FLUTTER VS. REACT NATIVE VS. KOTLIN: WHICH ONE FOR APP DEVELOPMENT IN 2022-23?

  

Technology has turned around the software development sector. It is becoming exciting and interesting every day. The millennial generation is driven towards digital space and keeps looking for better and faster solutions. New tech stacks are getting introduced by the software development giants in the market, enabling competition in every sphere.

Mobile application is a competitive and complex aspect. With remote devices and their technologies introducing new innovations every now and then, the application developers have to step up their speed and developments strategy. There are many aspects that the developers need to think about before finalizing a mobile application development technology like High responsiveness is the pre-requisite for any application that intends to make its way into the public domain, Application development technology should be capable to develop cross-platform and hybrid applications to be functional across every platform and Moderate or low development cost is important while targeting multiple platforms.

The three mobile application development frameworks - Flutter, React Native and Kotlin have started a new thread of judgments and competition. A thorough analysis is required to understand the common factors and differentiators amongst them.

 Flutter

 Google has nailed it once again with Flutter, the mobile application development platform. The company has made sure to provide every necessary aspect for cross-platform development. The open-source framework is capable of developing applications for different platforms using a single code base. It has been used by many companies including eBay, GROUPON, and Toyota.

 React Native

 React Native uses JavaScript library to develop applications for Android and iOS platforms. React native is helping developers to deliver a highly rich user interface that is winning customer confidence. It is another technology that is winning the race in cross-platform development. It has been used in the development of thousands of applications including Flipkart, Pinterest, and Facebook.

 Kotlin

Kotlin is a modern programming language to develop multiplatform mobile applications. As one of the most concise Java language, Kotlin is known for its simple and precise commands that make development easier. It has been used to develop applications and scripts for Coursera, Gradle, and many other leading applications.

All the three application development platforms can be differentiated and compared on different development aspects.

Comparison of Languages on different development aspects:

Language

 Flutter uses Dart which is a client-optimized language that aims for faster application development. Development in React Native involves React JS, JavaScript, C, C++, and Python. The integration of multiple programming and development languages increases its likelihood of selection as an application development platform. Kotlin is compatible with Java Framework. It is called a better version of Java as it offers excellent features over Java.

Ease of Use

Flutter uses Dart which is easy to learn and use. Any developer with prior experience in React Native and Java can develop a complete application in less time with Flutter. The installation is easy and the application is open-source, both of which contribute to ease of use

React native app developers prefer the language for its code reuse feature. It uses React JS, JavaScript, and C-related language which are popular amongst most software developers. Anything involving them mostly will not require time investment in learning the language.

Kotlin can be easily used by Android developers. It is gaining popularity over Java with Java-compatible tools and frameworks. The number of lines in coding can be significantly lesser than in Java.

Features

Every language comes with its own set of features. Flutter comes with automated developer and testing tools that can make the development very fast. This ensures real-time error checks and fast deployment.

React Native helps the react native developers to build Native-like applications. A single codebase can be used to develop platform-specific versions of components. The fast refresh feature immediately reflects the changes made in the code. The developments and improvements can be really fast.

Kotlin allows the application logic to be reused between the web, desktop, and mobile platforms saving a lot of time. It is popularly known as multiplatform programming language. The syntax used in the coding is very compact and clear which again saves time and fastens the development process.

 Advantages

The basics of all three languages are different. The ultimate differentiation comes with the overall impact created with the performance and development.

Flutter

Dart being easy to learn and use can be used by any developer to develop the application at a fast pace. Quick and simple installation is also very motivating for the new users. The user-friendly free documentation makes the development journey easier. The large community of developers keeps making improvements in the code to ensure a bug-free flutter app.

Real-time code changes and corrections is a real advantage. A significant time is saved in activities such as development and compilation.

It facilitates communication with the native modules which makes features such as scrolling very seamless on every platform. Flutter is gaining popularity day by day.

React Native

React Native app development allows the developer's changes to immediately reflect on the application, allowing the developer to make faster changes.

Higher flexibility in using the third-party plug-ins is also making it developer's favorite.

