Our project require building a web app and mobile app. The first question that came to our mind was “is it possible to write one code base and use it for android, iOS and web?” The answer to this question is yes. We can use a framework that is for cross-platform development. The two framework that catch our attention are Flutter and React Native.
Flutter vs. React Native – what to choose for our project?
Flutter is open-source cross-platform app development kit that uses dart and developed by Google.
Popular apps that made with Flutter:
- Xianyu app by Alibaba
- Hamilton app for Broadway Musical
- Google Ads app
- eBay Motors app
- Stadia: Google’s gaming platform
- Groupon
- Baidu Tieba: the largest Chinese communication platform hosted by Chinese search engine company Baidu.
- Philips Hue
Flutter – Pros
- Hot reload feature
- One codebase, 2 mobile platforms (iOS, Android), and web app.
- Flutter apps perform smoothly and fast
- Flutter has its own set of custom widgets
Flutter – Cons
- Size of the developer community
- Nice libraries and support but not as good as native development
- It’s open source, but Google can pull support for the project.
- App written in Flutter are bigger than native ones.
React Native is an open-source mobile application framework that uses JavaScript and developed by Facebook.
Popular apps that made with React Native?
- Skype
- Tesla
- Bloomberg
React Native – Pros
- Fast refresh
- One codebase, 2 mobile platforms (iOS, Android) and libraries that allows simultaneously create code on web app.
- It uses JavaScript, a popular language
- React Native release was more than five years ago.
- React Native has an active and vast developer community
- Easy to learn for React developers
React Native – Cons
- It’s UI experience and performance are not the same as native.
- Only has basic components out of box.
- Fragile UI
- App written in Reactive Native are bigger than native ones.
After research about pros and cons between Flutter and React Native, it’s still hard to decided which is the best. Our group decided to use Flutter because one of our group mates has taking mobile development class from OSU and one of our group mates is currently taking the same class.
Since the online CS 492 Mobile Development is taught in Flutter and Dart, with the resources we already have from the class, it makes sense for our group to use Flutter.
So, the winner is Flutter – Build apps with any screen!
