Google already has a mobile SDK! It’s called ‘Android.'” That’s right, but as conventional, Google isn’t striking mobile app development with a single solution. It now has two free app SDKs: Android and Flutter.
As a cross-platform SDK, Flutter apps operate on iOS and Android. It does a nice trick of the kind of sidestepping both OS’ UI frames. Flutter apps don’t directly compile to local Android and iOS apps; they run on the Flutter rendering engine (written in C++) and Flutter Framework written in Dart, just like Flutter apps, both of which get bundled up with every app, and before the SDK spits out a set that’s ready to go on each platform. You get your app, a new motor to run the Flutter code on, and complete native code to get the Flutter platform spinning on Android and iOS.
This is basically the “video game” method of app addition. Just as a game would ignore most of the actual app framework and ship with its own motor that serves various goals, Flutter apps don’t use the current app framework but come packaged with the Flutter app core. Instead of an engine designed around blasting aliens in 3D or whatever, the Flutter ships with an engine created for 2D app performance.
Shipping a whole engine along with every app does bag the install size somewhat. The Flutter FAQ says an “empty” app is usually approximately 6.7MB on Android, so you’re adding that much extra to whatever your app is. The privilege of doing this is that the Flutter is fast. Flutter is invented from the ground up to hit 60FPS, and, while this might not be a rare thing on iOS, you can quickly feel the difference in Android. You also get to sidestep a lot of Android’s fragmentation issues, since you ship a program along with your app.
Cross-platform development does not mean Flutter apps will feel out of place on your Android or iOS device. Flutter apps ship with stacked-in UI widgets for “Material Design” (Android) and “Cupertino” (iOS), which totally shift how an app looks and feels. Flutter will change the scrolling behavior, buttons, sliders, dialog boxes, loading spinners, switches, tab bars, and more.
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