Reusing the code reduces the go-to-market time, making it a great development language for today

Kotlin

The code is clear and concise. It is gaining popularity over Java, and Java developers would prefer it anytime for application development. The lines of codes are less which implies lesser development time.

Shorter codebase leads to a shorter debugging time. With many of the Java language issues fixed in Kotlin, it is considered to be highly safe for application development.

Which One is Making the Way Towards 2022

React Native is expected to be accepted by the majority for its multi-language support. Its fast refresh feature and seamless integration with the third-party plug-in is something that every developer is looking for. It is definitely futuristic with faster development cycles and deliveries. Flutter and Kotlin, both are going to get their fair market share. The Java developers may opt for Kotlin and Google will definitely append its offering with Flutter to capture the maximum market.

Conclusion:

React Native is certainly something a developer can look forward to while others do not stand a less chance. If you need assistance with the development, we are here for you. We are the leading mobile app development company offering React Native development services. Our experts will help you develop the best React Native application as per your requirements. Contact us today to get the best React Native development services at affordable rates.

To know more about our core technologies, refer to links below

 Ionic App Development

Angular App Development 

Swift Web App Development

Reasons to Choose React Native for building Social Media/Networking Apps!

The React Native architecture proves highly advantageous for mobile app development! Before the coinage of the React Native framework, mobile app development encountered certain bottlenecks. One such roadblock was creating a unified codebase for mobile and web apps. Business brands that lacked adequate resources and funds to engage native development teams for crafting applications for Android as well as iOS; were left with one single option – employing web viewers such as Cordova or Ionic. And so, app creators had to settle down for mobile web apps or HTML 5 apps. Unfortunately, these web view apps were ported over version of the app’s website and failed to deliver a good UX – the user experience seemed fake and clunky.

The launch of React Native in 2015, by Facebook as an open-source project, came as a breather for app owners - React Native development resolved multiple stumbling blocks that were posing challenges in mobile app development.

Have you ever wondered why a major chunk of the social media applications like Facebook, Skype, Pinterest, etc. are built in React Native? Let’s explore the reasons!

Advantages of using React Native for Social Media App Development

Cross-platform App Development

React Native allows businesses to build a software app solution that will function across the Android, iOS, and web; using the same programming language – JavaScript. For instance, before the advent of the React Native framework, developers had to use Java for Android-based apps and Objective-C or Swift for iOS-based apps.

Native Abilities

React Native simplifies the methodology of building social media/networking apps with newsfeeds and timelines. Using React Native, social media app creators need not create a hybrid app, mobile web app, or HTML5 app. React Native development leads to the creation of real mobile apps that are way different from applications developed in Java or Objective-C. This is because React Native employs the fundamental UI building blocks that are used in native Android and iOS apps; developers just need to combine these building blocks employing React and JavaScript. Hence, React Native apps look and feel like native apps and possess similar capabilities.

Furthermore, with React Native, one can leverage the mobile hardware components like cameras, accelerometer, Face ID, Touch ID, etc.

A Rich Customer Experience Guaranteed

Modern users are least likely to use an app if it takes a long time to load and so, a social media app must be performant to provide a great UX. React Native apps load faster as the framework employs UI elements that compile into one native application. These apps are competitive and guarantee a high UX to consumers.

Speedy Development

React helps you to develop scalable and reactive apps. And, React Native enables the front-end web developers to write the code for native cross-platform applications without the need to jump through hoops for learning a new language. Moreover, since React Native involves only JavaScript, one can use any of the JavaScript libraries starting from Loadash to the most obscure of packages for app development projects. These goodies further speed up the development process.

Moreover, the availability of several ready-to-use free tools and libraries allow React Native developers to speedily craft social media app features like social sharing. Furthermore, due to the presence of a huge, dynamic, and helpful dev community, changes can be executed quickly without any hassles.

Improved Search Indexing

A social media app must make its presence felt on popular search engines like Bing and Google. But search engine crawlers are unable to render JavaScript and return a blank page and as such, Google does not index the page altogether. The lack of search engine optimization adversely affects server-side rendering. However, React supports server-side rendering of JavaScript which results in a pre-rendered HTML page that is ready-for-display on the browser. And, the crawlers are able to crawl HTML without any glitches and the app appears on user searches.

