Flutter vs Swift: How to Choose the Best IOS App Development Framework

Thanks to over 6.3 billion mobile devices helping users worldwide, many businesses are killing it with various mobile apps. It is not overstating to say that there is an app for everything.

Struggling to improve your communication skills? You can find many apps that bring you some of the best trainers in the world.

Why are we saying this?

We say this because mobile apps have become integral to many businesses' growth strategies. And if you want to grow, it should also be part of your growth plan.

But then again, one question remains. What is the best framework for your IOS app development?

Let's dive right into the topic.

An intuitive and high-performing IOS mobile app is a recipe for revenue and market growth for any business. However, in doing so, the role of the platform you choose for IOS app development has a huge say.

As the mobile app development industry is on an upward growth streak looking to be valued at a whopping USD 366.34 billion by 2030, more businesses are willing to develop apps for IOS platforms. This encourages businesses to choose between two popular options for IOS app development.

Image Source: marketresearchfuture.com

Although both platforms are efficient and loved by IOS application development companies, they fundamentally differ to enable better app development. However, evaluating and understanding these frameworks is crucial to help you make an informed choice when hiring a Flutter app developer or a Swift app developer.

This forms the crux of the Flutter vs. Swift comparison.

What Is Flutter?

A relatively new app development framework, Flutter, is developed by Google. The idea of Flutter is to enable developers to create high-performing, top-notch, and beautiful apps from a single codebase.

With Flutter, businesses can create apps for IOS, Windows, and Android platforms without writing separate and different code for each platform.

This is why many businesses hire Flutter developers to create cross-platform applications. And it is more efficient regarding time, effort, and money taken for development.

What Is Swift?

Developed by Apple, Swift is an intuitive and robust language for developing apps and assets for the IOS platform. Many businesses use the language for IOS app development as it is easy to learn, implement, and debug.

Swift also comes with a set of highly expressive, concise syntax and many features, making it easier to create intuitive apps that perform reliably.

It also has modern capabilities and security features, making Swift one of the most recommended languages for IOS app development.

Although Flutter and Swift are two different frameworks with a variety of elements making them different, there are many things that an iOS app development business must understand before choosing one for development.

Here is a Flutter vs. Swift comparison table to quickly understand their differences.

Related Article: Flutter App Accessibility

Now that you have understood the difference between Flutter and Swift, here is a detailed explanation of their differences to help you better understand them.

Integration and development

You may use Flutter and Swift for both integration and development. With a range of plugins and packages, Flutter can help you integrate your app into diverse other apps and solutions without any hassles. The framework also allows quick integration with third-party apps like Google Maps, Firebase, etc.

Likewise, Swift also comes with various system frameworks and APIs that make app development easier for everyone.

The Xcode IDE lets you use Swift to create powerful IOS apps.

Speed of development

Another essential element all Swift and Flutter developers want to take care of is development speed. The faster the development, the better because it reduces the time to market for any software product.

Swift is said to be incredibly faster when it comes to development. Even the framework’s name implies that.

At the same time, Flutter also ensures quicker iOS app development. As businesses can use the same codebase, the overall development time for apps can decrease.

Application size

Thanks to its compact runtime, Flutter makes it easy to develop fast and small apps. With a variety of options, such as code-splitting and tree-sharing, Flutter makes it easy for Flutter app development to develop small apps.

As a native IOS framework, Swift also helps create efficient and small applications. Using its compiler, businesses can reduce the size of the app, which directly affects its performance positively.

With further capabilities, such as whole-module and link-time optimization, the app’s size can be reduced even more for better performance.

Application performance

Many businesses want to deliver the best user experience and performance from the app. However, it is going to cost you more. And if you are willing to invest money into IOS app development, the best option is swift as it offers native app development.

It can produce high-quality and efficient codes with an impressive set of APIs. All these make the app perform excellently.

On the other hand, as a cross-platform framework to develop IOS applications, Flutter cannot offer the smooth and efficient performance that Swift can offer.

However, it can compensate for this by being highly economical and value-adding. You can hire Flutter app development to complete your app quickly and without spending a lot of development.

Accessibility

Our efforts to make the internet a more inclusive place for people with disabilities it has encouraged businesses to create apps and websites that are accessible to everyone. Regarding accessibility, Swift has its accessibility feature in the UIKit of the framework.

Although this makes it easy for developers to make accessible apps, they must use accurate accessibility information for each of the accessibility elements when using the UIAccessibility protocol.

While Flutter can also be used to develop accessible IOS apps for everyone, it does not have a dedicated accessibility feature.

Stability of the apps

Whether you use Swift or Flutter to develop IOS applications, we have learned them to be highly stable from our experience as a mobile app development company. Google supports Flutter and has a large community of developers supporting its development.

Likewise, Swift also has a strong team working to improve the framework and enhance the user experience of the app developed using the framework.

Hence, both apps deliver similar stability for IOS development.

Platform maturity

When we look at when these platforms were released, we can see that Swift was released in 2014, making it an older platform. At the same time, Flutter was released by Google in 2017. However, both frameworks have grown tremendously since then as technological advances have accelerated their growth.

However, Flutter app development is more widespread than Swift as it enables cross-platform development.

Many businesses prefer Flutter app development as it helps them reduce their development cost and time to market.

Reusability of code

As a cross-platform development framework, Flutter enables its developers to use its expansive library of components and widgets for multiple platforms. This helps businesses reduce their app development investments in money and time. It is also easy for them to maintain.

However, Swift, while it can be used to develop apps for Apple’s IOS ecosystem, it cannot be used to develop apps for other platforms.

Hence, businesses that want to develop apps for multiple platforms must choose Flutter app development.

Related Article: Flutter vs. React Native

Selecting the proper application development framework is crucial for businesses to ensure the apps' quality, the process's efficiency, and the time taken for development.

When choosing a framework for IOS app development, consider the following elements to make the right choice.

• Consider a framework that enables faster app development. This will reduce your investment as well as the time to market.
• If you are developing the application for multiple platforms, choose a framework that supports cross-platform development.
• Assess the cost of your app development right from the beginning of the process and go with a framework that reduces the cost.
• Every application needs to have the best security features in the market. Hence, pick such a framework that enhances the app's security.
• Working with a framework that can offer continuous support and updates is crucial when choosing a mobile app development platform.

Businesses have great opportunities to leverage the same as the number of people using mobile apps for various purposes increases. However, in doing so, you need to choose the most versatile and reliable framework to reduce the cost and time of IOS app development.

Businesses have great opportunities to leverage the same as the number of people using mobile apps for various purposes increases. However, in doing so, you need to choose the most versatile and reliable framework to reduce the cost and time of IOS app development.

The best thing you can do to ensure the same if you have no experience, is to work with an experienced and reliable Flutter app development company like AddWeb Solution. We can deliver top-notch services thanks to over a decade of hands-on experience developing IOS apps. You can hire a Flutter app development team that has already worked with diverse businesses creating efficient and impeccable apps for them.

We also train our team regularly to keep them updated on all the challenges in the world of IOS app development so that you can hire Flutter developers who are the best.