Thanks to Flutter, cross-platform web and mobile apps might soon lose the reputation of being cheap but poor-quality web or mobile applications. Custom designs, native icons, functionality, speedy performance – Flutter framework can offer all of this. That means businesses can now both get an app with native-like design and functionality while also saving time and budget on developing separate apps for all native platforms.
To maximize Flutter’s potential though, you might need someone with experience in Flutter development. Here’s where Flutter app development services can come to your aid. When exactly should you reach out to them though, and what can you gain from partnering with them?
Why do Flutter app developers like the framework so much?
In December 2018, Google released its first version of Flutter at the Flutter Live event. Fast forward to 2021, and Flutter overtook React Native as the most popular cross-platform framework. However, this tremendous popularity shouldn’t be surprising considering how many stunning changes Flutter brought to cross-platform app development.
Thanks to the framework, Flutter app developers can:
- Build apps for both iOS and Android platforms but also use the framework for desktop or web development and even add Flutter to an existing app.
- Develop an app for multiple platforms simultaneously by using a single codebase
- Add native icons and functionality to their cross-platform app
- Design a customized and flexible UI/UX thanks to the widget library
- Automate some parts of the testing process to speed up the testing stage
Those benefits convinced many companies to use it for building their new apps – and as a result, the number of apps developed with Flutter is growing rapidly. In August 2020, there were around 90,000 apps made with Flutter. After Flutter 2 was released in March 2021, the number of Flutter-based apps grew to about 150,000.
In May 2022, meanwhile, there were already over 500,000 Flutter apps created.
Should you build the new app in-house or rather use Flutter app development services?
Decided to use Flutter for your newest development project as well? Next, you have to decide whether you want to build the app yourself or hire a third party. Technically, you could run the app development project only with your in-house team – however, there are a few problems you will come across here.
The biggest one might be finding Flutter developers that could work with your team full-time. Flutter uses Dart for its applications – a programming language invented by Google. Dart was released in 2013, but before Flutter, only a fraction of developers used the language. Now though, with the growing demand for cross-platform applications and the tremendous popularity of Flutter, the number of Dart developers is slowly growing as well.
In the 2019 Stack Overflow survey, only nearly 2% of surveyed developers said they are using Dart, with native development languages being far more popular (6% for both Kotlin and Swift). In 2022 though, 6% of developers said they were familiar with Dart.
As you can see, Dart is definitely gaining in popularity among developers. The number of developers who know how to use the language is still small enough though that finding and hiring someone to work for you in-house might take plenty of time. In addition, you’ve got to consider whether you can afford the recruitment process and having a Flutter developer on staff in the long term.
So considering the time and budget needed for hiring someone full-time, it might be a better option for you to work with development companies who have Flutter/Dart experts on staff.
When would it be beneficial to hire a Flutter app development company?
Whether you need a new mobile, website, or custom desktop software build, hiring an experienced software, web, or mobile app development company might save you both plenty of time and also lower your development costs in the long run.
But reaching out to a development company can be especially useful when you look for developers familiar with less popular languages or frameworks – like Dart.
What exactly can you gain from partnering with Flutter development companies, and when is it the right time to do so?
You don’t have anyone familiar with Dart/Flutter in your in-house team
As we mentioned above, the number of Dart developers available to hire is still pretty low. That’s especially noticeable when you compare Dart’s popularity to top programming languages like Java or even native languages for ios and Android app. Since the number of resources available for developers is still relatively low, learning Dart is unfortunately quite difficult – and that makes finding experienced developers to hire a challenge.
Here, your best option if you are looking to develop a Flutter-based app but no one in your company knows the language (or has time to learn it) is to hire a Flutter development company.
As they typically have several Flutter developers working for them, they will be able to quickly introduce you to one of them – saving you time on searching, interviewing, and hiring the developer yourself.
You need a Flutter developer for a one-time project
With how much time and, well, budget, it takes to hire a full-time developer, it’s basically now only worth it to go with the recruitment process only when you are sure you’ll have enough work for the developer later.
What if you need someone for only one project though? Then it’s a far better idea to ask a Flutter app development company for help.
Depending on what you need, you can either hire just one Flutter developer to fill a skill gap in your in-house team or build a full development team for the project. After listening to your needs, the development services company will then match the right developers with your project requirements and handle any paperwork needed.
Plus, you have the freedom to decide what to do after the project is finished. You can either take the ready app and leave or you can keep working with the Flutter developers on app maintenance and updates.
That’s undoubtedly much more convenient than having to spend weeks on the hiring process just to hire a developer for a few months, right?
You want to run the project in-house but with extra flexibility
Here’s an extra benefit of working together with a Flutter development agency – you can quickly add or remove team members as you need.
