If you are a mobile app developer, you might have faced the dilemma of choosing between Flutter and React Native for your cross-platform app development. Both frameworks are backed by tech giants (Google and Facebook, respectively) and have gained popularity and traction in recent years.

But which one is better for your project? What are the pros and cons of each framework? In this blog post we will help you compare Flutter vs. React Native in terms of:

• Architecture
• Performance
• UI Components
• Development Experience Community and Support
• Device compatibility

we will try to answer these questions and help you make an informed decision about which tool to use for your upcoming app.

Architecture

Flutter is a cross-platform UI framework that allows you to create beautiful and fast applications for multiple platforms using a single codebase. Flutter was first released in May 2017 and has since grown steadily in popularity. Flutter uses a programming language called Dart, which is a modern, object-oriented, and optionally typed language that compiles to native code or JavaScript.

Flutter has its own rendering engine called Skia, which draws every pixel on the screen. This means that Flutter does not rely on the native platform widgets or components, but rather creates its UI elements called widgets. Widgets are the building blocks of Flutter apps, and they can be composed, customized, and animated to create rich and responsive user interfaces. Flutter also provides a hot reload and hot restart feature, which enables you to see the changes in your code instantly without losing the app state or restarting the app. This makes development faster and more enjoyable. Flutter also supports stateful hot reload, which preserves the app state even when you change the app logic.

Flutter 3 introduced some major changes and improvements to the framework. For example, you can now use Flutter to create applications for web, desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux), and embedded devices, in addition to iOS and Android. Flutter also improved its support for Firebase significantly.

React Native is another cross-platform framework that allows you to create native-like applications for iOS and Android using JavaScript and React. React Native was first released in March 2015 and has since become one of the most popular frameworks for mobile app development. React Native uses the same principles and concepts as React, a popular library for building user interfaces for web applications.

React Native uses a JavaScript bridge to communicate with the native platform modules and components. This means that React Native does not create its own UI elements, but rather uses the native platform widgets or components that are exposed to JavaScript. React Native also supports hot reloading and live reloading, which enable you to see the changes in your code without restarting the app or losing the app state.

Performance

Flutter has a performance advantage over React Native, because it does not need a bridge to communicate with the native platform. This reduces the overhead and latency of the communication, and allows Flutter to achieve smoother animations and transitions. Flutter also has a hot reload and hot restart feature, which enables faster development and testing cycles.

React Native has a performance disadvantage compared to Flutter, because it needs a bridge to communicate with the native platform. This increases the overhead and latency of the communication, and may cause some performance issues or bottlenecks. React Native also has a hot reload and hot refresh feature, but it is not as fast or reliable as Flutter’s.

UI Components

Flutter has a rich set of UI components, called widgets, that are highly customizable and expressive. Flutter widgets are based on the Material Design guidelines for Android, and the Cupertino design guidelines for iOS. Flutter also supports creating custom widgets, as well as using third-party widgets from pub.dev or other sources.

React Native has a basic set of UI components, called components, that are mostly based on the native platform components. React Native components are not as customizable or expressive as Flutter widgets, and may not always match the look and feel of the native platform. React Native also supports creating custom components, as well as using third-party components from npm or other sources.

Development Experience

Flutter has a better development experience than React Native, because it offers more tools and features to help developers create high-quality apps. Some of these tools and features include:

– Dart DevTools: A suite of debugging and performance tools that integrate with IDEs like VS Code and Android Studio.

– Flutter Inspector: A tool that allows developers to inspect and modify the widget tree and layout of their app.

– Flutter Outline: A tool that shows the structure and hierarchy of the widgets in the code editor.

– Flutter Test: A framework that supports unit testing, widget testing, and integration testing of Flutter apps.

– Flutter Driver: A tool that supports end-to-end testing of Flutter apps on real devices or simulators.

