Google I/O 2021: With every passing day, mobile applications continue to become more and more popular. Fortunately, there are many programming tools available to developers who want to design and develop incredible applications. One of the most popular tools that have been gaining immense craze among the experts is Flutter.
Recently, at the I/O 2021, Google announced the release of Flutter 2.2, the latest version of the open-source toolkit for developing cross-platform apps.
The new release now makes it easier to monetize an application through in-app purchases, add payments and ads to the app, connect to cloud services & also APIs that help in expanding app functionality, and the tooling and language features allow developers to eliminate a whole class or errors.
Apart from many new features, flutter is updated with new tooling and language elements that help developers boost app performance and reduce the size.
Earlier, in the month of March, Flutter 2 was released which includes the support to build desktop, web, and mobile UIs. Built on the foundation of flutter v2, the new release (2.2) has a few spectacular features. For instance,
- The toolkit is introduced with new widgets for both Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux that are bundled with app design to perform specific operations in a pattern.
- The new ads SDK is updated with null safety and has support for adaptive banner formats. The new payment plugin is a developed partnership with the Google Pay team that allows taking payments for physical goods on the Android and iOS platforms. Also, the in-app plugin for Flutter is updated.
- Dart, the programming language for Flutter, gets an update in the new version (2.2). It supports native interoperability, with support for packed structs and arrays in FFI. Additionally, Dart has even got support for aliases that would increase readability and pathway for refactoring situations.
- The null safety is a new default feature for all the upcoming Flutter projects. It adds protection against null reference exceptions. The compiler can eliminate null checks during runtime, in the end, it improves the app performance.
Building on the foundation of Flutter 2 – Google I/O 2021
Flutter 2.2 is built on the foundation of Flutter 2, which extended Flutter from mobile to incorporate web, desktop apps.
It is uniquely designed for ambient computing, where users have a wide variety of different devices and form factors. With Flutter 2.2, startups, enterprises, and entrepreneurs can build high-end solutions that can reach a larger audience.
In its annual developers meet in 2021, Google also shared some interesting statistics about Flutter and its increasing growth. It affirms that 1 in every 8 apps on the Play Store is built using Flutter.
Today, Flutter is the most popular framework for cross-platform development. It has become the developer’s go-to framework to build applications for their organizations.
In numbers, there are over 200,000 applications in the Play Store alone that are built using Flutter. Massive companies like Tencent, ByteDance, BMW, Shein, Grab, DiDi, etc, have built distinct apps using Flutter.
And this amazing framework is not only leveraged by large corporations, some of the most innovative applications like Wombo, the viral singing selfie app; Fastic, the intermittent fasting app, and Kite, an outstanding investment trading app, etc are also built on Flutter.
Flutter 2.2
This new version is more focused on improvements to the development experience to help experts deliver more reliable, performant apps to their customers.
There are lots of performance improvements in this release: for web apps, it offers background caching using service workers; for iOS, developers have been working on tooling to precompile shaders to eliminate or reduce first-run junk; and for Android app, Flutter supports deferred components.
They’ve also added a set of new features to the DevTools suite that helps developers to understand how memory is allocated in applications, as well as support for third-party tool extensions.
New Platforms – Google I/O 2021
Google has highlighted two more points during the conference
The first breaking news is Flutter for Tizen. Tizen is an open-source Linux-based operating system that Samsung leverages on its smart devices, which includes TVs and smart wearables.
Generally, you can develop applications using JavaScript, C++, or even C#. Samsung has been trying to build an extension for the Flutter SDK to let experts create Tizen apps. While it’s still in the early testing process, it’s a promising start and furthermore expands Flutter’s reach.
Flutter for UWP is the second highlight. UWP stands for Universal Windows Platform and is used to build modern-style apps in Windows 10. UWP support brings the ability to develop applications similar to native apps for Windows.
Towards Great Experiences
More than anything, Flutter is developed to help technicians design and develop world-class experiences. Leveraging Flutter app development can empower your applications as it removes traditional impediments to reach your audience.
Flutter is one of the most popular front-end development frameworks with over 45% of developers choosing it to create amazing interactive interfaces. With the new release, the toolkit has become a choice for building more reliable and performant applications.
Read More: Top flutter mobile app developers | India (2021)
