Every year brings new advancements in every technology. Let us have a look at what we can expect from React Native and Flutter in 2022 and which one should be chosen for cross-platform app development.

All leading businesses in every industry are increasingly investing in cross-platform app development to enhance their customer reach and experience. Leveraging various app development strategies and technologies is always a priority for the ones that aim to lead the market. When it comes to developing cross-platform apps, the choice of the right technology becomes much more critical. Flutter and React Native remain the most popular and widely used of all the available platforms.

In this article, we will discuss the roles these technologies play in helping developers build ultramodern web and mobile apps. Also, we will shed some light on Flutter vs. React Native performance to help you understand the intricacies of using them for your next business app.

Flutter: Introduction

Flutter is an open-source UI development framework kit by Google that is quite recent as compared to React Native. It uses Dart as the primary language for building the UI components with a single codebase that works for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, Google Fuchsia, and other platforms. Flutter undergoes continuous updates that add to its robustness as an app development platform. Recent updates in the Flutter 3.0 framework also provide reliable support for JavaScript developers to easily learn Dart.

What are the advantages of Flutter?

Some of the advantages of Flutter that we have experienced while creating solutions for our clients include:

• Complete Ecosystem

Flutter provides developers a comprehensive ecosystem for building apps that work on various platforms including mobile, web, desktop, and Windows. Developers need not write separate codes for each and this enhances their productivity.

• Powerful Widgets

Flutter is known for its widgets that are highly customizable, offer higher flexibility, and can hold a lot of content. These widgets also help create apps with high-quality code to transcend other frameworks and make the development process consistent.

• Seamless Integration

Integrating apps made in Flutter with different platforms is a cakewalk for the developers. For example, it works well with Objective C, Swift, and Java-based if it’s being used for iOS or Android.

• Hot Reloads

Flutter supports enhanced collaboration between designers and developers with this feature. It allows you to fix bugs or make changes in the code and see the results immediately. It also happens in real-time without losing the state of the program.

• Faster Development and Deployment

App development time is reduced considerably with faster code compilation and quick app reviews. Performing iterations with a single code also speeds up the development and in turn the deployment. The costs can also be slashed as there is no need to employ more developers to work on the code.

• High Performance

Flutter uses a Skia engine that compiles Dart code directly into native code. On one hand, it helps unify the look and feel of the app across all platforms, and on the other, it helps enhance app performance which is very close to the native experience.

What are the disadvantages of Flutter? Despite all the advantages, Flutter does have some limitations and challenges that need to be considered when planning to build business applications. Some of them are:

Bigger Project Size

Although known for quick compilation and easy installation, the file size for Flutter can be lengthy and difficult to deal with for some apps. This can pose challenges for end users as they need enough RAM in their smartphones to hold the file. It may also lead to slow runtime and deterioration of performance.

Frequent Changes

Since the technology is still emerging, the architecture goes through constant overhauls and changes. It can be difficult for developers to keep a tab on the progress. Although this is not a drawback, this is a challenge that needs to be kept in mind.

Choice of Programming Language

Dart shares a similar background as Java. At times, it can be difficult to find resources and solutions to problems in this language. But with appropriate JavaScript support included in the new architecture, this problem can be reduced in the future.

React Native: Introduction Initially launched as a browser-oriented framework built for delivering unparalleled web app development experience, React Native was then revamped to be utilized in mobile app development. It is an open-source UI development framework that caters to the requirements of building cross-platform apps across industries and use cases. It uses JavaScript as the primary language for building the UI components.

What are the advantages of React Native? Some of the advantages that our React Native developers have experienced when building mobile and web apps include:

Large Community

When developing new applications, developers need all the support they can get from community forums and discussion platforms. It helps solve issues sooner. React Native has a large community of developers helping each other when required.

Easier Learning Curve

Since it uses JavaScript, the learning curve for developers is easier compared to learning Dart. Developers do not find it daunting to experiment with advanced features and try implementing new functionalities when the language is familiar. It saves much development time which then otherwise would have been spent learning new technologies.

Availability of Native Components

The requirement of users to interact with the native feel of the app never gets out of demand. React Native harbors a feature that allows interacting with native modules seamlessly. It allows having identical features across different platforms, and they get automatically updated with operating system updates.

What are the disadvantages of React Native? Apart from the stellar UI and ease of use, React Native still has some areas to improve. We have found the following attributes challenging:

Low Performance Than Native

Although it offers using native features, React Native still cannot make use of all of them. It also impacts the performance factors. Re-architecture helps overcome this limitation with time by introducing the JS engine Hermes to make apps run faster on old Android devices.

Design Inefficiency

React Native might also be unable to cater to complex design requirements. Developers prefer to select native app development if the primary business app development requirements include advanced interactions and intricate designs.

Custom Modules

It supports using many custom modules from the library, but there still are various others that need to be built from scratch. This adds to the time and cost of app development. If not planned well in advance, this can cause great delays in the product delivery timeline.

Issues With Updates

If not planned well in advance, this can cause great delays in the product delivery timeline. At times it is difficult to keep the app updated with the recent React Native version and the changes associated with it.

Which is the right mobile app development platform for your business?

Over the years of being known as a React Native app development company, we at GeekyAnts have also ventured into building apps on Flutter. As per our experience in the industry, both these technologies have their pros and cons and specific utilities that resonate with the requirements of the business. We have expert React Native and Flutter developers who work on every project with the aim of building futuristic apps.

If you are unclear about Flutter vs. React Native, we recommend you have your business app requirements analyzed by experts and then finalize one.