Ionic vs Flutter: Best Platform for Hybrid App Development

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Ionic vs Flutter Best Platform for Hybrid App
Development
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2 Being part of a world increasingly working on
mobile devices, it has become imperative for
companies to have performant cross-platform
mobile apps that work seamlessly on all
operating systems and cater to a more significant
share of the customer base. When it comes to
cross-platform mobile apps, the two leading
frameworks used in the modern-day tech realm to
build high-performing cross-platform apps are
Ionic and Flutter. Both frameworks are
inherently different, despite having the common
goal of developing high-performing mobile apps.
And if you think there will be many similarities
between the working process of the leading
cross-platform app development frameworks, you
are highly mistaken. For any enterprise,
deciding which one is best for their project can
be tricky. Thus, this article will try to
understand and conclude the debate between
Flutter and the Ionic framework to help
enterprises decide the best mobile app
development framework for their business
requirements.
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Flutter An Overview Do you know, according to
the 2021 developer survey, Flutter is the most
popular cross-platform mobile framework, and 42
percent of software developers use Flutter for
hybrid mobile app development. Googles
brainchild Flutter, is a relatively scalable
and fast cross-platform framework that primarily
functions as a UI toolkit to create feature-rich
and powerful cross-platform applications.
Developed in 2017, the first version of Flutter
was released in 2018 with the support of the
ECMA standard.
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4 Empowered with an intuitive interface, a
library of elements, and many templates, Flutter
support Dart programming language, utilizes Swift
and Objective C for iOS integration and Java for
Android. The frameworks thriving user community
with open-source libraries, resources, and
answers to all programming dilemmas is what sets
Flutter framework apart from the rest of mobile
app development frameworks. Advantages of
Flutter While comparing Flutter vs. Ionic,
Flutter has many decent selling points,
including ? Hot-reload One of the unique
features of Flutter is Hot Reload. The changes
are visible as soon as the flutter app developer
or designer updates the code. ? Rich Powerful
Widgets Combined with RichWidgets, the
Flutter framework equips mobile app developers
with an extensive library to add rich, layered
functionalities in apps compatible with any
operating system. ? Flawless back-end integration
Whether the backend is in Java
supporting Android or Objective C or Swift
supporting iOS, Flutter integrates smoothly
enough to make the frontend look as native as
the backend. ? Quick iteration Flutter offers
swift iteration cycles that save coding and
quality control hours as testing is needed for
one codebase only. Disadvantages of Flutter
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5 It is always advised to remember that every
tool or technology has its definite downsides.
They may or may not affect the flutter app
development for your business. But here are some
common disadvantages you may experience ? Immatu
rity of the platform Compared to Ionic, Flutter
is competitively a new platform launched less
than three years ago therefore, one major
downside of using flutter for hybrid mobile app
development is the lack of community-generated
tools and libraries. ? Rendering issues
Another downside of flutter app development that
comes into consideration is the plug-ins
rendering issues if youre using vectored or
moving images while developing a hybrid mobile
app. ? Platform compatibility While Flutter
offers cross-platform interoperability, apps
like tvOS, Android Auto, CarPlay and watchOS
wont function flawlessly. ? Updating roadblocks
Flutter makes you work through its processes
every time to post system changes. When to use
Flutter Framework for Hybrid Mobile Application
Development Flutter can be used for the following
purposes ? Developing Minimally Viable Product
(MVPs), utilizing Flutters light construction
to make speedy first edition or proof of concept
apps ? Building apps using material design
language ? Building Apps having Simple Logic OS
Plugins
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6 ? High-performance apps featuring Skia
rendering engine ? Flexible UI that use brilliant
code-dense widgets ? Reactive apps with heavy
data integration and user interaction Also
Read Flutter App Development Common FAQs
Answered Ionic An Overview Do you know,
Currently, there are more than 5 million apps
built on Ionic available in the market. And
approximately 86 of developers prefer using
Ionic. The first version of Ionic came into
existence in 2013 when three coders named Max
Lynch, Adam Bradley and Ben Sperry built an
open-source UI toolkit on AngularJS. On 25th
July 2019, the latest yet stable version of the
Ionic cross-platform app development framework
was released, and since then, Ionic has become
one of the most popular cross-platform app
development frameworks known for providing
efficient performance with minimum DOM
manipulation. To define, Ionic is a
well-integrated, open-source framework and UI
toolkit used to build high-performing desktop
mobile applications with well-known languages
like HTML, CSS, React Native, Angular, Vue.JS
and JavaScript for integration with your
backend. The Ionic framework primarily targets
to improve the frontend user experience
by equipping hybrid app developers with vast
libraries of mobile-optimized UI components,
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7 tools and gestures to build future-ready mobile
apps that reciprocate impact and increase
customer engagement. Advantages of Ionic Ionic
is the only framework that allows developers to
create a single, simple-to-use JavaScript
codebase. In addition, here are a few advantages
of using Ionic for cross-platform application
development. ? Platform-independence Being a
platform-independent framework, Ionic reduces the
time, effort, and resources employed to build a
cross-platform app with a native look and
feel. ? Simplified developer interface Ionic
uses a capacitor that saves development time and
creates an easy-to-use interface to access native
API and native SDK on platforms. ? Community
Support Ionic is built on top of popular
technologies such as Cordova and Angular and has
an active community for support. This makes it
easy to access quick responses to queries while
developing cross-platform apps. ? Easy Testing
Another advantage of Ionic is mobile app testing.
