In December 2019, Google and Flutter developers community released Flutter 1.12, the latest version of the Flutter SDK. It is the 5th stable release of the development framework. In this release, they merged 1,905 Pull Requests from 188 contributors across the globe. Flutter 1.12 is the most critical release of Flutter SDK so far. Let’s see what’s new and what is improved compared to the previous version.
Why have mobile app developers started building apps using flutter?
Compared to other cross-platform mobile app development tools such as PhoneGap, Xamarin and Sencha, developers prefer Flutter because of its functionalities and features. Flutter allows mobile app developers to build native-looking mobile apps for a single codebase.
Compared to other cross-development SDKs such as React Native, Flutter doesn’t convert UI components to the platform’s specific UI components for rendering; this improves performance and efficiency. Hot Reload feature also helps developers to check updated code quickly. This makes adding features, adding UI components more straightforward and faster.
1. Focusing more on app-centric development
First release for Flutter was focused on building apps that run on Android and iOS from a single codebase. In the last 3-4 years, many tech-savvy people have started using smartwatches, laptops, Smart TVs, and smart displays (Google Nest) in their day-to-day activities.
Hence, Google has made ambient computing a core of their vision for Flutter. Their vision is to make Flutter “a portable toolkit for building beautiful experiences.” Flutter 1.12 and future releases might be used extensively for building desktops (and laptops) apps, and web applications as well apart from mobile apps. Companies can dedicate their resources to delivering exceptional experience across multiple devices and numerous platforms.
2. Fully-optimized support for macOS
Flutter 1.12 is highly-optimized for building desktop apps for macOS. Flutter team was working on expanding the Material design to support desktop-class apps. Using Flutter Create, developers can build a Flutter project that runs on macOS devices.
macOS support gets significant improvements including support for dropdown menu, keyboard navigation, checkboxes, radio buttons and many other UI components. You can visit Flutter’s desktop page to gather more information about building apps for desktop using Flutter. As of now, desktop support for Windows and Linux platforms, are in technical preview and not included in this release.
3. Beta release of Flutter’s web support
Flutter 1.12 update also included a beta version of Flutter’s web support. Thanks to beta support for web applications, developers can now use Flutter architecture, Dart components, Firebase and the latest web APIs to build appealing web content.
Companies will be able to reduce development time by up to 50% by using Flutter 1.12 for developing mobile and web apps. Besides, it also increases user-growth potential as businesses are now present on multiple digital platforms.
4. Release of Dart 2.7 programming language
Flutter 1.12 release has also come with the newest version of the Dart programming language. Dart 2.7 is expected to enhance the development and user experience. For developers, it includes safe string handling (Null safety) and Extension methods.
Because of the Null safety feature, Dart 2.7 will prevent errors when variables get a zero value. Developers will be able to pass integer value as a string which is a common feature in older programming languages such as Java and VB.NET.
5. Export designs from Adobe XD into Flutter
Another significant improvement in Flutter 1.12 is from Adobe. Adobe Creative Cloud has announced Flutter support with a plugin. Using the plugins, UI designers can export designs from Adobe XD into Flutter.
The new XD-to-Flutter plugin automatically converts XD designs into Flutter. Then the developers can use the code in the development of their Flutter application. Product design teams can now prototype user experiences in a better way and help the development team to interpret a designer’s vision.
Flutter is a great UI toolkit for building beautiful mobile apps
Flutter 1.12 offers mobile app developers a new way to make resource-efficient and beautiful looking mobile apps for iOS and Android devices using a single codebase. Compared to traditional mobile development approaches, businesses don’t need to develop an Android and iOS app separately even when they require native looking apps. Flutter will likely dominate a niche in the mobile app development community in the future.
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