Occasionally, in cross-platform development, we need to execute certain code on a platform-specific basis. For Flutter apps, we can draw from a rich plugin library to use the native functionality of many platforms without having to write our own implementations, so this may not be too daunting. However, as our needs become more and more niche, we may find that a plugin does not exist to leverage a certain function. That’s when we need to consider writing our own platform-specific code. The platforms that you are targeting already have a language that you can use to implement the functionality ..read more

A simple alert prompt or card is displayed when a newer app version is available in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Most users take advantage of this auto-upgrade feature to avoid having to update each app individually on their phones. However, there are times when an app needs to be updated more quickly than usual, and the user must be notified directly rather than relying on a store alert. This direct notification is also helpful for reaching people who are not subscribed to auto updates. This issue is especially important if you’re following a release early, release often philosop ..read more

One of the most important aspects of a banking app is security. Everybody wants to keep their wealth in a safe place. In today’s world, money drives almost everything, and we always want access to our cash. Well, how can we do that? One of the most common methods is using the device we take everywhere: our phones. So, if we want to make an application that manages the users’ money, we have to ensure it is as secure as possible. In this article, we will learn about the essential aspects of building secure mobile banking apps with Flutter and look at sample codes on how to achieve them using the ..read more

We are in a state where companies are releasing software and solutions within minutes, and they are doing so by following the continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) set of operating principles. A CI/CD pipeline makes the automatic delivery of your software more frequent, reliable, and secure. It focuses on higher code quality, and that’s why it is vital for a mobile developer or team. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to deploy your Flutter app following CI/CD principles with GitHub Actions as a tool. This tutorial requires a Google service account, which will be used in Git ..read more

Flutter 3.0 has introduced some long-awaited changes, chief among them the way we can use enums in Flutter, which many of us have been anxiously anticipating! This is particularly the case for those who have used more robust enums in other languages and find themselves missing them when working on Flutter projects. Instead of using static methods, method extensions, and helper or utility classes, we can now use new built-in Flutter enum features to implement everything in one place. It is fairly new, and as most of us are used to older methods of handling such cases, there are certainly a lot ..read more

In the past, there was nothing cooler than a customized device (phone), the colors, icons, and background all looking great with a dynamic theme. Believe it or not, these themes gave mobile devices the majority of their appeal. Check out the two images below: It’s not difficult to differentiate between the two — that is the benefit of a theme. This article will guide you on how to create a dynamic theme switcher that can switch between three colors, generating a dynamic theme. It will also use the palette_generator Flutter package to identify the dominant color scheme from an image. To jump ..read more

Developing a large-scale application is no easy feat. It usually involves multiple modules working together coherently and is often written by different developers. So, when issues pop up in development, a single person has to go through an app flow created by multiple developers to identify the root cause. Misidentifying what went wrong or adding temporary fixes can break other parts of the code and lead to more issues in the long run. If you want to speed-run creating an app, you may use these in your code: print('reached here'); // Some code print('now here'); // Some other code print ..read more

Flutter 3 includes a handful of unique features, fixes, and improvements. One of the most exciting changes is the addition of support for creating casual games with Flutter, alongside the Casual Games Toolkit and template. This template contains built-in functionalities, such as sounds, advertisements, play service linking, FlutterFire, and more. In this tutorial, we’ll explore these new features by building a Flutter gaming leaderboard for a simple asteroid game and learn how to track high scores with the Firebase Realtime Database. Jump ahead: Building a casual asteroid game in Flutter Cre ..read more

Editor’s note: This post has been updated on 23 August 2022 with the most recent information about cross-platform development, Flutter, and Xamarin, as well as to add a Xamarin vs. Flutter comparison table. Additional updates were made on 25 October 2022 to reflect Xamarin removing their commercial usage fee and other pertinent information. Cross-platform development is among the hottest topics in tech right now. More and more companies are choosing hybrid frameworks over native frameworks. Due to increasing demand, the cross-platform domain has seen a massive surge in the number of frameworks ..read more

It wasn’t so long ago that the highest level of integration that you could expect between your phone and your car was playing music from your phone to your car speakers. As time has gone on, this has changed drastically, with the introduction of technologies like Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Now your chosen audio, fast-food, or navigation app can beam itself directly to your cars entertainment system for easy interactions. While the intent between Apple CarPlay and Android Audio are similar, in this article we’ll look at how we can complement our Flutter app with some CarPlay functionality ..read more