In 2022, we expect nothing short of quick, effective, and cross-platform app development, right? To tick all these boxes, it can be difficult to navigate your way through the mass market of technology that exists. Flutter and React Native have both become two of the most popular cross-platform software development of mobile applications. With over 5.31 billion mobile phone users in the world, the need for mobile apps increased, and therefore, the creation of mobile apps requires new solutions that are less time and effort consuming.
In short, Flutter and React Native both offer this in many ways, allowing the creation of a single codebase that works for both iOS and Android devices. Less coding means lower budgets and quicker turnaround times. Although both can offer many impressive features to streamline the development process, which is best for you?
This post is going to look at the features, advantages, and disadvantages of both Flutter and React Native, and which one is the best choice for you.
Origins
So, let’s start with who each app was created by. Flutter was first introduced by Google and released in 2017. React Native on the other hand was first introduced by Facebook in 2015.
Programming Language
React Native uses JavaScript, specifically ReactJS which is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. If you’re a web developer, working with React Native should come very easily to you. JavaScript carries solid popularity and has been ranked as one of the most used programming languages for the last eight years in a row, so getting together a React Native development team will be super easy. However, JavaScript is not enough to demonstrate a high level of performance across apps so developers will need to combine extra interactions with native ones to reach their desired effects. This can add to costs and time efforts.
On the other hand, Flutter uses Dart which is a programming language created by Google. Being a client-optimized language, Dart comes with a lot of advantages, one main one being productive app development. Thankfully, Dart is very similar to Java and C++, so if you are familiar with them, you should be able to pick up Dart pretty quickly. A big advantage of Dart is that it allows code completion quicker than JavaScript. Because of this, Flutter apps generally have a very high performance by default. However, it’s still necessary to consider some common problems that may affect this rate of coding. To combat this Flutter provides users with recommendations that help reach the desired results showing that they’re always thinking outside of the box.
Installation and Initial Configuration
React Native’s configuration is one of the simplest on the market. All you need to do to get it up and running is to install React-Native CLI globally through the command line. It’s worth noting here that you will need to have NodeJS and Yarn installed as a package manager before downloading React Native.
Flutter can be installed by downloading the binary for specific mobile platforms before adding it to your PATH variable. Thankfully, you can do this via the command line. However, when it comes to its installation, this is where Flutter falls short in comparison, as its installation and initial configuration are not as straightforward as React Natives.
Development Tools and Documentation
When it comes to documentation, React Native scores some points here, but not full points. Unfortunately, React Native’s documentation is heavily focused on mature web developers, who will likely already be familiar with JavaScript. This means for beginners; the documentation likely won’t be very helpful. It also has a few gaps, for instance important features such as navigation aren’t well documented. In addition to this, finding information about native libraries has proven to be troublesome. This, again, means that any beginners trying to use this software may struggle if they have limited knowledge. Due to being very much focused on mature web developers as opposed to beginners,React Native loses a few points in comparison to Flutter when it comes to junior developers.
Contrary to React Native, Flutter benefits from rich and extensive documentation. Thankfully it offers detailed guides that are accompanied by impressive graphics and video tutorials. Fletcher has several tools to assist you in app development which is great for beginners and even senior web developers who may need some help from time to time. Flutter’s help tools include debugger and Flutter Inspector.
User Interface
As a result of the JavaScript, bridge React Native renders the native components for each platform allowing app developers to curate a look and feel that is reminiscent of native Android and iOS applications. A big advantage here is React Native has a lot of ready-made components that users can use as building blocks when it comes to app development, meaning help is available when needed. However, there are some drawbacks in this area which are important to take into account when deciding which one is best for you. For example, it’s hard to replicate complex user interfaces in a React Native app. React native components can behave differently on different platforms making this unreliable in some ways.
Flutter on the other hand has user experience widgets that are packed within the software which means it creates native-like applications that are super easy despite experience level. This means there’s no need to search for third-party libraries or find framework widgets that work for you. In addition, Flutter apps are consistent across all platforms making it the adaptable and versatile choice for all app developers.
In addition, Flutter apps look good on all up-to-date operating systems as well as they do on older versions. This is thanks to their one singular codebase. The apps look and behave similarly across iOS and Android devices. Contains two sets of widgets that conform to specific design languages again making this the versatile adaptable choice. Flutter apps will look and behave naturally on every platform whilst imitating the native components.
Productivity
When it comes to app developers’ productivity, React Native has very high code reusability across platforms. There is an immense number of libraries that are created by the development community that are often used as building blocks to speed up app development. In addition to this, React Native has a hot reload feature that allows users to view changes in the app without even recompiling it.
Similarly, Flutter also has a hot reload feature meaning you can make any changes quickly and receive feedback from customers immediately. In this area, we’d say it’s pretty much a draw.
Community Support
Community support is a really important aspect to take into consideration when making your choice. Having a large community of contributors is vital when it comes to open-source development frameworks. You’ll be glad to know that React Native has just that. As the framework was launched in 2015, it has gained the support of meta developers over the years. If you’re looking for a large community of support and developers alike, React Native is a great choice.
As for Flutter, its community is slightly smaller than React Native, but it won’t be this way for long. Although it was released two years after React Native, it is already gaining great popularity and proving extremely useful in the app development community. Support is steadily growing for this, and we estimate that soon it will be on the same level as React Native in terms of community support.
Conclusion
As you probably can tell from this post, Flutter and React Native have a lot in common. They are both open-source frameworks that anyone can use and are both developed by world-leading companies. Where Flutter is easier to use thanks to its resistance to system updates, React Native depends on native elements so when updates are released, some problems may appear.
It’s important you assess what you need and want from your app development and make your choice accordingly. React native is a great tool for creating complicated cross-platform apps. If your project is expected to be large, you should opt for React Native as it has stronger support and extensive documentation. In addition, you can also reuse code for web apps.
Flutter is a great tool for iteration. If you’re creating an MVP in a short period of time, you should go for Flutter. Flutter is great thanks to its hot reload feature.
In conclusion, both have their advantages and disadvantages, and each should be carefully considered when it comes to building your app.
Need more help picking one of the two for your specific business needs? Or you have a project that requires Flutter or React development skills? Reach out to us today, we can help.
