Creative business ideas are the base on which today’s startups or enterprises rely. But to flourish the business, mobile app development is something that you can not overlook.
You need to choose from a myriad of mobile app development technologies to leverage their full potential and make your app future-ready.
For that, it is essential to decide whether you want to follow the native mobile app development process for a specific mobile OS or opt for cross-platform app development where you can leverage the widely adopted flutter or Kotlin framework.
According to a developer survey, Flutter is the widely used cross-platform mobile framework.
Choosing the right tech stack for your app determines its productivity and its set of features.
This article covers each aspect of Flutter vs. Native technologies that will help you make the right decision. So let’s get going.
Flutter Framework- A Brief Overview
Flutter is an open-source Google-backed structure that uses Dart programming language. It contains an improved UI toolkit that is used to build cross-platform apps with a single code line.
The framework provides access to develop a user-friendly and flexible User Interface with native-like performance.
Flutter is useful in the below-mentioned cases.
| MVP mobile app development Material design app development Apps with Skia rendering engine Apps that work with OS-level features App reactivation with large data integration Modern OS plugins with simple logic Flexible UI with high-level widgets |
Native Technologies – A Brief Overview
Mobile app development with native technologies includes building an app for specific platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows, etc.
It enables the app to leverage specific device’s features like GPS, Camera, microphone, etc. making them more rapid in execution. You can access each API and tool of the platform that you are developing.
Native apps are installed from the app stores.
Native technologies are useful in the below-mentioned cases.
| AR/VR apps Apps with enhanced animation Apps designed for gaming purposes Travel based apps Standalone native apps AI-triggered applications that have large data volumes GPS-centric apps Apps with advanced/complex UI On-demand applications with large computation IoT applications that connected with various devices |
Some widely used frameworks and programming languages while native development are,
| iOS Mobile App Development – Swift, Xcode, and Objective-C Android Mobile App Development – Kotlin, Java, and Android Studio |
Flutter vs. Native Development – Comparison
#1. Speed and Cost
Flutter
Flutter follows the “Write once, run everywhere” approach that enables professionals to write a single code for different platforms. It mitigates app development time and cost drastically.
Code of Flutter is easy to understand, even emerging developers can learn it without any training.
Native
The native app development time depends on the project budget, scalability, number of features, complexity, etc.
The development of small and large-sized apps using native technologies aids address the needs of Android and iOS users. Here the size of the development team is large, or there are two individual teams for the iOS and Android app development.
With the native approach, the budget will grow as there are different teams to write different codes for different platforms.
#2. Maintenance of Code
Flutter
Maintenance of Flutter code is easy as you need to manage one codebase for iOS and Android. So developers can easily determine issues, discover and leverage external tools, and merge third-party sources.
It needs less time to release updates and tweak app features compared to native technologies.
Native
Maintenance of native apps is time-consuming and expensive as you need to manage two different codebases.
Developers need to discover bugs and errors in two different codes and update accordingly.
#3. Native Features and Integration Abilities
Flutter
Flutter enables seamless integration of plugins and features from external sources. Integration of certain features for Android and iOS needs add-on plugins such as Android Archive and CocoaPods. Flutter has a set maximum capacity to integrate native modules via default Xcode or Android Studio.
Documentation of flutter offers manuals that guide you to resolve any issues. It aids in incorporating the Android and iOS apps. It also decreases time to market.
Native
Integration of Android and iOS using various programming languages and frameworks varies based on the app performance and used software design pattern.
Most of the native frameworks are used to develop iOS apps. It provides better security and significant features with the potential for quick integration.
#4. Performance
Flutter
With Flutter, there is no need for a bridge to communicate among native modules as it has default native components.
Based on the performance metric of an average device, the “hello world” app always performs at 60FPS. Also, the time required for rendering every structure does not go beyond 16 milliseconds.
Flutter framework implements the Skia graphics library. It facilitates UI redrawing whenever there are any modifications in the app view. Flutter code executes efficiently at 60FPS and can increase up to 120 FPS. Moreover, the number of dropped frames is less.
Native
Native apps perform very well without depending on any external library kit. Android and iOS apps work perfectly at 60 and 120 FPS. Even with core animation, the performance does not moderate. Loading to the RAM is possible for up to 30% to 45% GPU usage of the entire GPU performance.
If there is a heavy app due, native technologies use a maximum of 118 MiB of device memory. Native technologies may overload any device permanently unless you opt for a particular external SDK option for better execution with low memory usage.
#5. Application Size
Flutter
With a flutter, the “hello world” app size would be 7.5 MB which is influenced by the Dart and C/C++ Virtual Machine. Flutter can self-contain codes to overcome size issues.
Native
The “hello world” app size would be 550 KB on Android and less than 3 MB on iOS. The app size can span between 15-35 MB in native technologies. The use of third-party tools can mitigate the size furthermore.
When to avoid choosing Flutter Framework?
| When you want to build native apps without UI/functional restrictions. Develop brand or feature-specific apps that are focused on standalone business. When you want to avoid a complex error-fixing process as FLutter has multiple levels of abstractions. More focused on native performance and features compared to innovative design and intuitive UI. Build apps with defined model standards or globally accepted architecture like, MVP (Model View Presenter)MVC (Model View Controller)MVVM ( Model-View-ViewModel) |
When to avoid choosing Native Technologies?
| When you have a limited number of resources to develop apps. When you do not want a high level of investment at the initial stage and want to mitigate time to market. When you want to avoid universal device compatibility development and the hurdles that arise with it. When you want to build apps with a small-sized or less-skilled team. |
Summing Up
Neither flutter framework nor native technologies can be a cornerstone for the success of your projects and business requirements.
Flutter is quite an optimistic cross-platform tool when it comes to quick development and cost-effectiveness. You can build MVP apps employing Flutter within a time frame of two/three months. The all-inclusive development using Flutter costs 30% less than two native apps.
Native technologies are the best choice when there is a need for complex apps with modern features like GPS or affluent animation.
If you want to build an app for iOS/Android quickly without compromising the quality and budget, opt for Flutter at least once.
