Flutter Vs. Swift: Consider the Key Differences to Choose the Best Language for iOS Development
These days, hybrid mobile app development is experiencing more demand and popularity than ever before, partly because of the budget constraints and faster growth needs. This is exactly why Flutter is considered as such a great alternative to native Swift for iOS development.
It’s critical to clarify the differences between Swift and Flutter frameworks to the vast majority of native iOS and cross-platform app developers. The differences are explained below.
What is Swift?
Swift is the primary programming language for creating native iOS apps. Swift was created by Apple as a fast-paced, type-safe, and dynamic programming language that is constantly evolving and adding new features. Apple is constantly improving Swift by releasing new tools, documentation, and frameworks.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is a cross-platform, open-source mobile SDK created, launched, and maintained by Google for cross-platform developers creating both Android and iOS apps from a single source codebase. Flutter employs the Dart programming language and provides extensive documentation. Apart from providing full support for the key features, Flutter works similarly to React Native.
Swift vs Flutter for iOS Development
Every OS app requires some features and technologies that are unique to it. Swift is ideal for this. However, because Flutter has emerged as a smart language for developing highly efficient iOS apps, the parallel between the two appears apparent.
Here are the key differences.
Onboarding and Installation
The setting up and onboarding for both are different and contrasting with one another.
With Swift, the onboarding requires native tools that use Xcode as the IDE. For installing the development kit, you need to install Xcode in the macOS device.
The Flutter onboarding process necessitates the installation of both the Flutter binary and Xcode. Other tools, such as Android Studio and IntelliJ IDEA, may also be installed.
Finally, the Swift onboarding is a little easier and less complicated compared to Flutter as the former needs too little configuration.
Development Speed
Swift allows you to easily calculate development time by using the Xcode build or Xcode command. Swift is a fast-paced programming language that is currently regarded as the fastest for iOS development.
A similar command for measuring development time is available in Flutter. However, Flutter for iOS is slower than Swift. However, as you progress beyond the initial clean builds, Flutter becomes faster.
Reloading
Reloading feature helps in reflecting the changes in real-time. Thanks to this feature, any change made in the code is reflected in the app output in real-time. This allows faster and more precise evaluation of the coding effort of the developers.
Swift necessitates a number of changes to the button names, data, and accessibility. Second, you must ensure that the simulator or device itself reflects the changes. It takes at least 10 seconds or more for those changes to be reflected.
With Flutter, you have the Hot Reload feature that within just a couple of seconds can help to update the changes in simulator or reflector. Flutter proves to be a lot faster with respect to making changes in the app code.
Robust Testing and Documentation
When it comes to testing, there are many differences between the frameworks in terms of iOS development. Apple offers XCTest for native iOS testing, which is a fantastic framework for native testing for a variety of testing activities such as UI testing, performance testing, and integration testing. These testing tools are maintained on a regular basis as part of the iOS app package. This is why Swift, in conjunction with this testing suite, is perfect for Native iOS development.
At the same time, this iOS supported swift testing tools to have an array of shortcomings as well. Some important features, such as the grouping of tests, snapshot tests, and the data-driven testing, are not available with this testing suite.
A robust testing system, on the other hand, is a key and priceless promise of the Flutter framework. Flutter assists developers in writing tests ranging from the user interface to functional and unit testing. Widget testing is a great option for standalone app components because it allows for faster test execution. Apart from that, Flutter is a fantastic framework for fast-paced documentation, as well as detailed examples of using and testing Flutter code at different levels. Finally, Flutter Driver is required to successfully run all of these tests.
Continuous Integration & Development
Continuous integration and development are critical practises for building iOS applications in a proactive and responsive manner. Despite the fact that Apple’s Xcode server is fully equipped to ensure continuous integration and delivery of iOS apps, the solution often lacks scalability. To address this shortcoming further, Apple introduced BuddyBuild, which is still insufficient.
To address this shortcoming further, Apple introduced BuddyBuild, which is still insufficient.
In comparison, Flutterby, in collaboration with Nevercode, recently unveiled the all-new Codemagic CI/CD at the Flutter Live event in London. The best part about the Nevercode Codemagic solution is that it can create, detect, test, and package apps with no configurations.
Conclusion
After reckoning with some significant differences, we must admit that Flutter enjoys a competitive edge thanks to more pace and sophistication. But Swift still stands as an excellent language for building all things iOS. In the years to come, we can expect Flutter to be more accessible, while Swift is still dominating the iOS development scene.
Originally published on - Flutter vs Swift
