As making mobile apps becomes more popular, businesses are looking for ways to create apps that can be used on different devices. Android and iOS are typically meant when we use the term “cross-platform.” Statista said.
With a market share of just under 73% in June 2021, Android remains the most popular OS for mobile development in the world. More than 99% of the global market share is made up of mobile and iOS. How your development application works and functions will depend on the framework you choose. Not surprisingly, bad software can cause users’ devices to overheat, run slowly, and stop working.
This is the main reason why react-native and cross-platform app development have been at odds for a long time, and why the two most popular cross-platform app development frameworks, React Native Flutter, are at odds with each other. This article compares Native Flutter, two popular cross-platform development frameworks for making apps. We’ll examine the pros and cons of each framework and decide which is the best fit for 2022.
Both Flutter and React Native use cross-platform frameworks
React Native Flutter is the best cross-platform framework out there. They use the same code on all platforms and use native apps and widgets to give a highly customizable, responsive UI.
Because Google does the Flutter framework and Facebook does React, they have large teams working on the SDK, documentation, support and other parts of the platform.
React Native Flutter apps have advantages over traditional native app development because they can share most of their software across platforms. Instagram says that more than 90% of their React Native functional code is the same on iOS and Android.
React Native vs Flutter
Let’s first quickly review Flutter.
Flutter
The open source framework Flutter is operated using Google’s Dart programming language. It’s frequently described as a better user interface toolkit that may be utilized to make a software development company that runs on multiple platforms from a single codebase. It makes it possible to create flexible, expressive user interfaces that run at native speeds. At the same time, the entire flutter community and a group of developers from Google are supporting and working on this.
Here are some interesting stats about Flutter’s market share.
42% of people worldwide use Flutter to make cross-platform mobile apps. (Data from Statista)
- 68.8% of newcomers in the community like Flutter
- 13.55% of the community chose Flutter because of its extensive library and tools.
Instances of Flutter
- Mobile MVP Apps
- Application of Material Design
- Applications that use features built into the operating system
- Simple OS add-on with more advanced features
- High-performance application based on Skia rendering engine
- User interface that can be changed and features an advanced widget
- Open apps that use a lot of data again
What are some popular apps made with Flutter?
- Google Ads. Using Flutter’s static utility classes, Firebase AdMob plugin, and Dart packages to provide a portable experience for iOS and Android users.
- Tencent. With less than 5 developers, they enable users to connect and share devices across multiple platforms.
- Alibaba has created a high frame rate and single code base navigation method for all applications.
- eBay. By combining Flutter and Firebase, they can build an autoML for eBay Motors that uses powerful AI capabilities that can change at the edge.
- BMW uses flutter blocs to manage its high-performance user interfaces and make sure they work well.
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Reflect switched from React Native to Flutter and uses the StreamBuilder widget to send high-quality data events to help keep data in sync. There are some things that React Native apps can’t do that Facebook doesn’t want you to know about.
React Native
The well-known open source framework React Native runs on JavaScript. It is primarily focused on the native rendering of apps that are primarily compatible with smartphones and iOS. React Native is made in JavaScript, usually JSX, and an XML-like syntax. Social media giant Facebook backs it, with more than 50 dedicated engineers working on the framework.
Here are some interesting facts about how React Native is doing in the market.
- According to the report, in 2021, 38% of developers will use RN to develop applications that can run on multiple platforms. (Data from Statista)
- 14.51% of developers like React Native because of its native tools and libraries.
- 58.8% of developers use React Native, which shows its popularity.
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Some ways to use React Native
- Cross-platform applications are easy to make.
- software for making quick mockups
- An application with a more direct user interface
- App that looks close to native and has a flexible user interface
- Apps with reusable parts
- Programs that use the synchronization interface
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How many well-known applications are developed with React Native?
- Facebook made a better, more useful mobile UI that was easy to navigate.
- Walmart: They improved the user experience by making the same smooth animations in the app as native functionality.
- Bloomberg. Users get custom content that’s easy to organize, and their code is automatically updated.
- Web View was used to add push notifications to Instagram without making a navigation frame.
- SoundCloud, which fixes both the iOS and Android versions to make up for the time lag between releases.
- Wix makes navigation and screen selections that can be changed quickly and easily.
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Performance Evaluation
React Native Flutter is thought to operate in a variety of ways. Everything about Flutter and RN sounds great for speed and agility, but when it comes to “performance”, every community is divided. However, the performance of RN has been criticized for its use of native modules and third-party libraries.
Contrasting the user Experiences of React Native and Flutter
When selecting the finest mobile app development framework for your project, the user experience is one of the most crucial factors to take into account. It tries to make it easy for users to stick with the brand or product. A meaningful user experience also makes it possible to map the customer journey on your network, which is best for your business’s success.
Testing is easy
One of the main goals of development is to keep the code running flawlessly with as little time and effort as possible. In the following sections, we’ll take a look at how easy it is to add tests to Flutter and React Native apps.
