Flutter vs React Native: Which is a Better Choice For Hybrid App Development

As hybrid mobile app development trends continue to grow, one of the most frequently debated topics is that of React Native vs Flutter. Which platform is better? Which one will give you more control over the end product and feel like an app instead of a mobile site? Is React Native or Flutter better for which type of project? It’s tough to answer all those questions in just one article, but here are some answers to help get you started.

Both Flutter and React Native allow developers to build hybrid apps, which means they run natively on the device as well as on the web browser via an app shell. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses, and they both have a big role in Google’s vision of cross-platform mobile development. So, which one should you use? Let’s take a look at the two options side by side and see how they stack up against each other.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a mobile app development framework created by Google, who also developed the Android platform. Flutter uses the Dart programming language, which is an object-oriented programming language designed to be easy to use. The framework can also be used to create an app that runs on both iOS and Android.

It has been described as being faster than other frameworks like Xamarin because it uses less processing power. Flutter also offers live reload which means that you will never have to manually update your app for minor changes again because your phone will automatically update your code for you so that you can see what it would look like in real time on your phone.

Pros of Using Flutter for Hybrid App Development

Open-source project: As a company, you don’t need to worry about whether the technology will be around in the future. The code is open-sourced so developers can make changes as they see fit.
Low memory consumption: Native apps require more memory than their web counterparts. If you have an app that requires high amounts of memory, you may find it difficult to operate on your device’s native OS. With Flutter, this is not an issue because it does not consume much memory at all.
Language-agnostic interface: A key feature of Flutter is its language agnostic interface. While other frameworks may force you to use Swift or Kotlin, Flutter allows you to use whichever language is most comfortable for you and best suited for your needs.
Easier distribution channels: iOS makes distributing mobile applications a challenge because it only allows applications distributed through the Apple Store (even if they’re free). Google Play offers better distribution options by allowing users to share Android applications through SMS, email, social media, or third party stores such as Amazon’s Fire devices or Samsung’s Galaxy devices.
No need for two teams: One thing to note is that Flutter doesn’t require two teams; instead one team can handle both frontend and backend work. This means there’s less overhead and less complexity when it comes to testing!
No fragmentation: Since Flutter renders as a webview, there are no concerns about fragmentation issues! No worries about making sure your app will run on various different phone models since the framework doesn’t depend on the underlying system architecture.
Future proof framework: Developers often fear upgrading from one version of Android to another, fearing their application won’t work anymore or might even crash unexpectedly. By rendering as a webview, Flutter eliminates these fears entirely!

Cons of Using Flutter for Hybrid App Development

It’s still a new technology, which means you may face more bugs and issues than you would with other tools for building hybrid apps.
Cross-platform development isn’t always ideal, especially if you’re trying to reach out to users from a specific platform or operating system that might use more advanced features or options.
Some app store owners might not view Flutter-based hybrid apps as true native apps, so they may turn them down or be less likely to promote them in their stores.
It can be harder to understand than some other development frameworks when using hybrid app development, which means your developers will need extra time to fully grasp how it works so they can deliver results effectively without too many mistakes along the way.
There’s no way to debug what is going on in the background like there is with Android Studio or Xcode for iOS development.
If you have different versions of an app running on different platforms, then you’ll have to maintain them separately, which is just one more thing that can go wrong when developing a hybrid app instead of sticking to pure native apps (you also might have some challenges getting all these versions approved by various platforms).
Some people who are used to developing pure native apps may find it hard to shift gears and try something new, such as switching over from Android Studio or Xcode to Flutter-based hybrid app development (these folks might take longer and require more oversight than others).
It has only been around for about two years now, so it’s hard to predict its long-term viability since this largely depends on whether Google continues investing heavily in this technology and improving upon it frequently.
Learning the ropes of Flutter and getting a firm handle on the framework might take awhile before it starts feeling natural, whereas other approaches like React Native feel much simpler because they rely on JavaScript code (which most programmers know very well).
The learning curve is higher because there are many concepts that may be new to programmers coming into this field for the first time – even those who have developed native apps before may need some retraining before diving into hybrid app development.

What is React Native?

React Native is a framework for building mobile apps using JavaScript. It uses the same fundamental UI building blocks as regular iOS and Android apps, but the code is just JavaScript which can run on both platforms. That means you get cross-platform development in a single codebase. That also means that if you want to use something like Ionic, you’ll need to learn some new languages like TypeScript or JSX to make it work with your app.