It is easier to test on a desktop browser or
perform simulator testing for iOS, and Android
apps using Cordova commands with
Ionic. ? Scalability Scales efficiently as the
number of active users doesnt affect its
performance.
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8 Disadvantages of Ionic Now that weve covered
some of the significant advantages of the Ionic
mobile application development framework, now is
the time to look at some of the
disadvantages. ? Plugin Dependent System Ionic
offers a plethora of plugins, yet its
imperative for developers to create some
highly-specific features. In simpler words, if
youd like to use another plugin that uses other
languages/libraries, you may find yourself
trying to version them back over to JavaScript on
your own. ? Absence of Hot Reloading Ionic
doesnt accommodate hot reloading and refreshes
the whole app whenever the developer changes,
slowing down your development speed. ? Security
threats While this isnt the case on the newer
updates of Ionic, using older versions wont
provide code uglification. ? Performance Using
Ionic to build heavy applications makes the app
crawl. Thus it isnt suitable for
memory-intensive or complex applications as Ionic
uses WebView to render apps. When to use Ionic
Framework for Hybrid Mobile Application
Development Ionic can be used to
develop ? Hybrid mobile app development ? MVC
mobile apps
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9 ? Native wrapper ? Cross-platform mobile
application development ? Hardware functionality
enabled app ? High-performance UX/UI
applications Popular Applications built with
Flutter and Ionic The best way to judge Flutter
vs. ionic framework is to see the differences
between the real-world use cases. Heres a list
of some tech giants who are entrusting Flutter
and Ionic to meet their market needs. Popular
apps made with Flutter ? Google
Ads ? Tencent ? Alibaba ? eBay ? BMW ? Reflectly
Popular Apps built with Ionic ? Nationwide ? Pac
ifica ? MarketWatch ? JustWatch
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10 ? Microsoft Flow Flutter Vs Ionic Comparison
eter Ionic Flutter
ge(s) HTML, CSS, JavaScript Dart
ents nd ard-based web compone Proprietary widgets
API access plugin library, using Cordo Capacitor plugin library, using Flutter packages
e Web browser Custom graphics machine
access Yes Yes
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performance Very good Excellent
Software framework Application framework
e MIT License New BSD License
load No Yes
ance Moderate Amazing controller
Any browser Mobile device or emulator
eusability 98 of code is reusable 50-90 of code is reusable
m
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use cases rid app development, App re functionality, MVC mobil and more applications, Apps with ma High-performance apps wit rendering engine, and more
ment Options Mobile, Desktop, Web, PWA Mobile, Desktop, Web
r apps Sworkit, Microsoft Flow, P Watch gle Ads, BMW, Tencent, Kiste
The Winner Flutter or Ionic? With all of that
read, we hope this article helps to clear up some
of the similarities and differences between
Ionic and Flutter so that you can make an
informed decision. However, the end decision of
selecting the best-suited framework amongst the
two will solely depend upon business objectives,
user requirements, where and how you plan to
launch your app.
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13 If you choose to build a cross-platform app
with Ionic, you will learn and apply the tools
and languages of the web, as Ionic uses the web
platform open standards wherever possible to
deliver great performance on mobile, desktop, and
web. On the contrary, Flutter has a
self-contained ecosystem well-equipped with the
common languages, toolsets, and standards in the
broader hybrid app development world. Thus, if
you choose Flutter, you will be doing things the
Flutter way. The easiest way for any enterprise
willing to have a performant app is to partner
with a renowned mobile app development company
with a successful history of developing mobile
apps that drive value and impact.