On May 12, Flutter 3.0 was officially released. In February of this year, Flutter brought support for Windows. The current latest Flutter 3.0 provides support for macOS and Linux desktop applications, improved Firebase integration, new productivity and performance improvements, and added Apple Silicon support. Up to now, Flutter has finally achieved stable support for the six platforms of iOS, Android, Web, Windows, macOS, and Linux, and completed its cross-platform vision.
Flutter that subverts the way developers develop
Flutter was born to revolutionize the way applications are developed: combining the web’s iterative development model with hardware-accelerated graphics rendering and pixel-level control that used to be patented for games, now it’s used for Application development companies. Since the release of Flutter 1.0 beta, Google has continuously optimized it, making Flutter’s functions more and more perfect, such as adding new framework functions and widgets, deeper integration with the underlying platform, and providing a rich package library., and many improvements have been made in performance and tools.
From version 1.0 to version 3.0, Flutter is used by more and more developers to build applications. According to Google’s latest user research report:
- 91% of developers believe that Flutter reduces the time it takes to build and publish applications;
- 85% of developers think Flutter makes their apps more beautiful;
- 85% agree that Flutter enables them to publish their apps on more platforms.
Achieving “unification”, a Flutter, spanning six platforms of iOS, Android, Web, Windows, macOS, and Linux
Flutter 3.0 provides a way for developers to write applications for the six major consumer-facing platforms (iOS, Android, Web, Windows, macOS, Linux) using the Dart programming language. Based on Flutter 3, developers can have the experience of building applications for six platforms from a single code base, which will greatly increase their productivity.
Unlike previous versions, Flutter 3 adds stable support for macOS and Linux applications. Adding support for a new platform is not as simple as we thought, it requires more than just rendering pixels, there is a lot of other work to do, such as new input and interaction models, compilation and generation support, accessibility and internationalization and platform-specific integrations, etc. Flutter not only gives users the flexibility to take full advantage of the underlying operating system, but also to share as much UI as needed.
Specifically, on macOS, Flutter3 can support Intel and Apple Silicon through a universal binary build, allowing applications to package executable files that run natively on both architectures. At the same time, the compilation speed will also be faster due to Dart’s support for Apple Silicon. On Linux, Canonical and Google have partnered to provide a highly integrated and best-in-class development option.
In addition, Flutter 3 improves many fundamental features, including performance improvements, Material You support, and productivity updates.
In addition to the things mentioned above, in the new version, Flutter can be developed natively on Apple chips. While Flutter has been compatible with Apple devices with M1 chips since its release, Flutter now takes full advantage of Dart’s support for Apple chips, enabling faster compilation on M1-powered devices and supporting universal binaries for macOS applications.
Additionally, with Google’s Material Design 3 largely complete in this release of Flutter 3, developers can take advantage of an adaptable, cross-platform design system that offers dynamic color schemes and updated visual components:
Dart, a highly effective, portable language for multi-platform programming, powers Flutter. Google has added some new language features to Dart. The benefits of these new language features are numerous, such as reduced templates, improved readability, experimental RISC-V support, an upgraded linter, and new documentation.
Firebase and Flutter Deep Integration
Of course, it’s not just UI frameworks that build apps. A comprehensive set of tools is also essential in building, developing and operating applications, such as services such as authentication, data storage, cloud functions and device testing. And many services, including Sentry, AppWrite, and AWS Amplify, support Flutter.
Firebase, an app service provided by Google, has a high usage rate. In SlashData’s developer benchmark test, 62% of Flutter developers said they would use Firebase when developing applications. So, in previous releases, Google has been working on better integrating Flutter with Firebase to create a best-in-class Flutter integration. To this end, Google has brought the Firebase plugin in Flutter to 1.0 (for adding better documentation and tooling), as well as providing new widgets like FlutterFire UI (providing developers with a reusable UI for authentication and configuration) file screen).
Today, Google announced the integration of Flutter app development and Firebase as the core of the Firebase product, moving source code and documentation to the Firebase main repository and site, and Google has the potential to evolve Firebase support for Flutter in parallel with Android and iOS.
In addition, in order to use Crashlytics (Firebase’s popular real-time crash reporting resolution service) Google has made the following major improvements.
- By updating the Flutter Crashlytics plugin, which allows users to track fatal errors in real-time, providing users with the same feature set as other iOS or Android developers;
- Upgraded Crashlytics analytics pipeline to improve clustering analysis of Flutter crashes for faster issue triage, prioritization, and fixes;
- The plugin setup process has been simplified, so Crashlytics can be up and running from the user’s Dart code in just a few steps.
Flutter Casual Game Kit
For most developers, Flutter is just an application framework. However, there is also a world of Flutter in the field of casual game development. The community around casual game development is also growing, with many developers taking advantage of the hardware-accelerated graphics support provided by Flutter and open-source game engines such as Flame.
In order to make it easier for casual game developers to get started, at today’s I/O conference, Google announced the release of the Flutter Casual Games Toolkit, which not only provides a starter kit with templates and best practices, but also brings advertising and good experience with cloud services.
Although Flutter was not born for high-intensity 3D action games, it is common to have spans, and even some games turn to Flutter’s non-game UI, such as popular games like PUBG Mobile with hundreds of millions of users. So how far can Google develop the technology? To get an answer to this question, Google created a fun game of pinball (powered by Firebase and Flutter’s web support).
A custom table with four mascots (Dash for Flutter, Sparky for Firebase, Robot for Android, and Dinosaur for Chrome) was designed in I/O Pinball. It’s interesting that Google is showing Flutter’s versatility in such a way that players can play against others in the game.
Snarh believes that game development and enterprise development have the same pursuit of performance and user experience, and the Flutter team has been working hard to solve problems such as interface lag, and finally make the framework more suitable for various types of applications.
“One code, run everywhere”, starting with Flutter 3
As an open-source tool, Flutter is not only a framework of Google, but also a product that can be used by developers in the industry. Whether it’s by contributing new code or documentation, creating packages that give new superpowers to the core framework, writing books and training courses to guide others, or helping organize events and user groups, everyone can get involved. The release of Flutter 3 has greatly improved the efficiency of developers, and finally made everyone realize the dream of “one set of code, running everywhere”.
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With the theme of “Our Technology Era, My Programming Life”, “” had an in-depth dialogue with a number of well-known domestic and foreign technology pioneers and representatives of the new generation of programmers. I hope that the technical road and life insights of outstanding people in the industry will be shared with you. Be inspired.
Guest article written by: Santhosh is a Digital Marketing Executive. She designs marketing strategies with the intention of using high-quality content to educate and engage audiences. Her specialties include social media marketing specialist, SEO, and she works closely with B2B and B2C businesses, providing digital marketing strategies that gain social media attention and increases your search engine visibility.