How easy is it to test Flutter apps?
On the other hand, because it works with a dart, Flutter helps automate development testing in many ways. It has a lot of documentation and gives you many different ways to test your application at the unit, component, and integration levels. Flutter also provides detailed instructions on how to make and publish apps for Android and iOS on their respective App Stores and Play Stores. The deployment process is also formally written down.
Is it Easier to Test React Native apps than others?
React Native says it doesn’t support testing and test integration at the UI level. There are also not many frameworks for testing RN applications at the unit level. Since there is no official support, developers have to use third-party tools like Appium and Detox to find bugs.
It also uses externally sourced libraries to automate the development and release process. Simply put, the entire framework doesn’t have any way to automatically upload iOS apps to the App Store. Instead, RN tells the developer to use Xcode to describe how to deploy the app manually.
Flutter and React Native? Which is easier to learn?
The API of React Native Flutter is easy to understand depending on the level of experience of the developer. Both have a large and active developer community who are constantly making new tools and widgets that can help new developers. React Native comes with a set of predefined components that can be used to build apps for iOS and Android. This way, you can learn one thing at the same time without having to worry about all the APIs used to render views.
If you are a new developer with little coding experience, React Native is probably the best place to start. If you know a little bit about coding, you should probably use Flutter instead of React Native. This is because Flutter’s API is more like iOS and Android. Also, the Flutter team is working hard to ensure that its development experience is potentially comparable to other SDKs such as React Native.
The best Flutter backend
Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) like Google’s Firebase seems like the best way to support Flutter apps, but the truth is quite different. Backendless provides a more complete and cheaper backend solution for Flutter applications. With the Backendless Flutter SDK, you can handle both Flutter mobile apps and Flutter Web, the latter made for web and desktop apps.
The Best React Native Backend
React Native doesn’t have Flutter’s “branded” backend, but like Flutter, React Native apps work well with BaaS platforms like Backendless. Backendless provides the same functionality for developers of React Native Flutter. If you are a React Native developer trying to speed up development, a BaaS solution can save you a lot of work on the backend. This will give you more time to devote to crafting the best UI and UX.
2022, Flutter vs. React Native3
Since its inception in 2015, many businesses have used React Native. React Native has also grown and added new features over time thanks to the work of the open source community. This is so because things change frequently in the JavaScript world.
Flutter is a newer technology, so if you’re used to using Android or iOS, it might seem odd. Google has worked hard to make it easy to learn, so most people who already know how to create apps for iOS or Android should be able to do it quickly. Flutter makes it easy to create apps with multiple versions and minimum viable products (MVPs). React Native is a great framework to make it easy to work on react native and cross platform devices. We’ve made a list of questions to help you decide which of these technologies you should add to your tech stack.
Choose Flutter if.
- Your mind doesn’t have to be able to do everything on its own.
- You don’t have a lot of time or money to complete your tasks.
- You want to write scripts and get them to market quickly.
- You want to save development costs by making a single codebase that runs on many platforms.
- You want to make a program that runs 60 to 120 frames per second.
- Widgets reduce the amount of testing and UI customization required.
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Pick React Native if.
- To make your application bigger, you want to use modules that can run on multiple platforms.
- Make native applications that don’t consume a lot of space.
- You want to make a shared API as soon as possible.
- You want to make an application that can be combined in a few steps and has a very responsive user interface.
- You have enough time and money to fully focus on this project
Conclusion
Cross-platform app development is greatly facilitated by Flutter and React Native. There are some similarities between the two, but there are also some notable differences that you should be aware of before deciding which one to use. The best cross-platform framework for your enterprise application or new startup application depends on your development skills, the quality of your development team, and the react-native components your project needs to use.
If you’re looking for advice on using Flutter or React Native, you should know that both are state-of-the-art, very popular, and can be used for high-end cross-platform projects. Cross-platform app development is greatly facilitated by Flutter and React Native.
First, see what you have or can get. Can you get someone who understands Dart to do Flutter adventures? If not, you ought to think about React Native.
Second, double check the project you want to do. Do you want parts of your app’s user interface to be native? Try React Native instead. What about a layout that places the brand at the forefront? You can try Flutter as a solution.
Third, you can consider another software development scenario, such as no code. This is a fairly promising direction, although part of the developer community is skeptical. There are several advantages to developing native applications on AppMaster. Quick entry. Compared to Flutter and React Native, it is easier for you to master the no-code platform and you also need less time to implement the project. AppMaster is a general-purpose no-code development platform that combines the power of an engine and interface builder with source code generation. You’ll get fully ready-to-use mobile and web apps with the same components as those created by the developer. Mobile applications can be automatically published on Play Market or Appstore.
Author Bio
Santhosh is a Digital Marketing Executive. He designs marketing strategies with the intention of using high-quality content to educate and engage audiences. His specialties include social media marketing specialist and SEO, and he works closely with B2B and B2C businesses, providing digital marketing strategies that gain social media attention and increases your search engine visibility.