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Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

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Re: Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

#2

Post by latchkey »

I picked Flutter and I'm really happy with it. The latest release of Flutter makes me even happier as there are some nice improvements. I'm using Material components because for me it is the bootstrap of UX these days and requires little thought to make a fairly clean UX. As a developer I can just drop in components as necessary.

  * Hot reload, on device, works and works well.
  * Really nice error messages (in latest release).
  * It is fast.
  * Dart is pretty nice once you get used to it.
  * Provider api for state management works great (basically, react context).
I also do a lot of react web dev, but given that Flutter targets web (and desktop now... goodbye electron), I might try that in the future once it matures a bit.

Some one is developing this kind of cool example of the web target: https://github.com/rxlabz/panache

Re: Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

#4

Post by jdonald »

sjroot wrote: post #3

With SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose on the horizon for iOS and Android developers, respectively, you should really invest time into learning those frameworks.

A relevant read for someone to seriously consider the "Neither!" answer:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20695806 "The not so hidden cost of sharing code between iOS and Android" (dropbox.com)

Re: Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

#5

Post by realusername »

latchkey wrote: post #2

I picked Flutter and I'm really happy with it. The latest release of Flutter makes me even happier as there are some nice improvements. I'm using Material components because for me it is the bootstrap of UX these days and requires little thought to make a fairly clean UX. As a developer I can just drop in components as necessary. * Hot reload, on device, works and works well. * Really nice error messages (in latest r…

I like Flutter as well, I've tried both react-native and Flutter for some small size side projects. I did not like Flutter at all when I've tried it just after the release but now that it had time to mature a bit, it's an excellent tool.

However I don't see why people try to push it on the web, it just renders everything in a canvas, it's a poor fit for web development.

Re: Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

#6

Post by crispinb »

I think if you are starting mobile app development, learn the basics of the 2 main native stacks (iOS, Android). Preferably learn one of them well. A couple of years ago I might have suggested web (PWA's) as a third kind of 'native' app, but that route seems to have lost traction.

In my experience, you'll be a better x-platform developer if you know at least the basics of the native platforms you're targeting.

This is not to say that native is the best choice for all apps. You may find that flutter or React Native suit a particular project best. You may ultimately prefer to specialise in one of those. But that's a separate issue from what you should do starting out.

Re: Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

#7

Post by rapsey »

jdonald wrote: post #4
sjroot wrote: post #3

With SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose on the horizon for iOS and Android developers, respectively, you should really invest time into learning those frameworks.

A relevant read for someone to seriously consider the "Neither!" answer: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20695806 "The not so hidden cost of sharing code between iOS and Android" (dropbox.com)

A whole lot of those problems are C++ related and a consequence of starting this very early and possibly going too far. A lot of companies have had good success with code sharing.

Re: Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

#8

Post by anaisbetts »

My pick is what's appropriate for the situation - you haven't described yours so it's not really possible to help you! Flutter is imho Generally Better but there are absolutely going to be cases where RN is going to be less fighting against the system

Re: Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

#9

Post by WA »

Although unpopular on HN: Cordova-based apps with a good mobile look-alike framework can get you very far for a smallish app.

Advantages:

- truly one code base

- iOS, Android, and web apps

- JavaScript skills are useful

- experience is "good enough" for the average user

Downsides:

- almost no fine-grained control of input controls (like which keyboard to show)

- doesn’t respect users’ accessibility options of the OS

- small differences between the native widgets and the CSS/HTML lookalikes

- not anymore: performance. It’s really good enough on devices of the last 4-5 years

I use Ionic, or more specifically: Stencil with ionic web components.

Re: Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?

#10

Post by latchkey »

realusername wrote: post #5
latchkey wrote: post #2

I picked Flutter and I'm really happy with it. The latest release of Flutter makes me even happier as there are some nice improvements. I'm using Material components because for me it is the bootstrap of UX these days and requires little thought to make a fairly clean UX. As a developer I can just drop in components as necessary. * Hot reload, on device, works and works well. * Really nice error messages (in latest r…

I like Flutter as well, I've tried both react-native and Flutter for some small size side projects. I did not like Flutter at all when I've tried it just after the release but now that it had time to mature a bit, it's an excellent tool. However I don't see why people try to push it on the web, it just renders everything in a canvas, it's a poor fit for web development.

Oh wow, I didn't notice that it went to a canvas! Thanks for pointing that out. Definite consideration for whether or not to do use that in the future.
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