Many entrepreneurs start with the dream of becoming the next Uber or Airbnb of the startup world. There are many hurdles which the startups need to face in their journey. In this world of high competition, startups need to be nimble-footed, changing their product according to the demands of the customers as well as the updates released by their competitors.

Choosing the technology on which your mobile app will be based is the first step towards startup success. Flutter has all the requirements to become your preferred technology for developing your app. Let's discuss!
 

What is Flutter?

Flutter is an open-source mobile development framework released by Google; it allows the developers in building high-quality Mobile apps in both iOS and Android in record time. Google has developed a separate programming language called 'DART' for Flutter. Although relatively new in the app development world, this rookie has created lots of Flutter(pun intended) in the mobile app development world by garnering the attention of tech bigwigs like Alibaba and Hamilton Music amongst a sleuth of companies who are going ahead with Flutter for their development needs.

Fluttery fast

In this connected world, there is a chance that the genius idea which struck you right now, someone halfway across the world might have started working on it a few days back.
 

Startups need to launch their apps faster than the competition. Flutter helps in achieving this as it supports cross-platform development. In cross-platform app development, the developers can build the app once and run it on multiple platforms without the need of writing the code again for the other platform. In simple terms, you can run your app on both iOS as well as Android platforms without doing significant changes in the code.

This feature of Flutter enhances the speed to market of the app For a startup, it is of absolute importance that it maximizes the reach of its app; launching the app on both iOS and Android is a way of maximizing the reach. Before Flutter, cross-platform development had a flaw; the hybrid apps (apps which can run on multiple platforms) were not that smooth as their native counterparts. But with Flutter, the gap between hybrid and native apps has shortened.

Mobile apps that are developed with Flutter are compatible with devices running on operating systems as old as iOS 8 and Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2. This feature of Flutter again helps in maximizing the reach of the apps built on Flutter. Apart from this, it removes the hurdle of incorporating necessary changes in code so that it is compatible with older devices.

Flutter is integrated with Firebase. Firebase, a mobile platform of Google is a tool providing an array of services like cloud storage, management of real-time databases, and cloud hosting. For a startup, Firebase can prove to be a boon as it helps them in providing a serverless, nimble, and scalable infrastructure. Using Firebase, startups can save resources or DevOps support in backend infrastructure.
 

Firebase has a collection of tools, using which startups can start developing their apps right away, eliminating the need for building a few tools on their own.

Flutter increases productivity

Flutter comes with a hot-reloading feature. This feature proves to be a game-changer in making it one of the fastest frameworks available. Using hot-reloading feature, the mobile app developer can fix the errors immediately. The need to recompile and re-deploy the code is eliminated in Flutter. The developers can see the effects of changes which they have done in system in real-time, leading to a quick addition of new features.

Hot re-loading also helps in fixing bugs quickly as the developers can quickly identify the virus, make the changes in code, and see the effect of those changes immediately. Suppose your designers do not like a few things about the layout of the main page of the app, then they can collaborate with the developers and suggest changes, which are implemented in real-time by the developers. Thus the collaboration between developers and designers is improved due to this hot-reloading feature.

Widgets

Building beautiful apps with Flutter is secure; your UI/UX designers won’t stop raving about the customized widgets that are available. Widgets help in creating that smooth native-like experience in apps developed with Flutter. Flutter has widgets for both iOS and Android, which supports both material design as well as Cupertino. And the best part about these widgets is that they can be customized according to your need with some basic programming knowledge. With a comprehensive catalog of widgets, startups will benefit from these widgets as they shorten the design phase of the app.
 

Open-source project

Startups usually are on a bootstrapped budget. Flutter is an open-source project, meaning that startups don’t have to break the bank for paying licensing fees to purchase Flutter. Anyone can easily download Flutter and start programming their way to success.

Plugins

Usually your mobile app developers need to write the code for every feature required in your mobile app. In Flutter, we have plugins, which are small pieces of code which can be used to integrate some commonly used functions like payment gateway, navigation, analytics, images, calendar, to name a few. Using plugins, your developers can drastically reduce the development time, thus leading to a reduction in costs. International Flutter code libraries has enabled developers in localizing the mobile app according to the local language, text, and layout.

Growing support community

Being an open-source tool, Flutter has quickly risen in popularity amongst the developer community. The population of Flutter is growing at a breakneck pace with events, webinars, seminars, tech meets, and conferences being organized at a feverish pace. Google, the parent company of Flutter, is continuously providing support to Flutter by releasing updates on regular intervals and nudging the support community to experiment with Flutter and publish their own widgets. In this manner, Google has ensured that any developer planning to develop an app in Flutter is literally spoilt for choices in terms of third-party code libraries and widgets. Google has even gone a step further and developed its own Google ads app on Flutter, sending out the message that Google believes in Flutter, and you should too. Just take a look at the number of updates released by Google for Flutter in 2019.
 

FLUTTER UPDATES in 2019

•  Build 2D apps supporting cameras, geo-location, and storage
• Integration with your existing android and iOS app, allowing you to switch to Flutter even if you have an existing app in these app stores
• Add-ons like Visual studio code and Android studio code
•  More classes and widgets for iOS apps
• A compiled code feature, which helps in making Flutter 15% faster
•  1250 issues closed by Google with the latest 1.7 update
• Rangeslider widget released
•  AndroidX support

Flutter has all the essential features that an excellent startup-friendly platform should have. Flutter is open source, supports cross-platform development and has the hot-reloading capability which helps in building cost-effective, efficient apps in a much faster manner than other platforms. Every startup should take note of this and hire flutter app developers for their cross-platform app needs.