this is a shallow dive into using flutter for basic app stuff. majority of apps are api clients. can flutter accomplish this common task in an efficient and fun manner? sure.

context: i have developed for both android/ios. android being my stronger suite. i no longer actively develop mobile and wanted to see if flutter was better than my past experiences.

• doesn't majorly suck. both android/ios have insane quirks and headscratchers
• not tied to xcode or android studio. many people hate both. both are heavy ides.
• redux-like pattern is good and intuitive. state management in android used to be very unfriendly.
• documentation is existent for common items and code is generally readable for the rest
• write once for custom views
• no npm bugs
• development velocity feels fast with less obvious cruft. this is very subjective. i believe i could get similar results with ios as well - i'd just hate myself more.
• material icons are provided in code. this is a small thing but having to import icons individually in ios was the worst.
• interop to native java/swift seems fine. haven't really tried but you can read more here
• doesn't need libraries for a better dev experience (android people know what i mean)

• ui isn't native. scroll-to-refresh widget is obviously different. collapsing toolbars on android are atrocious.
• not write once if you're trying to target system look & feel. honestly not sure how you're supposed to switch between cupertino/material styles without completely rewriting the views
• feels very beta. missing many plugins people might need
• feels very beta. http is an odd story. recommended http client seems very limited but you can just use the real dart client.
• still requires an ide for development. definitely not vim/emacs friendly.
• dart?? feels like a better JavaScript but worse TypeScript. limited ecosystem except for decent google libraries.
• sometimes get odd dependency issues. seems like you can only have 1 version of any given lib a once but lib a might require v0 while lib b requires v1 resulting in a catastrophe

go for it. i would definitely use flutter for api consumption apps. would be questionable for business-logic heavy apps that require features beyond the immediate flutter sdk.

for android:

1. git clone [email protected]:choyg/hn.git
2. plug in device
3. cd ${project_dir}
4. flutter build apk
5. flutter install

for ios:

1. i have no idea but you can read this

why does this look like materialistic? not sure what you're talking about.

is this free? yes.

is this free? yes.