Let’s say you decided to run most of the app development project in your own company, only “borrowing” one Flutter developer from the agency. Your main team got stuck during one development stage though, and you need to hire an extra developer to put the project back on track. After you discuss the issue with the project manager, they can recommend who should you add to the team to solve the issue and then introduce you to the right people for the task.
That way, you don’t have to worry that your project progress will be stuck for several weeks or that you will have to abandon the project altogether – like it would happen if you ran the project entirely in-house.
You want to hire someone who knows the latest Flutter trends and features
Flutter keeps evolving with each new update – for example, Flutter 3 brought stable support for Linux and macOS. Google, as well as community developers, also keep creating and sharing new widget libraries – such as Scribble through which you can add support for Apple Pencil.
Knowing how to use those newest features takes skills and experience though. So if you want a partner who stays on top of Flutter updates and trends, then working with a Flutter development service might be the right option. Since they know what is trending in the industry right now, they can help you design an application that fits these trends. Plus, you can count on them having the latest tools and technologies to use during the development process – and knowing how to use them for best results.
Your main team doesn’t have enough time to design a Flutter app themselves
Flutter has a few features through which developers can speed up the development process – such as Hot reload and automated testing.
Still though, it might be difficult for your main team to both handle their routine work tasks and work on the Flutter development project at the same time. If you are worried that asking your developers to help with the project might impact their regular work duties, then it might also be a better idea to leave the project to external development teams.
That way, your in-house team will have time to focus on their main responsibilities (rather than trying to divide their time between routine tasks and project tasks) while the external team will be working on the app development.
An advantage of working with a development agency is also that their developers usually have completed several projects, so they know plenty of tricks and best practices for completing a given task faster. That way, they can actually deliver a fully-functional app to you much faster than an in-house team would.
You want to cut your Flutter project costs
The heading title might leave you in confusion considering what well-known development agencies charge. But there are a few things that often make outsourced development projects cheaper than they would be in-house:
- You don’t have to spend money on recruitment, onboarding, training, or monthly salary and benefits
- You don’t have to worry about overwhelming your in-house team with tasks and hurting their productivity (and the app’s quality) this way
- You can take advantage of the development agency’s cutting-edge tools and technology
- Experienced developers can give you some tips on reducing the project’s costs without compromising on quality
- Additionally, they can analyze your project for any (potentially costly) development issues and recommend how you can prevent those
What should you be very careful about is comparing the hourly prices or budget estimations for the project. There are several development companies online that offer attractively low prices for their services. However, if you take the offer you might quickly find yourself in trouble.
While working with them for a while, it might turn out that their experience is much lower than you expected and so the Flutter mobile app development project goes nowhere. As a result, you either get a very low-quality application or you have to postpone the project entirely until you find a new agency to work with.
Another risk might be that the developers’ hourly rate might indeed be low, but then you will have dozens of additional costs added to the project price. In the end, you might actually pay far more than you initially estimated.
So Instead of just comparing the developers or development services based on the hourly charges or quotes, it’s a much better idea to carefully analyze their experience and skills and then making the choice. You may have to pay more up front, but then you’ll have developers who know what they’re doing and can design your app exactly how you want.
You want to build an MVP first
While we are topic on saving budget: designing an MVP app before going with a full-fledged app is a fantastic way to gather feedback and figure out how to make your app successful. MVP applications can be built and released faster than full applications, and you can use those to test the audience’s reaction to your app.
In case you aren’t sure you will find enough users for your new Flutter app, then going with the MVP first is your best bet.
And today, many developers view Flutter as the best way to build an MVP application – for several reasons. For starters, Flutter, as a cross-platform framework, allows developers to write code once and then reuse it for multiple devices and platforms – for example, for developing Android and iOS apps simultaneously.
Thanks to ready-made widgets and the Hot reload feature meanwhile, developers can experiment with app design and functionality as they can immediately check how the app looks after adding new elements.
Hot reload also makes Flutter perfect for team collaboration – developers, testers, and designers can work together and immediately see any changes added to the code by other team members. This makes the entire development process faster and smoother.
So if you are looking to “test the waters” with your new app idea first, then using Flutter for MVP development might be the best option.
Conclusion
Flutter is clearly the future of cross-platform app development. Using it, businesses can build cross-platform apps that work and look just like native ones, but at a much lower cost. To ensure that your new app will be just like you imagined though, you should reach out to a reliable Flutter development partner.
If you already have a new flutter project in mind and you’re looking for experienced Flutter experts, we would be delighted to talk. We have designed over 30+ Flutter apps, so you rely on our experience and Flutter skills to turn your app idea into reality.
