This week we asked David Tengeri, a senior software engineer with 17 years of experience and a tech interviewer at HighCircl, about Flutter.
David started his career 17 years ago as a full-stack developer, dipped his toes in Ruby on Rails a bit, and eventually fell in love with Flutter. He says he always felt a pull towards mobile technologies, and React Native was the first framework he tried. The reason he ultimately landed on Flutter? The vibrant and helpful community that motivates him, which is also why he hosts official Flutter meetups in Szeged, Hungary.
Q: What exactly is Flutter?
A: Flutter, released by Google on December 4, 2018, is an open-source, cross-platform technology. It's what's known as a UI software development kit, aimed at developers who want to create apps that share the exact same look, feel, and business logic on both Android and iOS.
Q: Android, KMP, React Native... What’s different in Flutter?
A: It's important to remember that Flutter is developed and backed by Google - unlike React Native - so it’s incredibly well-supported. It’s also open-source, so if for some hypothetical reason Google were to drop official support (and I stress, hypothetical!), hundreds of corporations are ready to pick it up.
Fundamentally, Flutter is a UI framework with its own rendering engine. This means the interfaces you create will look identical across all platforms, by design. This consistency makes it incredibly fast to build and modify UIs - one of its most significant benefits.
Q: Talking about benefits, is Flutter better than the other solutions?
A: I wouldn’t say it’s better; it’s different, and it serves a different purpose. In my career, I've noticed that it’s rare to receive platform-specific UI designs. Clients typically want their app to look the same on both platforms, and achieving this takes extra effort with React Native or native code. Flutter, however, was made for this. What you build once works everywhere.
And while 'developer experience' might not sound like a client-facing benefit, it's one of the best in the industry with Flutter, and it directly translates to speed and quality. Your changes appear on-screen instantly, making development both easy and fast.
This has a huge impact on development time. I’ve seen reports from companies who, after introducing Flutter, began shipping updates significantly faster. You don't need separate Android and iOS codebases. This means you often need fewer developers, and the organization can shift from siloed platform teams to more agile feature teams. The result is a more streamlined workflow with simpler ticketing and faster release cycles.
I saved the most powerful benefit for last: a tool called Shorebird. It allows you to release hotfixes and patches directly to users without pushing the update through the official store review. You know, it can take 1-5 business days to get a critical fix approved through store reviews. With a tool like Shorebird, you can deploy it immediately.
Q: What's the catch? What’s the drawback?
A: The first thing that comes to mind is that if you need a feature to look and feel perfectly native, it’s going to cost you more development hours. Flutter’s ecosystem is designed to build a consistent UI everywhere, so while creating a native look is doable, it requires some dedicated effort.
Using platform-specific native services and tools falls into the same category. If absolute top-tier performance is a non-negotiable requirement, native is still the better choice.
Finally, some teams can be hesitant to adopt a new language, and with Flutter, your developers will need to learn Dart.
Q: Since Google supports both, should we choose Flutter or Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP)?
A: If you ask a KMP dev, they’ll say KMP; if you ask me, I’ll say Flutter! Google itself relies heavily on Flutter, using it to build many of its own internal and public-facing applications.
The choice is clear: choose Flutter if you want a shared look and feel, as it’s much faster for that. If you want native Android and iOS UIs but want to share the underlying business logic, then KMP is likely your answer.
Q: Will Google drop Flutter in favor of KMP?
A: I don’t think so, but the safest answer is that we don’t know for sure, as there are no official statements. Personally, I don't worry about it. As we discussed, because Flutter is open-source, other companies would gladly step in to lead its development.
Q: So, which solution should teams choose?
A: It really depends on your team and goals. If you have React developers with some mobile experience and need to ship quickly, React Native might be a good path for you. If you want a small, efficient team and a consistent look and feel on all devices, choose Flutter. If you want to try a newer approach that shares business logic while keeping UIs native, look at KMP. And if raw performance is your top priority? Then native Android and iOS are your choice.
Q: Thanks, David. As a last question, any advice?
A: Absolutely. Don’t be afraid of Dart. It’s easy to learn and feels natural, for me, it’s similar to Java. Declarative UIs aren’t new either, so if you’re interested and the benefits align with your needs, I say jump in.
About HighCircl Tech Talk
Tech Talk is a weekly series of interview-format articles discussing important technological changes and news. Each week, we go deep into tech stacks and best practices by chatting with an expert from HighCircl.
