In May 2021 Google announced the release of Flutter 2.2.
With 200,000 (or 12.5%) Google Play apps already built using Flutter and a 47% year-over-year increase of Flutter developers this cross-platform mobile development kit has now become the most popular and mainstream tool for app making.
Even if Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, and Adobe are adding Flutter support to their tools and devices, we recommend reading this article to make a weighted choice about using Flutter 2.2 for your project.
In this post written by our cross-platform app development company experts, we will focus on what's new in Flutter 2.2 and then evaluate it in terms of business effectiveness.
What's New in Flutter 2.2: Key Features
Top Advantage: Default Null Safety
This feature was announced back in June 2020, but starting with Flutter 2 and Dart 2.12 all new projects have null safety enabled by default.
Null safety is an approach that helps Android/iOS cross platform development engineers avoid a whole class of unexpected 'null errors' during runtime. Instead, it will make sure that no variable is null in your code on its launch (unless you allow the variable to be null) and instead will report errors statically during the coding process.
The outcome? Up to 19% improvement in the app performance, as well as faster compilation and development time and easier code maintenance.
Key Takeaways
Flutter 2.2 brings almost 2,5 thousand improvements. Since our goal is to estimate its effectiveness and appeal for businesses in the need of hybrid app development services, we decided to come up with a list of key takeaways that will help you grasp the idea behind this update:
- Flutter has become much more appealing for iOS developers who previously had a lot of hesitation due to the Flutter apps for iOS being too poor in case of UX and animations. This is changed now, and not only due to precompiled shaders, but also because of upgraded Flutter DevTools that come with memory tracking improvements
- When making Flutter, Google has always been very attentive to the community using this tool, and Flutter 2.2 brings ~2500 improvements suggested or expected by the community developers. The major point of doubt you can often find on the Internet is that Google is famous for dropping support for its products and services. With Flutter, that is obviously not the case for the next few years.
- Dart 2.13 now comes as a server-less framework and a Docker image. That means Dart can be used for backend programming as well. Having the same language used for front-end and back-end code of your product means a lot in terms of team communication and velocity.
Is Flutter 2.2 Good Enough For Switching?
Flutter is a very appealing option when it comes to selecting the cross-platform framework for mobile app development. And the new update makes it even more interesting and developer-oriented since it addresses thousands of requests and issues submitted by the community, as well as allows code reuse for such platforms as Microsoft Windows, Embedded Linux, and even Tizen.
Yes, there are still lots of things to do. For instance, Android 12 is expected to be released in autumn 2021, and Material You components are still under development in Flutter 2.2. And numerous iOS-specific features are on the roadmap as well.
The most important thing about Flutter 2.2 is that it not just helps build apps faster or in a more comfortable way. It helps build apps that work faster.
Some web and mobile application development company experts still aren't happy with the size of the apps built with Flutter, which can be critical if you have a tiny project. But those disadvantages are minor at most.
Bottom line: Should You Choose Flutter?
When it comes to selecting the best tool for your project, other major factors are always counted in, such as:
– the expertise of your development team
– your deadlines and budget
– and development pace
Usually, those three factors play a bigger role in tool selection than specific advantages or features. For instance, there is no reason to compare Dart against JavaScript if your seasoned mobile app development team knows JavaScript only. Still, if you want to dive deeper into the differences between different mobile app development tools, check out our next posts:
Flutter vs Xamarin vs React Native: What's Best in 2021?
Flutter vs React Native: Comparison for Tech Managers
Flutter vs React Native vs Xamarin in 2021: Pros, Cons, Examples
And if you decide to go for Flutter, then selecting the latest version of it will definitely help you build your project faster.
