of widgets. These are used to build mobile application functionality and components like buttons, text, and user input fields. The widgets of the Flutter framework customize the user interface with minimal effort and are less time-consuming.

Real-World Examples of Flutter Mobile Application Development

The popularity of Flutter app development has skyrocketed as it offers a wide range of benefits, ranging from a quick app development process to cost-efficiency. Well-known brands, like Alibaba or Reflectly, are already leveraging the features of Flutter for mobile app development to reap huge profits.

flutter app examples

Let’s have a closer look at how these popular apps are benefitting from the Flutter framework:

Google Ads

As the term explains, Google Ads is a prominent tool for managing ad campaigns by customizing the target audience based on their location, keywords, languages, etc. The SDK for Flutter of Google mobile ads works with AdMob and Ad Manager. It supports a wide range of ad formats, such as banner, app open, interstitial, native, and rewarded interstitial formats. 

Alibaba

Flutter app development is trusted by the world’s largest eCommerce trends corporations, among other major market participants. Alibaba’s Xianyu has over 200 million registered users and 50+ million downloads, making it the best example of a Flutter app. The Flutter tools consist of outstanding UI/UX features and ease of maintenance are praised by app developers.

Reflectly

Another successful app built with the Flutter framework is Reflectly- a personal diary and mindfulness lifestyle assistant powered by ML & AI development services. It’s a great example of a Flutter project that started as a React Native app development and then converted to Flutter. The switch increased cross-platform portability and enabled the inclusion of cutting-edge technology like machine learning and natural language processing.

Challenges with Flutter App Development

While being one of the powerful cross-platform frameworks, Flutter app development still lacks in some areas that need improvement, such as

Large File Size

To begin with, Flutter apps are rather huge and hefty. They take longer to download or update, and they take up a lot of storage space.

Lack of Third-Party Libraries

Flutter is still considered a new technology that automatically limits the availability of third-party libraries. With the help of third-party libraries, the development process gets sped up, therefore, it is unquestionably a disadvantage for Flutter app development.

New Skills Required

Flutter is a simple framework that is easy to use; however, developers must have an in-depth knowledge of Dart programming language. This necessitates an additional learning period, which can extend the duration and cost of any project. However, if a developer is familiar with Java/C#, they may quickly learn Dart.

A Brief Understanding of Flutter App Development

As discussed above, Flutter is a cross-platform UI toolkit that builds applications for multiple platforms using a single codebase. The objective of this framework is to develop high-performing apps that will offer a smooth user experience. 

You can refer to the following video to help you understand how to start with Flutter application development. 

How Much Does Flutter App Development Cost?

The Flutter app development cost is not definite because it depends on various factors, like the project’s complexity, feature integration, app design, platform, developer’s location, and more. However, on average, the estimated cost of Flutter app development can range between $15,000 to $2,00,000 based on the project’s requirements.

Partner with the Expertise of Appventurez for Flutter App Development

Appventurez is a mobile app development company with a Flutter-focused development team that looks for new ways to use the platform to build unique apps. We have the right mix of creativity, talent, experience, and understanding to assist you in releasing speedy and interactive apps to market.

Our team has delivered high-performing Flutter app development solutions, like EFL or Clearbio App with the utmost client satisfaction. 

We are guided by a well-defined process that involves evaluating ideas and putting them into action by the plan. We also make sure to provide MVP development services before moving on with the final development so you can see how your app will appear. So, contact us today.

FAQs

Q. What is Flutter app development?

Flutter is an open-source cross-platform software development kit (SDK) used for building beautiful app designs that are natively compiled. With the help of the Flutter framework, developers can easily create mobile apps for multiple platforms using a single codebase.

Q. Which is better: Flutter or React Native?

Flutter is a formidable rival to React Native, yet it overtakes React Native at times and vice versa. Overall, both Flutter and React Native are strong options for cross-platform app development, providing developers with a pleasant experience. However, Flutter wins the competition if you're on a small budget and need to personalize the UI using widgets.

Q. How much does Flutter app development cost?

The cost of developing a Flutter app is determined by a variety of factors, including the app's size, category, complexity, and amount of features. The price varies depending on the developer's experience and the nations in which the development team is based. Because Flutter is a free, open-source platform, you may avoid paying a license fee and reuse the code to create apps for different platforms without having to hire additional developers.

Q. Is Flutter the future of mobile app development?

Yes, because Flutter enables you to create mobile applications with a better user experience, more stable performance, more effective programming, and a significant reduction in time and effort. It comes with everything you need to create reliable and effective mobile apps in a short amount of time.

Q. How much time does it take to build the Flutter app?

The estimated time for Flutter app development is 4 to 6 months; however, the time can exceed a year depending on the app’s complexity and functionality.

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    Omji Mehrotra
    Omji Mehrotra

    VP - Delivery at Appventurez

    Expert in the Communications and Enterprise Software Development domain, Omji Mehrotra co-founded Appventurez and took the role of VP of Delivery. He specializes in React Native mobile app development and has worked on end-to-end development platforms for various industry sectors.