It is common for app development companies to get confused between Flutter and Kotlin. Both have their own advantages. But which should you choose for your next project? Both of these interfaces are comparatively modern that can be used for mobile app development. They are the best cross-platform services that are available. But each has the best features that help in the development of the best app that can work for multiple platforms.
Flutter has the best User Interface rendering options that are based on Skia. But, on the other hand, Kotlin uses a native environment for the development of the app. This ensures high scalability.
Due to this reason, they are used by mobile app development companies in their own best ways possible. The apps developed are hence highly scalable, great at feedback, and have the best user interfaces.
Let us now look at flutter and Kotlin app development in detail to understand how you can benefit from it. So, without further ado, let us get into it!
Understanding Flutter in Detail
Before getting into Flutter app development let us deep dive into what flutter is. Flutter is a framework that has been launched in the year 2017 that is used for designing user interface components.
It is absolutely free to use and has advanced documentation properties along with thousands of tutorials available online teaching you how to incorporate them during mobile app development. The primary target of Google was to meet the needs of developers. The main feature of flutter that makes it so powerful is its very own rendering system which is called Skia.
The essential requirement for flutter app development is Dart. This was also launched by Google in the year 2011. This is a statistical development tool that has predetermined features that are extremely helpful to develop complex applications.
The primary reason to incorporate dart is that it offers the solution to optimize the client’s language. This is the main reason that mobile app development companies prefer it as it makes the apps run fast on multiple platforms without crashing. This language is mostly useful for front-end requirements.
Flutter has two essential components that make it the top choice of app development companies. These two components are an SDK that helps to convert the code into a machine language that is native. Along with this, there are numerous user interface libraries that have a variety of widgets to choose from. Hence, the flutter app development is extremely useful and reliable. It has already been used by top app development companies in apps like Google Pay, Alibaba, and Google Ads. But, just like all other frameworks, this platform too has several advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of Using Flutter
After understanding the basics of flutter, let us discuss the various advantages of using flutter for mobile app development. The main advantage is that it allows app developers to design and test apps that can be complied with natively. The deployment process of this framework is also quite quick and hassle-free compared to others available in the market. It has numerous stem benefits that are highly compatible.
Easy to get hold of
It is a common tendency for app developers to give up on apps that have a very tough coding system. But, flutter is different. As long as app developers are comfortable with using Dart, flutter becomes extremely easy to incorporate within the code. Plus, flutter app development is extremely easy, reliable, and intuitive. This is because of the advanced UI libraries that have been provided by Google. Hence, flutter is one of the top choices of mobile app development companies.
Easy reloading
Another advantage of flutter is that it has an easy reload feature. Companies hire Flutter developers especially to test apps but because of these features, the changes made in code are easy to look at in real-time. This is made possible due to the dart that allows the developers to make changes easily and without a long waiting time. This saves a lot of time in the development and testing phase. Now, software engineers do not need to look back and wait over and over again to detect an error as it was before.
Reducing the market cost
Flutter reduces the cost of development. This is why flutter app development is best suited for businesses that are on a tight budget but want an exciting and captivating user interface. This is because flutter is based on the concept of native development. In this concept, the source code has a high processing rate and allows the app to run on multiple platforms seamlessly. But, sometimes using native components can slow the app down as it can increase the software’s weight. Hence, all the widgets and libraries being used need to be placed skillfully within the system.
Amazing performance rate
Another reason why flutter is preferred by app development companies is its high-performance rate. It has the tendency to display 60 frames per second. This ensures that the image being displayed on the screen of the front end appears smooth and even. Having highly pixelated images can degrade the quality of the website and decrease the customer satisfaction rate. Let us be practical: in this modern world, 1080p is a standard society has set. This is made possible by the algorithm which has been introduced that determines the complexity of the code and then uses the memory space of the system without affecting the performance of the app and using components.
Variety of User Interface Libraries
Mobile app development is a complex and time-consuming process. Imagine defining all the libraries that will add functionality to your code. This will make the process of app development just seem like a fever dream! This is why flutter app development offers premade widgets that can be used within the code easily. This is why the process of development becomes significantly easy for the app developers undertaking the project. The object model is the features that the premade widgets have and the libraries are hence lightweight and very adaptable.
Increases the portability
It is not always necessary that the device in which you wrote the code will remain constant throughout the project for testing and launching as well. Sometimes, you need to transfer the code for training and analysis purposes. But, in flutter app development the SDK has transformed the mobile-focused principle to platform oriented. This means that the code is now highly portable and hassle-free to transfer from one device to another. It supports all main platforms that are the backbone of development like Linux and windows.
Read Also | Flutter Vs React Native
Disadvantages of Using Flutter
We know that anything and everything has its own pros and cons. So is the case with flutter app development. There are various topics that have been discussed with the launch of every new variation of the development framework. The list below indicates the drawbacks of flutter. It is as follows:
UI additions that are dealt
As flutter involves a self-owned rendering system, the widgets that are cross-platform take a lot of time to load. The main reason for this is that the implementation of these widgets becomes local and slows down the entire process. This problem becomes a huge mess to tackle when an operating system launches a new update. In the worst cases, it can disrupt the entire code. This is where the app developers need to be extremely careful and take additional time to tackle each and every feature that is being used in the app.
