10 Things You Need to Know Before Starting Flutter (Which Make Flutter Stand Out from React Native)

Introduction

Flutter and React Native are popular frameworks for developing cross-platform mobile applications. While both allow you to create apps for iOS and Android with a single codebase, Flutter, developed by Google, has certain distinct features that set it apart from React Native, which is funded by Facebook. In this article, we'll look at 10 crucial things to know about Flutter before jumping in, specifically how these features distinguish Flutter from React Native.

1. Single Codebase for Multiple Platforms

Flutter is really cross-platform, allowing you to create code once and distribute it not only on iOS and Android but also on the web, desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux), and embedded platforms. In contrast, React Native is primarily designed for mobile apps, with extra frameworks required for web and desktop development.

2. Native Performance

Flutter apps are built directly to native ARM code with Dart's native compilers. There is no JavaScript bridge, which enables for smooth performance (like in React Native). Flutter's reliance on Dart enables it to connect directly with native components, providing near-native performance out of the box.

3. Dart as a Programming Language

One of the primary differences between Flutter and React Native is the programming language. Flutter is built on Dart, a Google-created object-oriented programming language. Dart's simplicity makes it perfect for mobile apps, and it's especially well-suited for UI design because of features like quick reload and tree-shaking. React Native, on the other hand, is based on JavaScript, which may require a more extensive learning curve when optimizing for mobile.

4. Hot Reload

Flutter's "hot reload" features allow developers to immediately see the effects of code changes without losing the app's state. Although React Native has a hot reload option, Flutter's approach is faster and more stable owing to direct rendering of UI components.

5. Rich Widget Library

Everything in Flutter is a widget, and the broad variety of customisable widgets makes it simple to construct modern, appealing user interfaces. You don't need to use third-party libraries for essential components because Flutter includes a complete widget tree for both Material Design (Google's design language) and Cupertino (iOS-style) widgets.

6. Customization and Flexibility

Flutter provides a greater ability for unique UI designs. Because everything is a widget, it is simple to design elaborate customized UIs with minimum performance impact. While React Native is highly flexible, it does have speed restrictions when dealing with complicated animations or customized views due to the necessity for native bridging.

7. Smooth Animations and UI

Flutter is skilled at creating stunning animations. Its Skia rendering engine ensures a continuous 60fps performance, even for complicated animations and transitions. Flutter's smooth animations, along with the ability to personalize every pixel, give it a considerable advantage over React Native, where custom animations can lag due to the JavaScript bridge.

8. Platform-Specific Integration

Flutter makes it simple to access platform-specific APIs via platform channels, allowing developers to create native functionality on both iOS and Android while retaining a unified codebase. Although React Native also allows native integration, Flutter's approach is widely regarded as more straightforward due to its lack of dependency on JavaScript bridges.

9. Strong Community and Google Backing

Flutter has an active, growing community and is supported by Google, so it receives constant updates and improvements. Google's push to integrate Flutter across all platforms ensures that the framework is ready for changing development trends in the future. React Native has a large community, but Facebook's support for cross-platform use cases is not as strong as Google's efforts with Flutter.

10. Learning Curve

If you're already familiar with object-oriented programming languages such as Java or C++, Dart will be natural, and learning Flutter will be simple. React Native, on the other hand, demands knowledge of JavaScript, and because JavaScript has numerous complexities (such as managing state and handling asynchronous operations), the learning curve might be steeper for beginners, especially when developing mobile apps.

Conclusion

Flutter is a strong framework that simplifies cross-platform development while still providing outstanding speed, thanks to its native compilation, vast widget library, and rapid hot reload capability. While React Native remains a strong challenger, particularly for people familiar with JavaScript, Flutter excels in terms of performance, customization, and adaptability. Knowing the fundamental differences will help you decide whether Flutter is the suitable framework for your next project.

This article gives a comparison and insight into Flutter's primary strengths, allowing you to understand why you ought to pick Flutter compared to React Native. Please let me know if you need any tweaks!