React Native has a worse development experience than Flutter, because it lacks some of the tools and features that Flutter offers. Some of these tools and features include:

– React DevTools: A suite of debugging and performance tools that integrate with browsers like Chrome and Firefox.

– React Native Debugger: A standalone app that combines React DevTools with other tools like Redux DevTools and Reactotron.

– React Native Testing Library: A framework that supports unit testing, component testing, and integration testing of React Native apps. – Detox: A tool that supports end-to-end testing of React Native apps on real devices or simulators.

Community and Support

Flutter has a smaller but growing community and support than React Native, because it is a newer framework that was released in 2017. However, Flutter has gained a lot of popularity and adoption in recent years, especially among startups and indie developers. Some of the notable apps that use Flutter include:

– Google Pay

– Alibaba

– eBay

– BMW

– Nubank

React Native has a larger but more fragmented community and support than Flutter, because it is an older framework that was released in 2015. However, React Native has also faced some challenges and controversies in recent years, such as the re-architecture project, the licensing issues, and the competition from other frameworks. Some of the notable apps that use React Native include:

– Facebook

– Instagram

– Airbnb

– Uber

– Skype

Device Compatibility

Flutter and React Native both support Android devices with ARM processors and Apple devices from iPhone 4s and onward. Both also support Android and iOS simulators for developing apps.

Apple devices require iOS 9 and above for Flutter apps, and iOS 11 and above for React Native apps. Android devices require API level 19 (Android 4.4) and above for Flutter apps, and API level 23 (Android 6.0) for React Native apps.

The minimum supported version for Expo-based React Native apps is Android 5 or iOS 10 and above.

Which framework should I use?

Well, at first you would need to examine your or your team’s existing skill set, the goals and requirements of your project.

If you already know JavaScript, writing mobile apps in React Native will be easier to develop and maintain. However, if you’re looking for better performance, stability, and a more cohesive environment between ecosystems, you should consider giving Flutter a try.

Hey there, website wizards! Ever wondered how to make your website not just good, but great? It’s all about what gives your visitors a smooth, speedy, and stable experience. And guess what? There’s a handy tool for that – the Performance widget! It’s like a health check-up for your website, focusing on what we call the core web vitals. Let’s dive in and make sense of all this, shall we?

What’s the Big Deal with Core Web Vitals?

Imagine visiting a website and waiting forever for it to load, or trying to click something and nothing happens, or even worse, everything jumps around as you’re reading. Annoying, right? That’s where core web vitals come into play. They’re the superheroes of website performance, ensuring everything loads fast, responds quickly, and stays put as it should. Here’s the trio that saves the day:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This is all about speed. It measures how quickly the main stuff on your page loads. The goal? To have everything pop up in a jiffy, ideally in 2.5 seconds or less from when the page starts loading.
• First Input Delay (FID): Ever talked to someone who takes ages to reply? Frustrating! FID is the web equivalent, measuring the time from when you first interact with a site to when it actually responds. We’re aiming for a quick comeback, 100 milliseconds or less.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Ever read a page and suddenly the text moves, and you lose your spot? That’s what CLS measures – the stability of your page’s layout. We want everything to stay put, with minimal shiftiness.

Navigating the Performance Widget

This widget gives you the lowdown on how well your site is doing in the performance department. It’s split into two main parts:

• Performance Overview: Think of this as the highlight reel, showing you the overall score and letting you dive into specific issues with cool tools like recordings and heatmaps.

• URL Performance: This is where you get down to the nitty-gritty, analyzing each page to see where you can make improvements. Sort by score, LCP, FID, or CLS, and use those recordings and heatmaps to get a clearer picture.

And hey, you can even set your favorite tab as the default. Just a little customization to make your life easier.

Fixing the Glitches

So, you’ve got the scores, but what if they’re not what you hoped for? No worries, we’ve got fixes!

