Flutter Update Timeline - What's new
It has become increasingly common for Flutter apps to improve our daily lives, directly and indirectly. Naturally, more programmers are becoming interested in this development kit every day.
Flutter apps are probably already on your phone without you even knowing it. No matter how you used Flutter, whether you bought a product from Alibaba, advertised on Google Ads, paid using Google Pay, or even redeemed a coupon, it's likely you've seen its results.
Flutter is also used in Cryptograph, an app that tracks and observes the latest updates for more than 1600 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin.
Initially, Google designed Flutter open-source frameworks for building attractive, native-compliant, cross-platform apps based on a single code base. However, the apps we mentioned just now are only examples of Flutter in action.
Soon, you will learn more about the Flutter update timeline. In addition, we are unveiling exciting updates to the latest Flutter version under the “what’s new in Flutter?” section. Here's a quick look at Flutter and the latest highlights about its 3.3 version.
Table of Contents
Essentials about Flutter
When the alpha version was released in May 2017, and the stable version was released in December 2018, Flutter gained tremendous popularity in no time. On GitHub alone, the number of stars for Flutter is 143k compared to React Native's 104k. In addition, it continues to attract a greater amount of interest than its rivals.
The great thing about Flutter is that it is not only an official Google product but a product that everyone can use. Here’s what this means.
Flutter is Google’s free and open-source framework for developing mobile, web, and desktop applications from a single code base. The benefits of open source are that everyone can contribute and play an important role by following practices such as the following.
- Coding or documenting contributions.
- Making packages that extend the core framework's capabilities.
- Publishing books, tips, and training courses that can help teach others.
- Supporting the organization of user groups and events.
Not surprisingly, the number of applications using Flutter and the size of its ecosystem both continue to grow. In fact, more than 1,000 new apps are released on Apple and Google Play daily using Flutter. There has been an increase in desktop and web usage as well.
Various research firms, including data.ai and public testimonials, show that Flutter is used by a wide range of customers in various industries.
For example, while Flutter isn't designed for heavy 3D action games, many of those games now use it in their user interfaces, such as mobile versions of popular games (like PUBG) with millions of players.
Unlike other well-known solutions, Flutter is an SDK - software development kit - rather than a framework or library. Here is a more detailed explanation of what a SDK really is.
What is a SDK?
A software development toolkit (SDK) is a set of tools and applications suppliers provide to developers. Developers use SDKs to create applications for specific platforms, software, or programming languages.
As a general rule, SDKs will facilitate the development of web and mobile app features using pre-built components. The kit includes the building blocks or tools required to complete a project, though the contents vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Ideally, an SDK should be easy to use, offer code examples, provide detailed instructions and guides, be compatible with other SDKs, and consume little RAM, CPU, or battery power.
SDKs are primarily used to develop native mobile applications, but they can also be used in conjunction with websites besides mobile applications.
Flutter Update Timeline
What’s New in Flutter 3.3 (Vikings Edition)
The latest release of Flutter brings updates for the web and desktop, along with enhancements in functionality and many other improvements! Are you wondering what’s new in Flutter’s latest version 3.3?
Here is an overview of some of the newest Flutter features.
- The overview page for navigation and routing is now updated to include information about using Router and Navigator together, naming routes, and using routing packages.
- The amazing contributions of community members on FBcouch have led Flutter to support Scribble handwriting input with the iPad's Apple Pencil.
- Since the SelectableArea widget was introduced, any sub-widget of the SelectableArea widget is free to enable selection.
- A more streamlined API has also been added to the URL strategies page for a more streamlined experience.
- Trackpad input has been improved in Flutter 3.3.
A Closer Look at Flutter 3
After Flutter 1.0 beta was released four years ago, the developer gradually built upon these foundations by adding:
- A new framework with updated functionality and widgets
- Platform integration at a deeper level
- A comprehensive package library and extensive speed and tooling enhancements.
Flutter 3 was released on May 11, 2022. The 3. version had many surprises for developers, from the late support for Apple Silicon chips and reliable macOS and Linux operating systems to new best practices for performance.
As a result of this major release, momentum continues to build. In fact, over 5,687 pull requests have been merged since Flutter 3's release.
Flutter 3 is available on six different platforms: iOS, Android, Web & Mobile browsers, Windows, Mac, and Linux. In addition to supporting both Apple silicon and Intel, macOS is compatible with both chipsets.
Another one of the greatest advantages of Flutter 3 is its support for Material Design 3, which is Google's vision of the Material Design future. Flutter 3 introduces several updates to its basic features, including performance improvements, support for Material You, and product updates.
The team has released an updated version of the go_router package to enhance Flutter’s proprietary navigation API, allowing developers to write routing logic for mobile, desktop, and web applications easier.
Conclusion
Once upon a time, it was up to you whether to create universal mobile apps or native mobile apps. Thankfully, Flutter, an open-source framework from Google, has changed all that.
The number of apps built with Flutter has surpassed 500,000 so far. There are over 25,000 packages in the Flutter package ecosystem, demonstrating its strength and versatility. Today, programmers have more choices when it comes to developing efficient mobile apps for different platforms, such as Flutter, React Native, or Xamarin.
Every modern mobile app development company knows that developing apps with Flutter is an entirely different experience. The One Technologies is an established Flutter app development company with years of experience under its belt.
We help you build production-quality apps by automating testing, software development, and various other technologies.