Rewriting of Code
As mentioned earlier, the process of flutter app development may not take place on the entire device at the same time. Sometimes certain conditions may arise due to which you might need to migrate the entire app. In that case, this can result in the source code struggling with adaptability. If the new system has a preinstalled native environment it is alright. Otherwise, the mobile app development company might need to rewrite the entire application. This delays the deployment process and can result in the client turning away from the deal.
Imperfect Native Solutions
The native solutions that are provided within the app development area are not so perfect as well. As flutter is an intermediary option for app development it can complement the entire app development process. You might need to hire Flutter app developers in case the problems become too difficult to tackle by yourself.
These were a list of the pros and cons of flutter. In all, flutter can be an excellent choice for those people who are on a budget and wish to develop an amazing front-end that is highly reactive. Yes, no doubt there are some drawbacks to this platform but if used correctly the native environment can be a boon. After all, flutter app development is intuitive. This means that you can always adapt to the requirements of the clients. Plus, the high scalability that this platform makes has earned a good reputation that it has within the coding community.
Understanding Kotlin in Detail
Kotlin is an SDK development tool that was launched by JetBrains. It offers a development environment that is supported by multiple platforms. The first version of this development environment came out in the year 2016. But, it is still being developed rapidly to get better versions that are more functional and provide optimal results.
The SDK used in the Kotlin app development is also developed by JetBrains which is a statistical tying language that can be compiled on all sorts of native environment platforms or JS and Java virtual machine as the compiler. This is the main preference of mobile app development companies who work on the development of complex android apps.
Another major advantage of Kotlin is that the source code is very easy to share. This allows the users to combine with various app developers to come up with better solutions for the problem statement. It permits the development of cross-platform as well as multi-platform apps with the help of a variety of predefined libraries. The way to incorporate these libraries within the source code is extremely easy and it is highly preferred by app developers all around the world.
The code that needs to be implemented can be shared within multiple devices to be implemented by various native methods. This is one of the main reasons why Kotlin app development is so popular. It makes real-time onboarding of various developers easy and effective bringing forth ideas that are very beneficial for the companies. On the other hand, if this is to be approached individually, it can cause a loophole in the system that will delay the testing phase and if the testing phase is delayed it means that the entire deployment of the app is in danger.
Advantages of Using Kotlin
After understanding what Kotlin is let us look into the advantages of using it in your next project. This is why companies are hiring Kotlin developers daily to make the customer more assured of the products being delivered. The list is as follows:
Excess Customization
When it comes to developing apps, the first thing that any app development company looks into is how adaptable the entire platform is. In the case of Kotlin, you can make your app highly scalable through KMP. Apart from this, the framework allows the developers to combine different native methods within the code hassle-free. If the app works on both major platforms iOS and Android and the company wishes to add any feature on both in the newest update, then this can be done in Kotlin very easily and quickly.
Highly Cost-effective
We all know how important it is to stay on track with the budget that has been allotted for the project. Failing to do this can cause havoc which can result in its breakdown. But with Kotlin, you can save a lot on costs as it allows the merging of multiple native methods within your primary source code. If implemented correctly this can be a huge cost saver as you need not hire app developers for each and every specification of the software. The predefined libraries also help you to save the time of starting from scratch by defining every single method.
Migration can be performed easily
Sometimes a particular system can show an error that might result in the improper compilation of the code. Due to this, you might need to shift the entire code to a new system. This is the case of migration which can be a tedious task for app development companies. But with Kotlin you can share and transfer codes easily.
Read Also | Angular Vs React
Disadvantages of Using Kotlin
After getting a look into the advantages, it is time to look at the cons of Kotlin. The list of disadvantages is as follows:
Highly experimental
The platform is still in the phase of development. This means that there are rapid changes and updates that are to come in the near future. Due to the ongoing process of development, there are some issues that mobile app development companies might face during development such as the failure to provide certain functionality within the designs widget in the project. There are still various issues like the documentation and the defining of a structure that has not been properly addressed. These small issues that arise during the later phase of development can cause big trouble for the companies working with the client on a particular project. Hence, one needs to know the platform well.
Questionable architecture
In Kotlin app development, the architecture of the project is not well defined. This can lead to various problems like navigation within the code or failure to link the segments within the code. This lack of structure can cause major problems at the time of development. Also, in the testing phase, if there are certain logical errors that arise, it can be extremely difficult to track them down due to this improper structuring. Through it is experimental and can be tackled to a certain extent, there are always chances that it can cause problems in the later stage of the development of the product.
Defined documentation
The scope of documentation of projects is still very minimal. As the platform is still up for development, there are various changes that can still take place which might improve this situation. But till then there is no definitive solution to this problem.
Conclusion
Both Kotlin and flutter have their own advantages and disadvantages when looking from a development perspective but there might arise certain situations where mobile app development companies might prefer one over another. Flutter is the best when the apps being developed have no requirements for a specific platform-related code. Plus, the partiture of flutter is perfect and well defined so there might not be any navigation problems within the code for the app developer. It is well-suited for an application that has a high performance rate across various platforms. On the other hand, if a client requires a code that is for a specific platform like iOS or Android, then Kotlin is the best choice. It also allows easy migration of apps and the scalability offered by this app is high. In case there is heavy traffic on the site it will still work properly. In the end, the choice depends on the developers.
