Flutter vs Swift: Explore an Impeccable Solution for iOS App Development

The mobile app industry has been active for over a decade now, generating billions of dollars in revenue every day. According to a report, mobile apps are projected to generate $935 billion in revenue by the end of 2023.

Looking at these huge numbers, it would be a pity not to be a part of this growing business. Now, let’s see which technology can you use to make a better deal. Although, there are many technologies to consider, but here in this blog we will be focusing on the two major highlights of mobile app development i.e.  Flutter app development company and Swift .But which one is better Flutter or Swift? Let’s find out!

Here, we will do a comprehensive comparison between both these technologies so that you can choose the best one for your next app development project.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is an open-source mobile app development framework created by Google. It allows developers to build natively-compiled applications for desktop, web, and mobile by using a single codebase.

Flutter uses the Dart programming language which is suitable for developing apps for both iOS and Android platforms.

Key Features of Flutter

• “Hot-reload” is one of the most prominent features of Flutter, which allows mobile app developers to see the changes they make in their code immediately, without having to manually stop and restart the app. Ultimately, this feature makes it easier for them to iterate and test their code, making the development process faster and more efficient.
• Flutter provides support for building desktop and web applications as well. This means that the developers can build the app on any platform with a single codebase.
• Flutter uses a reactive programming model, which makes it easy to build apps that are responsive and can handle a wide variety of user interactions.
• It provides a wide range of customizable widgets that can be used to build the app’s user interface. These widgets are rendered directly by the app and are designed to be fast and efficient.
• Flutter provides a plugin system to access the native features and SDKs of each platform.

Disadvantages of Flutter App Development

Although, Flutter holds a lot of advantages for building mobile apps but it also has some drawbacks that you should be aware of before deciding to use it for your next project.

• As Flutter is relatively new, it is not widely adopted as other frameworks. This can make it more difficult to hire a development team and may increase the cost of development.
• Flutter includes all the necessary components to run the app, the final package size of the app is relatively larger than the apps built using the native platform.

What is Swift?

Swift is a powerful and intuitive open-source programming language for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It was released by Apple Inc and is designed to be easy to read and write, while being powerful and efficient at the same time.

It has a concise and expressive syntax that is easy to understand, even for people who are new to the world of coding. Furthermore, it is a statically typed language which means that the type of every variable and constant is checked at the compile time, resulting in safer and more reliable code.

Moreover, in addition to its simplicity and performance, it is the primary language used for developing iOS and macOS applications.

Key Features of Swift

• Swift is designed to be efficient and optimized for high performance on Apple’s platforms. It is also designed to work with Apple’s existing Objective-C codebase, which means that previous iOS apps can be updated by using this programming language.
• It is open-source and actively developed by a community of developers from all around the world.
• Swift can interoperate with Objective-C code. This means that developers can take the advantage of both Swift and Objective-C in the same project.
• Swift code is interactive and responsive, which makes it easy to build dynamic and engaging user interfaces.

Disadvantages of Swift

• Swift requires at least iOS 7 or later, which means that it may not be compatible with older devices that are running earlier versions of iOS.
• As the swift community is growing fast but still it is significantly smaller as compared to any other open-source programming language.
• Due to frequent updates, it is often hard to find the right tools to help mobile app developers with certain tasks.
• Swift was introduced in the year 2014, which seems to be a long ago but in reality, the language is only 7 years old, in comparison to Objective-C which emerged in the 1980s.

Comparison Between Flutter & Swift

1. Speed of Coding or Coding Efficiency

Swift is a quick and fast way for creating an iOS application from the very beginning. Swift developers ensure that it provides a faster build time, especially for the initial build of an application.

On the other hand, Flutter comes with a huge variety of widgets, libraries, and testing tools to boost the speed of coding.

Moreover, the same app built in Flutter typically requires fewer lines of code than its version written in Swift.

2. Performance

The performance of a mobile application depends on many factors such as the specific requirements of the app, the skills of the developers working on it, and the resources available for optimization.

Swift is the native language of the iOS app, that’s why it offers a significant benefit in terms of performance. Although, Flutter does not fall behind as it performs well in terms of CPU performance. Additionally, because it uses a reactive programming model, it can make it easier to achieve smooth, 60fps animations in your app.

But it is advisable to do some performance testing on both frameworks with sample cases, that your app would involve, before taking a call on which framework to use.

3. Stability

When comparing the stability of Flutter and Swift, it is important to note that these both are mature and well-established technologies used to build high-quality apps.

Flutter, being relatively newer, had a few bugs and crashes that were reported in the initial versions of the framework but those issues were addressed in the later releases.

Swift, being older and more established, has been around for a longer period of time. It is a mature language and part of the Apple ecosystem, which makes it even more stable and robust.

In order to summarize, both frameworks are stable but because Swift is a more mature and established technology, it may be considered more stable in comparison with Flutter.

Lastly, the stability factor is also dependent on the quality of code written and the care taken during the mobile app development process.

4. Development Costs

There are many factors that influence the overall cost of development for both Flutter and Swift.

Swift being a well-established technology, have a large pool of experienced developers. This means that it is relatively easy to find iOS app developers to build an iOS app using Swift. However, due to the popularity of the iOS platform, the cost of hiring a Swift developer can be relatively high.

On the contrary, Flutter allows for cross-platform app development, which can ultimately save development costs and resources because the same codebase can be used for both iOS and Android apps. This means that there is no need to hire Flutter developers separately for each platform.

As a whole, if you are looking for a more cost-effective solution, then Flutter could be a good choice for you. On the other hand, if you are looking for a more established and proven technology and don’t mind spending a bit more on development costs, then Swift can be a better choice.

5. Documentation

Both Swift and Flutter come with a thorough documentation that is available on their official website. In the case of Swift, you can go through the Apple developer documentation and For Flutter, you can check Flutter.dev to enjoy comprehensive and well-written documentation.

Popular Applications Developed With Flutter

Here are a few examples of some popular apps developed by using Flutter app development services.

• Google Ads

Google Ads, a tool for creating and managing advertising campaigns was one of the first apps developed with Flutter. It was specially built to showcase the capabilities of this framework and demonstrate how it can be used to build high-performance and responsive apps.

• Alibaba

The Alibaba Group, one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies, developed its Xianyu app using Flutter.

• Reflectly

It is a personal journaling app that uses AI to provide personalized coaching and reflection prompts. This app was also made by using Flutter app development services.

• Hamilton App

The official app for the hit musical Hamilton was developed by using FLutter to provide a seamless and interactive experience for fans on both iOS and Android.

Although, these are just a few examples and there are many more on the list!

Popular Applications Developed With Swift

• LinkedIn

The official LinkedIn app for iOS was built using Swift.

• Uber

The Uber for iOS was initially built using Objective-C but was later rewritten in Swift to improve performance and maintainability.

• Slack

The iOS version of the popular communication app, Slack was built using Swift programming language.

Wrapping Up!

So which is better? Flutter or Swift? The answer to this question is not so simple because both technologies have their own set of features and capabilities and the choice of which one to use will definitely depend on the specific needs of your project.

Moreover, if you are looking to develop apps for Apple’s ecosystem, Swift could be a better choice because it is used to build iOS and macOS apps, while Flutter can be used across multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, and web apps.

Another key point to note is that Flutter is relatively new compared to swift’s well-established ecosystem.

Lastly, it is important to assess your specific needs and the type of project you are working on before making a decision between Flutter and Swift.