Comparison of Flutter vs. Native for the iOS & Android Application Development

In the modern day, Mobile app development has evolved rapidly with advanced technologies as well as frameworks. Flutter and Swift are the most popular options for app development. These are equipped with massive features that are suitable for developing the app without any hassle. 

The mobile application development market has been attaining massive growth in the modern day. Choosing between Flutter and Swift is quite important for app development. It is convenient to hire a flutter developer for ensuring to develop apps that suit your needs and requirements.

What Is Flutter?

Flutter is normally a cross-platform and open-source app development framework. Google created this framework to build high-performance and native mobile apps for Android and iOS. These are also suitable options for other platforms as these involve single codebase attributes. 

Normally, Flutter uses Dart, which is the client-optimized language. These are combined with object-oriented programming to provide better functional programming. The Flutter framework involves a rich set of pre-built widgets. These tools are suitable options for simplifying app development.

Features:

• Open-source
• Rich widgets
• Hot reload
• Single codebase
• The lowest level of architecture
• Access to rendering surfaces
• Developers can write platform-specific code
• Google firebase support

Based on a recent report, Flutter is a leading mobile app development framework, with 3.55% of apps built on it. More than 8.33% of new apps installed are also built on this platform.

What Is Swift?

Swift is especially the open-source programming language known for its simplicity and ease of use. Apple Inc developed Swift which is an amazing version of Objective-C. These give extensive attributes on syntax, safety, readability, and more.

Swift is known for robustness and is an ideal option for a range of applications. These include system programming, mobile app development, large-scale cloud services, and more. 

Many businesses also started to hire cross platform developers to develop mobile apps suitable to their requirements. Swift framework is specially designed to keep features and safety in mind. These help to prevent runtime errors, catch errors during compiling, and many more.

Features:

• Powerful and intuitive programming languages
• Simple syntax
• Objective-C compatibility
• Open-source
• Powerful genetics
• Native API access
• Package manager

Swift is one of the best intuitive programming languages suitable for developing native iOS, macOS, and tvOS applications. It involves amazing syntax that is quite easier to read and learn. The framework provides an amazing level of performance with native API access.

Comparison Of Flutter And Swift:

As the market grows, iOS and Android application development also massively improves. Choosing the best framework between Flutter and Swift is a convenient option. 

These also suit the requirements and needs even without any hassle. Both frameworks are highly efficient as well as cater to all requirements of business owners. But there are also certain metrics that make them different from each other.

1. Cross-Platform Development:

Normally, Flutter is a suitable option for cross-platform app development. So the developers can easily create a single codebase that works on multiple platforms. It is convenient to develop apps on iOS, Android, and the web using Flutter. 

The hot reload feature in Flutter allows the developers to gain massive changes in real time. These also make the development process efficient and faster. Widgets and APIs of Flutter give a better look even across different platforms.

Swift is particularly designed for developing native iOS, tvOS applications, macOS, and watchOS apps. Swift is also suitably used for cross-platform development along the frameworks such as React Native. But these require more processing and time for creating the application for multiple platforms.

2. Performance Level:

Flutter and Swift have an efficient high level of performance. There are also some differences in the way of getting the result. Flutter uses the approach for rendering with “skia.” These are 2D graphics libraries for rendering hardware and software platforms. 

These are common libraries suitable for adding more speed. Flutter has the best native compilers, which are suitable for compiling the Dart code in the native codes. These make apps run faster, even without any hassle.

Swift uses Apple’s native APIs as well as frameworks. These are highly optimized for the macOS, watchOS, iOS, as well as tvOS platforms. The framework is also known for efficiency and speed. Swift allows developers to write well-optimized code. It will be suitable for running on Apple devices seamlessly.

3. Development Time And Cost:

Cross-platform development with Flutter is enabled with the hot reload feature. These would significantly reduce development time as well as costs. You can easily hire dedicated React native developers to write the codes and use them for varied platforms. 

These reduce the need for a separate team. The hot reload feature gives a better option for developers to see massive changes in real time. The development process is quite faster through this Flutter.

Swift is involved in native app development, so this requires more numbers of teams on each platform. Swift automatically requires more development time. More amount of cost is required for the complex apps as they require custom functionality and features.

4. Integration Of Features:

Swift and Flutter are suitable options for integration and development. Normally, Flutter involves many numbers of plugins as well as packages. These can be integrated into the apps. Flutter allows complete integration of 3rd party services such as Google Maps, Firebase, and more.

Swift involves the framework and APIs of the massive system. It is helpful for developing the best iOS apps. Swift is equipped with the Xcode IDE and gives more tools for iOS app development.

5. Development Speed:

Flutter provides a single codebase that is suitable for creating cross-platform apps. These significantly contribute to the development time. The hot reload feature in Flutter enables real-time changes on Codebase. 

It involves reducing the time taken to market. Flutter allows the developers to know about the time duration of its development. Flutter is slower in the development process compared to Swift.

Swift signifies a speedy app development framework. Many developers also use this technology to easily save more time for app development. Swift is also user-friendly and requires a lesser learning curve. 

These increase the speed of iOS application development as it involves the XCode command line. The process is suitable for calculating the time taken for Swift Native iOS application developments. More than 76% of app developers are skilled in Swift.

6. Application Size:

Flutter involves compact runtime, which helps in building small and fast mobile apps. These only require limited expenses, and there are wide tools available. These are suitable options for code spitting, tree sharing, and many more. It reduces the need for more application sizes. You can conveniently hire a flutter developer to develop mobile apps quickly.

Swift is the native iOS framework which is quite a suitable option for building the best iOS apps. Swift has a unique compiler that helps to optimize performance as well as reduce the size of the application. Swift offers a range of optimization options like link-time optimization, whole-module, and more.

Conclusion:

Both Flutter and Swift have their own strengths as well as weaknesses. Normally, flutter is the best option for cross-platform app development, and Swift is suitable for developing native apps for iOS, macOS, and more. The choice between Flutter vs. Swift framework depends on the app development budget and needs.