Diving into mobile development can be a dilemma: should you bet on a well-established framework like Flutter or explore emerging alternatives? If you had to choose just one to master in 2024, which would you prioritize and why? Single shared codebase or cross-platform native flexibility? Experiences or technical arguments?
Is it worth learning Flutter today?
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To be honest, a few months ago I was at the same crossroads and I dove headfirst into Flutter. Honestly, I don’t regret it at all. I’ve been working on real projects for almost a year now, and what surprises me the most is how quickly you go from zero to something functional. Before, I’d rack my brain over Java/Kotlin for Android and Swift for iOS, basically splitting the code into two separate worlds, but with Flutter, in just three months I already had an app running on both platforms without breaking a sweat.
The key is what you mentioned: a single codebase. In my case, I built an MVP for a startup in two months—something that would’ve been impossible with native approaches. Hot reload during development is pure gold, and even though you might run into some wonky widgets at first until you get the hang of it, once you master the widget tree, everything flows smoothly. That said, if your app needs a ton of native code or very platform-specific features, that’s a different story, but for 80% of the cases you see out there, Flutter is more than enough.
Alternatives? Sure, React Native works, but it gave me more headaches with dependencies and compatibility, and KMM is still a project with a lot of potential but lacks maturity. In the end, with Flutter you get a massive ecosystem, an active community, and real job opportunities, so if you have to pick just one today... I wouldn’t hesitate.
Well, look, I'm still in the "does this programming thing suit me?" phase 😅, but if I'm forced to choose, I'd say Flutter because of how *cool* it is to have a single code for iOS and Android... although then I spend hours struggling with a widget that just won't align properly 😂 Does anyone else feel me?
Thank you so much for the question, I'm really interested in this topic. Does Flutter not work equally well for both iOS and Android, or is that just my perception?
At the beginning of 2023, I needed to create a cross-platform UI for my smart home project. I tested both Flutter and React Native, but Flutter caught my attention more because its widget-based architecture made it easy for me to build custom user interfaces for my smart devices. I noticed that after just three months of learning, I launched my first app that supported both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi IoT protocols.
Flutter's hot reload feature sped up my development significantly, allowing me to test changes quickly without reloading the entire app repeatedly. Additionally, its rich package ecosystem provided me with plugins that could directly connect to my IoT device hardware. If you're looking to master a framework, Flutter will be one of your best options in 2024—especially if you want cross-platform and fast development.