• LCP Issues? Might be those hefty images or some sluggish server response. Try optimizing images or giving your server a boost.
• FID Frustrations? There is probably some heavy JavaScript at play. Look into loading it differently or cutting down on the bulk.
• CLS Concerns? This usually happens when things load unexpectedly. Make sure images and videos have dimensions set, and keep ads and embeds in their place.

Putting It All Together

Now that you’ve got the lowdown, use those insights! Watch how users interact with your site, especially where there are hiccups. See a high LCP? Check out how visitors react. Frustrated clicks could mean FID issues, and unexpected layout shifts point to CLS problems. Use what you learn to make your site better and keep checking back with the widget to see your progress.

Flurry is sunsetting, now what?

Flurry, owned by Yahoo, one of the oldest mobile analytics SDKs, announced that they are sunsetting in March 2024. The company never recommended alternatives, so in this blog, we have listed a few options to help you make up your mind while you are deciding on your switch.

1. Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity is a free behavioral analytics tool that helps you understand your customer’s behavior as they are using your mobile app. While tools like Flurry give you a quantitative picture, clarity can give you deeper qualitative insights into the reasons why users are behaving in the way they do.

Additionally, through Clarity’s getCurrentsessionURL API, you can link clarity’s session recordings with other behavioral analytics tools (e.g Firebase Analytics SDK) to get more insights

Refer to this blog for the exact steps on how to integrate Clarity with Firebase.

Pros:

• 100% Free with no traffic limits.
• Lightweight SDK – adds up to 500MB only to your app size.
• Respects users’ privacy
• Super-friendly UI.
• Can be linked with other traffic analytics tools (Firebase, Mixpanel etc..)

Cons:

• Some platforms might still not be supported yet.

2. Firebase Analytics

The Firebase platform is already extremely popular amongst app developers as it provides them with a robust and feature-rich mobile app development platform. Firebase Analytics SDK provides developers with a range of tools to track user behavior and app performance like user segmentation, crash logs, app performance metrics, etc.. and is a close match for Flurry Analytics.

Pros:

• Free.
• Rich features including real-time debugging, tracking custom events, user segmentation and useful insights. Seamless integration with AdMob helps in the Ad monetization and better analysis of your users’ value and your application’s performance It also helps in better application advertising strategies.
• Helps generates traffic to your app through app indexing on google search engine which can increase your app ranking.

Cons:

• SDK size might be a bit large for small apps.
• Data for analytics is often sampled.

3. Amplitude

Amplitude is one of the popular event-based quantitative analytics for websites and also have SDKs for different mobile apps platforms.  Amplitude offers a comprehensive list of essential event-based analytics methods, and also some predictive analytics features to predict user behavior.

Pros:

• Data extraction/export capabilities.
• Rich dashboards, providing insights into customer behavior and product usage.

Cons:

• Steep learning curve.
• Complex setup/integration process.
• Paid.

4. Mixpanel

Mixpanel is one of the leading traffic analytics for mobile-apps. It helps product teams analyze metrics and app performance indicators based on set demographics and properties.

Pros

• Track a generous number of events with good visualization
• Integrates with existing tech-stack through a rich set of APIs.
• Friendly User Interface

Cons

• Prices-based features. You would often find yourself paying for extra (more useful) features set so it’s not affordable for everyone.

Best Flurry alternative for mobile app analytics

We know that Mobile app analytics are important for product teams to fully understand how customers behave with their product. if you’re looking for an alternative to Flurry Analytics, Clarity Mobile SDK + Firebase Analytics are excellent options that can provide you with the same level of value and even more.

By combining the powerful analytics capabilities of Firebase with the session replay and heatmap features of Clarity Mobile SDK, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of how users are interacting with your app and make data-driven decisions to improve user experience and engagement. All at Zero cost.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that both Firebase and Clarity Mobile SDK, both backed up by tech giants like Google and Microsoft, are constantly updating and improving their features to better serve their users. This means that you can expect to see new and innovative features added to these platforms in the future, further enhancing their value and usefulness.