What is flutter?

Flutter is an open‑source toolkit created by Google that lets developers build beautiful, fast mobile, web, and desktop apps using a single codebase. It uses the Dart programming language and draws its own UI components, so apps look the same on Android, iOS, and other platforms.

Let's break it down

  • Dart language - a simple, object‑oriented language that’s easy to learn for beginners.
  • Widgets - the building blocks of a Flutter app; everything you see on the screen (buttons, text, images) is a widget.
  • Hot reload - a feature that instantly shows code changes on the device or emulator, speeding up development.
  • Engine - a low‑level graphics engine (Skia) that renders the UI directly, giving smooth performance.
  • Cross‑platform - write once, run on Android, iOS, web browsers, Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Why does it matter?

Flutter lets developers create high‑quality apps faster and cheaper because they don’t need separate codebases for each platform. Its fast rendering and hot reload make it ideal for rapid prototyping and iterative design, which helps bring ideas to market quickly. For businesses, this means lower development costs and a consistent user experience across devices.

Where is it used?

  • Popular apps like Google Ads, Alibaba, and the e‑commerce app “Reflectly” are built with Flutter.
  • Start‑ups use it to launch MVPs (minimum viable products) quickly.
  • Companies create internal tools, dashboards, and prototypes with Flutter for web and desktop.
  • Educational platforms teach Flutter as an entry point to mobile development.

Good things about it

  • Single codebase reduces duplication of effort.
  • Fast development thanks to hot reload and expressive widgets.
  • Consistent UI across all platforms because Flutter controls every pixel.
  • Strong community with many plugins, packages, and learning resources.
  • High performance close to native because it compiles to native ARM code.

Not-so-good things

  • App size can be larger than native apps, especially for simple projects.
  • Limited native library support: some platform‑specific features may need extra bridging code.
  • Learning curve for Dart if you’re used to JavaScript, Swift, or Kotlin.
  • Ecosystem still maturing: not every third‑party SDK has a ready‑made Flutter plugin yet.
  • Web and desktop support are improving but may not be as polished as mobile.