Cost Savings

• The framework empowers React Native developers to entirely optimize the user interface and make it uniform such that it functions perfectly with all devices. This results in the creation of an improved UI in a cost-effective way.
• The code and components of the React Native environment are highly reusable and this helps in saving costs as well as development time. Approximately, 90-99% of the code can be shared between multiple operating systems without facing any technical issues or glitches.
• The framework makes it possible to integrate loads of customer-centric features by means of native plugins or third-party modules. And, this integration is easy to implement and involves minimal costs.
• While purely native apps need periodic updates separately for every device/OS; cross-platform apps are far more flexible as they avoid versioning. With React Native’s single coding approach, the overall maintenance including bug fixing becomes easy and hassle-free. Hence, React Native apps involve low maintenance costs.

How does React Native cater to Specific Requirements of Social Media App Development?

• The components in the activity feed in React Native enable the creation of a dynamic news feed and also enhance the user engagement, retention, and conversion rate of social media apps.
• React Native social media apps enable users to like a photo and react to it with an emoji. Also, single-page apps facilitate the actions of liking or reacting to a post/photo. And, all of us are aware of how beneficial React is for creating SPAs.
• Photos can be easily and quickly uploaded.
• With React Native, one can build real-time chat apps with two parts- server-side library and client-side library - that instantly connect users with friends and acquaintances.
• A login functionality with several sign-in options can be created employing Firebase’s authentication
• The usage of firestore database for integrating push notifications into the app. A social media app must necessarily have the feature of real-time notifications for receiving messages and collaborating with posts of friends.
• Firebase’s real-time database helps users to change posts in real-time
• D3.js can be used for creating the timeline that graphically represents posts in the map
• The integration of the localization feature for providing multiple language support

Success Stories of some Popular Media Apps built in React Native

Facebook

The fundamental objective of this framework was to utilize the advantages of web development – quick iterations and engaging one single team for executing the entire project – while architecting mobile applications for the iOS and Android operating systems.

Facebook Ads Manager

This is the first full-fledged cross-platform app built in React Native by the Facebook team. The platform is leveraged by entrepreneurs as well as individuals for promoting their products and managing ads for the same.

How React Native development was helpful?

• The app possesses a clean UI, effortless navigation, and an intuitive UX.
• The framework appeared to be a perfect pick for handling several instances of complex business logic including the management of date/ad formats, time-zone differences, etc.
• Both the Android as well as the iOS versions of the app was built deploying a single app development team.

Instagram

This popular social networking app switched to React Native in 2016. They implemented the Push Notifications view as the web view. A navigation infrastructure was not required because of the simple user interface. The React Native eco-system sped up the process of integrating features to Android and iOS apps and increased the developer velocity by approximately 85-99%.

Pinterest

Pinterest creators used React Native so that codebase can be shared across Android and iOS. It took only ten days to implement on the iOS platform. Thereafter, Android implementation was completed in just two days as developers were able to share 100% of the UI code for the Android platform as well. This way the firm saved over a week as compared to the usual implementation time.

Skype

In 2017, Skype’s owner Microsoft redesigned the platform using React Native for their mobile version as well as the desktop version.

Discord

This popular React Native app is used by millions of individuals for connecting with friends/family/communities via voice, text, and video communication. React Native development has made it possible to share 98% of the code across the Android and iOS platforms. The team was able to effortlessly able to make their comprehensive iOS app run on the Android platform in just two days.

Conclusion:

Above examples indicate that the React Native framework can create innovative, highly performant social/networking apps that are rich in trending features.

Would you too like to harness the potential of React Native for tailoring feature-rich social media/networking apps? Reach out to Biz4Solutions, a distinguished mobile app development agency offering high-end React Native development services to global clientele for 11+ years. Tell us your social media app requirements and objectives; our proficient team will help you to fulfill your goal.

To know more about our other core technologies, refer to links below:

Angular App development

Ionic App Development

.Net App Development