Pros of Using React Native for Hybrid App Development

Provides a great deal of freedom when developing the user interface.
Since it is written in JavaScript, the syntax is familiar to developers who have worked with other JS frameworks such as Angular.js or Backbone.js.
Easier to develop responsive designs that scale from mobile screens to tablet screens and beyond.
Easier to work with mobile web apps, as you can use HTML tags such as divs and spans inside your JavaScript code to create the interface elements for your mobile app. You can then take advantage of all the HTML5 features that make it easy to do animations, transitions, etc., on mobile devices without having any native code.
Able to share code between iOS and Android, meaning that less time is spent rewriting the same lines of code over again.
Programmers enjoy being able to iterate quickly with minimal changes made per iteration.
Less time spent dealing with memory management which leads to improved performance.
Easy integration with third party libraries such as Google Maps and Facebook SDKs makes it easier than ever before to incorporate popular social media networks into your app’s design .

Cons of Using React Native for Hybrid App Development

Lack of features compared to a fully native application.
There is no access to some APIs that a fully native application would have, like the camera or GPS.
You can’t design UI elements with React Native’s tools.
It might be difficult to find developers that know how to build apps with React Native. – Your team will need more expertise in both Android and iOS in order to work on an Android/iOS only project.
There are fewer libraries available for React Native than there are for other platforms. – Developers may not always be up-to-date with the latest updates from Apple and Google.
WebViews render inconsistently across devices, which makes it hard to develop interactive web content without knowing what device you’re targeting.
No access to hardware such as Bluetooth, accelerometer and camera hardware.
Lack of support for Apple Watch; however, this may change in the future.

Which is more Secure: Flutter or React Native?

Flutter is considered more secure because it is compiled ahead of time. This means that the code is checked by the compiler before it’s actually sent to the device, making it possible to detect errors earlier in the process. On the other hand, React Native can give you smoother animations with less work since changes only need to be applied on the spot instead of recompiling from scratch. It’s up to you which framework would suit your needs best!

Which is more Scalable: Flutter or React Native?

It is hard to say which is more scalable, but Flutter has the potential to scale more than React Native. For one thing, Flutter apps are compiled down to native code for iOS and Android, so it doesn’t need an OS-specific runtime. And whereas React Native uses JavaScriptCore which is built into the iOS or Android runtime environment, Flutter can use LLVM (Low Level Virtual Machine) as its compiler backend.

This makes it easier and faster to compile because you don’t need to run the code through another layer of software before compiling it. In addition, while they both have their advantages, Flutter gives developers more control over the UI when compared with React Native.

Which is easy to learn: Flutter vs React Native?

This is one of the most common questions that developers have when deciding which framework to go with. In order to answer this question, you need to evaluate the pros and cons of each framework based on your specific needs. For example, if you are looking for something that is easy to learn, then Flutter is a good option because it has fewer concepts than React Native and it has less boilerplate code.

On the other hand, if you are looking for something that can deliver high performance apps, then React Native might be a better option because of its ability to use JavaScriptCore as well as create native modules with C++. Overall, both frameworks offer some great benefits but it ultimately depends on what your goals are in terms of what will work best for you.

Which is cost effective: Flutter vs React Native?

The main difference between Flutter and React Native is that Flutter is less opinionated than React Native. This means you have more flexibility to choose your own programming language, UI framework, and third-party libraries. As such, it’s often easier to work with Flutter if you’re looking for cost effective options. Flutter’s architecture also allows it to run on Android devices and iPhones alike – which is not the case with React Native.

When should you use Flutter vs React Native?

You should hire Flutter developers in India when:

You have some existing code in Java or Objective-C that you need to share with your project.
You want to prototype a product quickly and then iterate on it in the future.
Your team has an experienced engineer who can support both teams (web and mobile) while they grow.

When should hire React Native developers in India when:

You are starting from scratch.
Your team has strong web developers but needs more engineers with mobile experience.
The majority of your company’s users access their products via mobile devices.

Conclusion

Both frameworks allow you to write JavaScript, which makes learning one language much easier than learning two different languages. However, we found that there were more resources available for people looking to learn React Native than those looking into Flutter. Additionally, because of the relatively new nature of Flutter, it has fewer plug-ins and libraries available. Finally, if the project isn’t going to be cross-platform (e.g., iOS and Android), then React Native is probably the better option as it can only target Android apps with Flutter at this point in time.

Blog Post