New or Old, Android or Apple, one of the things on which we are dependent are mobile applications. Mobile applications are computer programs that are designed in such a way that they work on tablets, mobiles, or watch. We are very dependent on these mobile applications and nowadays life without mobile and the internet feels incomplete.
During these trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are made to isolate ourselves at home.
The one thing that is keeping us entertained is our mobile phone or any computing device for that matter.
Mobile applications have become one of the best companions in this pandemic.
These applications which make our lives stress-free (somewhat) are to be designed and developed.
Before developing an application, one needs to select technology to be employed. One can select a native or cross-platform application to develop their application. We will see each one of these two in detail.
Native Mobile Development Technologies:
The name native is very self-explanatory for this. Native mobile development implies creating apps suited for particular mobile operating systems. For example, if someone wants to build an application for iOS, they will need to learn and code in Swift or Objective-C. Similarly, for android applications, Java or Kotlin is required. Android and iOS are the most popular operating systems in today’s time.
The development framework used by the android developers is mostly Android Studio. It is open-source software, has excellent debugging support, and the developer community is quite active. On the iOS side, XCode is the same as Android Studio. It supports various programming languages, the interface is easy to use, and the documentation support is quite nice.
Cross-Platform Mobile Development Technologies:
Cross-platform technologies come from third-party vendors and they use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) which are based on the native system’s software development kit (SDKs). In this way, developers can write one code for more than one operating system. This saves time and the cost of the developer.
One of the most popular Cross-platform Application frameworks is Flutter. It is an open-source UI software development kit designed by Google. Using Flutter one can develop a cross-platform application for Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows, and Web from a single codebase.
The applications are written in Dart language. The main focus of the language is on the front-end development that can be used to create new mobile/web applications. This language has one of the most advanced features which are used by developers to develop their applications. If you are familiar with the programming jargon, Dart is a typed object programming language.
Flutter contains two important parts:
- An SDK (Software development kit): It is a collection of resources that will help in the development of the application. It includes the tools necessary to compile your code into the native code (code for android and iOS).
- A Framework: It is a vast collection of UI elements (inputs, buttons, drop-down columns, sliders, etc.) that anybody can personalize according to their requirements.
Advantages of using Flutter
- Easy to learn and use: Flutter is a very recent and robust framework. You can use Flutter without having to code rigorously. The development part is very simple, native applications can be created hassle-free.
- Quick Compilation: The compilation time is minimum in flutter. Flutter requires a very short amount of time when you update the application code. The results of the same can be seen in real-time. This process is called Hot-Reload.
- Proper Documentation: For any programming language there has to be proper documentation to learn and understand it. Flutter provides proper documentation which contains easy examples, basic use cases, etc.
- Community Support: Flutter commands great support from its community and it is growing by the day. You can search for queries, ask questions, and interact with the people in the community.
Talking about Flutter UI, it is a collection of coded UI (User Interface) and other resources. These pre-coded kits help the developers in creating the applications quicker. The UI kits are especially helpful for those developers who don’t have designers in their team. The UI kits can be selected on the basis of the project and they are available in paid and free form. Some of the best Flutter UI kits/templates are:
Fluxstore:
It is an E-commerce app on Flutter and it can be used with Magento, Opencart & Woocommerce. It becomes very easy and efficient for developers to develop the final application using Fluxstore. It contains 20+ home screen layouts, 5 category layouts, and 9 language support. The price for this kit is around $59 with full e-commerce features.
Prokit – Flutter Application UI Kit.
Since the onset of the pandemic, we are spending much of our time on laptops, mobile devices, tablets, etc. So, we are surrounded by applications. This kit has 300+ beautiful screens, several themes, 6 full applications, and 18 integrations. It costs around $50-60. The performance of the application is phenomenal and the kit contains very rich designs for android and iOS.
FluxNews:
It is a Flutter mobile application for WordPress. WordPress has become one of the most popular, powerful, and customizable platforms for web development. Fluxnews contains 50+ reusable flutter widgets which are compatible with any WordPress site. It supports Google Analytics, multiple languages, and various other features. The price for the same is around $60-70.
Flutter UI Nice:
It is one among many kits which are free. It contains various design options with a lot of components and updates are flowing in on a regular basis. This particular kit is maintained by various GitHub contributors and it is one of the popular UI kits on GitHub with 2.4k stars.
Flutter UI kit by iampawan:
The kit is used in e-commerce and is optimized for it. It contains 2 dashboards which are beautiful in design and efficient in performance. It has an integrated payment UI and Login UI which makes things easier for developers.
Conclusion:
The development of an application has come a long way since its inception. Regardless of the type of application you want to build, there are various technologies available for development. You have to critically evaluate your options and choose wisely. Cross-platform and native development both are available at your disposal. Flutter UI kit will save a lot of your time and build the application quickly. Flutter has great documentation and the community is active and helpful.