What Does Flutter 2 Offer for Mobile App Development

In 2017, when Google released Flutter, it was nothing short of a revolution in the mobile app development industry. During that time, cross-platform app development was rising in popularity, and Flutter emerged as a powerful competitor to the existing mobile app development platforms. Its robust rendering engine, a new and easy programming language- Dart, reduced app development time -- Flutter won the spotlight, credits to its brilliant features.

But it wasn't a journey of ups alone for Flutter. Several challenges existed that caused certain glitches and somewhat prevented Flutter from being the go-to choice for every app developer. Now, if we know anything about Google, it is their ability to constantly improve and excel in their offerings. And thus, Flutter 2 made its entry into the world in March 2021 through an online event, Flutter Engage!

An Overview of Flutter 2

While Flutter could more or less be positioned as a mobile framework, Flutter 2 is more comprehensive. A better way to define Flutter 2 would be as a portable framework that makes cross-platform development easier than ever before. Why is it so? Because with a single codebase, developers can now support six different platforms- Android, iOS, Web, Windows, macOS, and Linux! The host of opportunities that this feature brings is truly incredible.

Flutter 2 is focused on delivering a complete web experience. And to achieve this, it targets all the popular browsers- Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox. This is a considerable improvement from the initial version of Flutter as in it, the web support for a part of beta release. So, the same codebase couldn't be used for mobile and web. However, with Flutter 2 and stable web support, developers can use the same codebase and develop production-ready web apps.

And that's not all! Flutter 2 comes equipped with features that enable them to be embedded with cars, TVs, and smart home appliances! It was announced in the Flutter Engage event that the automobile giant Toyota plans to build infotainment systems in their vehicles using Flutter. This next-gen vehicle infotainment powered by Flutter 2 will truly be a revolutionary step in the in-vehicle systems!

What all of this reveals is the intention of the creators of Flutter 2 to focus more on user experience rather than on platforms. Development using Flutter 2 will compel the developers to start building apps with the user experience in mind first and the platform technicalities next. Flutter 2 is all about beautiful experiences, amazing productivity, and a holistic ecosystem.

New Features in Flutter 2

Flutter 2 seems to be exciting, right? It is indeed a release loaded with new features that seem to ensure that all the limitations in the previous version are overcome, and that too amazingly well! So, let us dive in and explore the new features in Flutter 2 in more detail.

Flutter for Web

As already mentioned above, in Flutter 2, the web support has shifted from the beta channel to the stable channel. What this means is a tremendous benefit for code reusability. Now when developing for a Flutter mobile app, the web can also be supported- so developers can enjoy a wider reach with the same codebase!

With Flutter's web support, developers can execute progressive web app development, single page app development, and migration of existing mobile applications to the web. Specific features embedded by Flutter 2 to make the best out of web platforms are

• Text formatting support with canvas-based text measurement

• Link widget for embedding links

• Text widgets for simplifying text selection, copy, and paste

Flutter mobile apps are recognized for their powerful state management. Flutter web apps also enjoy the same performance now with the help of two rendering techniques- HTML rendered and CanvasKit renderer.

Dart Language Changes

Dart language is one of the strong points of Flutter, and its latest version Dart 2.12, comes with the outstanding feature of providing sound null safety. In simple terms, what this means is developers can now avoid null error crashes. So, it reduces the chances of run-time errors and also brings compiler optimizations.

This was one of the much needed changes required for efficient flutter app development. It empowers developers to write safer codes and execute them faster. Reduced errors and fewer bug crashes- doesn't that sound like every developers' dream? Well, Flutter 2 is making it come true!

Flutter for Desktop

With the new release, Flutter desktop support is quite stable and usable. There are tremendous improvements in performance and stability. The changes introduced in Flutter 2 to provide better support to bigger devices (other than mobiles) seem to be quite useful for desktop applications development using Flutter. To make the desktop experience smoother and more native, Flutter has introduced features like

• Scrollbars that support desktop

• Right click menus

• Command line argument support

• Pointing devices drag support

Although currently, desktop support is included in the Flutter 2 beta release, a stable release of desktop support is expected this year.

SDK Upgrade

Google has upgraded the Flutter SDK to integrate Google Mobile Ads, which is now available as a beta version with Flutter 2. The previously used plugin for integrating Google Ads, firebase_admob package, is now deprecated, and google_mobile_ads is now recommended for usage. From the perspective of mobile app monetization, this is indeed an upgrade worth much acclamation.

A broad range of ad formats is supported by Google Mobile Ads. These include overlay banners, inline banners, interstitial ads, native ads, and rewarded video ads.

Top Benefits of Flutter 2

Although the initial version of Flutter was released only in 2017, it was quick to gain popularity among developers owing to its amazing benefits. Today, there are more than 150,000 Flutter apps on the Play Store alone. And as Flutter 2 has released, Google has offered a free upgrade with Flutter 2 for each of these apps so that they can now support web and desktop with the same codebase!

If you are still not convinced about the exceptional offerings of Flutter 2, we will list out some benefits that will help you decide once and for all why Flutter should make your heart flutter.

• Whatever platforms you target, you can now reuse the same business logic and UI. Currently, no other application frameworks allow the reuse of UI code as well as UI. They allow the reuse of code between different platforms, but Flutter 2 offers more!

• Flutter's hot reload feature was one that garnered much appreciation from developers. The role it has played in decreasing the time to code development is truly significant. The hot reload features in Flutter 2 allows developers to see recent changes without changing the app state.

• Flutter 2 is compatible with five operating systems, provides excellent support for the web, and has amazing things in store for desktop- all of this means excellent improvement in the time to market! Developers can save several person-hours, and businesses can enjoy reduced development costs!

• When it comes to user experience, hybrid app development has not always been able to surpass native apps. With FLutter 2 and its amazing libraries and plugins, this is expected to change. An improved user experience for hybrid apps is on the horizon!

Developers worldwide are using FLutter and enjoying its amazing features. Its creator, Google, is using Flutter to showcase to the world its many capabilities. Recently Google shifted Google Pay to Flutter and have been able to achieve increased productivity and quality. And they are already shipping their other products like Google One, Google Nest Hub, and Stadia. With the release of Flutter 2, the Flutter ecosystem is growing and ready for a broader adoption!

Natalia Jane is a freelance app developer in India. She loves to read a lot. She is really passionate about her coding skills.