Flutter remains one of the most popular tools for cross-platform app development due to its rich variety of features and a relatively shallow learning curve. But despite its seeming simplicity, some developers still make mistakes that lead to poor performance and negatively impact user experience. In this article, we list the main Flutter mobile app development mistakes and explain how to prevent or fix them. Whether you are an experienced developer or just starting to use this tool, this article will serve as a valuable checklist to address in case you experience any issues with your project.
What Makes Flutter So Good For Cross-Platform App Development?
Before discussing the most common development mistakes, first it is important to talk why Flutter is often the number one choice when it comes to cross-platform development.
Flutter is an open-source UI SDK (software development kit) developed by Google. It is used to create rich and interactive user interfaces and has the following advantages:
- Great performance
- Suitable for MVP development
- A rich collection of widgets
- Support for animations
- A rich library of packages
One more thing among the great Flutter features is that it’s relatively easy to learn. Hence, many frontend developers and development companies use the Flutter technology as their framework of choice. Being an experienced software development company, SoftTeco frequently uses Flutter in our projects and offers extensive Flutter app development services to businesses who need a high-performing cross-platform solution. But as with any other software development tool, Flutter application development requires to follow specific best practices and rules in order to avoid common mistakes. Otherwise, your app will most likely experience crashes and glitches that are among the biggest reasons behind poor user expeience.
Top 6 Flutter Development Mistakes And How To Fix Them
Below we list the biggest Flutter mobile app development mistakes. We also explain how to fix and prevent them so you can review your project and check whether any of these issues are present.
Poor state management
State management implies knowing the condition of your app at any given time and ensuring that it reacts as intended to all the inputs. It is focused on delivering consistent user experience and ensuring the app reacts correspondingly to user inputs.
Since Flutter is used to design UIs, it is especially important to configure effective state management. Unfortunately, some developers underestimate the importance and complexity of its state management and, as a result, the app gets bugs and errors.
Some of the most common Flutter state management issues include:
- Neglected changes of app orientation and ignored differences between screen sizes;
- Incorrect updating of the app’s state during the transition between the screens;
- Incorrect data storage.
To ensure that you handle state management correctly, it’s recommended to deploy a state management solution that would automate and optimize a bunch of tasks related to the process. The most popular Flutter libraries for state management are:
- Provider
- BLoC
- Riverpod
- Redux
Poor error handling
Error handling is a common issue for many apps since developers tend to treat it like an afterthought. As a result, there might be unexpected crashes or delivery of poor user experience.
It is crucial to implement a solid error handling strategy before you start coding and take preventative measures to minimize the chances of an error happening. If it does though, your strategy should define how to handle the error so it causes minimal impact. Here are a few more tips on proper error handling:
- Use try-catch blocks for exception handling;
- Implement and configure the ErrorWidget;
- Use tools for error monitoring and logging;
Ignorance of platform-specific requirements
While Flutter is used to build cross-platform applications, it is still important to remember that iOS and Android have their unique requirements. Unfortunately, some developers forget about that and as a result, the app delivers poor user experience or can even be rejected from publication in the app store. Here are some moments to pay special attention to:
- Consider different permissions for camera, storage, and microphone access for both iOS and Android;
- If necessary, use platform-specific code;
- Use platform channels to access specific features of each platform;
- Consider the differences between screen orientation and device-specific features.
Incorrect widget tree optimization
One of the Flutter’s principles is “Everything is a widget”, meaning that it uses widgets as construction blocks for the app and almost everything can serve this role. Hence, is it critical to properly optimize widget trees as they impact the performance greatly.
Consider the following tips:
- Deploy const constructors;
- Break down huge widgets into smaller ones to make them reusable and make the whole widget tree less complex;
- Use keys so Flutter recognizes various widgets and does not create unnecessary rebuilds;
Lack of performance optimization
Another common Flutter mobile app development mistake is poor performance. Performance optimization is critical for any application as it directly impacts user experience and reliability of the app. A poorly optimized app will face crashes and bugs and will most probably have slow load times and glitches. To avoid such issues, use the following techniques:
- Try not to do heavy and complex tasks on the main thread;
- Watch for unnecessary widget rebuilds and minimize their number;
- Compress your files;
- Use caching and lazy loading;
- Use efficient data structures;
Lack of testing
Testing is an integral part of software development as it helps not only detect and fix bugs but improve the app’s security and reliability. Considering that Flutter is a rather complex framework, it requires continuous and rigorous testing throughout the whole development process. Thus, keep in mind the following best practices:
- Deploy automated testing tools;
- Write and use unit tests;
- Write widget tests for UI verification;
- Considering setting up Continuous Integration (CI) for automated and regular tests
App development using Flutter: summing up
So, is Flutter good for app development? Absolutely. Flutter is a highly powerful and effective tool that allows creating feature-rich cross-platform applications. However, before the start of work, developers need to create a solid development strategy in order to eliminate the abovementioned mistakes and make sure that the app will perform and look exactly as intended. By implementing a proactive approach towards app development using Flutter, you will be able to create high-performing and secure apps with superior and uninterrupted user experience.
