When it comes to mobile app development, both Swift and Flutter have gained massive popularity among developers worldwide. And specifically for iOS app development, these two are the most popular choices. But people with different app requirements often get confused between the two of them. 

So in this blog, we will do a comparison between both of these frameworks so that you can figure out which one is the best for your next project.

Now, Let’s get started!

Best iOS App Development Tools

Before we dive more into the concept of Swift and Flutter, Let’s first have a brief introduction to both of these programming languages. 

Introduction To Swift

Launched by Apple in 2014, Swift is one of the most popular names when it comes to native iOS app development. It is a multi-paradigm, compiled programming language that is open-source and is designed especially for iOS app development services. It can be the best choice if you want to develop a modern high-functioning and complex iOS application. 

Swift uses Apple’s development tools such as Xcode and other frameworks for the further development process. 

Introduction To Flutter,

On the other hand, Flutter is a free and open-source multi-platform SDK (Software Development Kit) developed by Google. It uses the same codebase to target different platforms. Furthermore, it uses “Dart” as its primary programming language for Flutter app development services and supports several different platforms including Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac, and web apps.  

Additionally, One thing that should keep in mind while using Flutter is that it is not suitable for complex functionality games like PUBG. Although it can be used to build simple games. 

Popularity Stats For Swift & Flutter

According to a 2021 developer survey, Flutter is the most used cross-platform mobile framework used globally. It has 118k stars on GitHub whereas Swift has 55k stars. Although both of these frameworks are used to create a variety of different applications. 

Now let’s have a look at some of the popular apps built with Swift and Flutter

Apps built with Flutter

• Alibaba
• Google Ads
• eBay
• Square
• Reflectly, and so on. 

Apps built with Swift

• Firefox
• Accenture
• Linkedin
• Uber, and many more. 

Advantages of Swift & Flutter

• Performance

Apps built with native programming languages always perform quite faster. That’s why in the performance aspect both of these technologies will prove beneficial for mobile app development services.

• Reloading Feature

Flutter is very popular among developers for its “Hot-reloading feature” because it allows them to see the changes in real time without reloading the entire app again and again. For instance, there is a button in the app named “Buy Now” and if you want to change it to “Grab Now”. Now assume that applications made by both technologies are already installed and running in the simulator. 

So the time taken by Swift to make these small changes to the code will take approximately 7 to 12 seconds whereas Flutter has a “Hot-reloading” feature that will reflect the changes in approximately 3 seconds. So, reloading is way faster in Flutter if compared with Swift. 

• Code-Reusability

As already mentioned above Flutter offers code-reusability for different platforms such as Android and iOS which makes the overall development process faster and more effective. This feature also reduces the testing time because the developers don't have to worry about testing for two different applications. 

• App-Size

In the case of Swift, the size of the app is about 25 MB. On the contrary, the file size of the app generated by Flutter is approximately 52.4 MB. So, the apps built with Flutter are heavier in size compared to Swift. 

• Time-To-Market

If you will use Swift to build an iOS app and in case you want an Android app also, then that Android app has to build separately. But with Flutter, you can utilize the same codebase to develop apps for multiple platforms. Ultimately this will help to reduce the development costs and maintenance time. 

Additionally, Flutter makes the development process more seamless because it uses different IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) to speed up the whole process. You can get a basic MVP (Minimum Viable Product) from a Flutter app development company with enough features in a couple of months to attract customers and if you want to add more features to it then you can also do that over time. 

• Accessibility

This feature in the app helps to enhance the user experience level. The process to add accessibility-related qualities in both Swift and Flutter apps is different. 

For instance, in the case of Swift, Apple’s native tools have accessibility support in the UI kit framework so there is no need to import other framework's features into native apps. Apple has provided an accessibility API that allows mobile app developers to provide the correct accessibility information for each UI element by using the UI accessibility protocol in the iOS application. 

Also, there is one more way that can be used to provide access data to the user by using StoryBoard and interface builder. After the information is provided to the user, they can access the elements by using technologies like VoiceOver. 

Now when it comes to Flutter, it has no extensive support to add accessibility. It needs to make more improvements in terms of this aspect. 

Key Benefits of Swift app development

• Secure and open-source
• Reliable and powerful functionality
• Well-written and excellent documentation
• Advanced functionalities for easy scaling. 

Key Benefits of Flutter app development

• Variety of different tools to accelerate the development process
• Create apps for multiple platforms with a single codebase. 
• Hot-Reload feature 
• Wider reach and quick time to market. 

Conclusion

Now we are done with the comparison of both of these frameworks. To conclude, the choice of Flutter or Swift depends totally on the requirements and complexity of your app. In a nutshell, if you want to build an app with complex functionalities then you can go for Swift development services. Besides this, if you want to want an application that works seamlessly for both Android and iOS, then you can go for Flutter app development. 

So, According to your preferences and requirements, you can choose the best one for your next app development services. 

Article resource: https://medium.com/@DianApps/which-one-is-the-best-for-ios-app-development-flutter-vs-swift-de3cbe5550e3