Mobile banking has become an essential aspect of today’s banking, and banks are increasingly investing in mobile banking apps to enhance their customer experience. When it comes to developing mobile banking apps, there are several frameworks to choose from, but Flutter has emerged as a popular choice for many developers. In this article, we will learn from the technical expert’s point of view why Flutter is a great option for developing mobile banking apps.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is an open-source software development kit (SDK) provided by Google. The framework is still relatively new, but it is well-liked by the community and is rapidly expanding.
It is used for cross-platform mobile and desktop app development like Xamarin and React Native. It can be used to build apps for, at least, six different operating systems: Android and iOS, as well as Windows, Mac, Linux, and the Linux-based Google Fuchsia.
Flutter is developed in the C, C++, and Dart programming languages. Flutter works by using a reactive programming model, where the UI is redrawn whenever the app's state changes. Flutter widgets are the building blocks of the app UI. They are pre-built UI components that can be used to create responsive mobile apps.
Flutter architecture differs from similar technologies. A unique feature is that it independently draws every pixel as well as handles gestures and animations. Unlike React Native, it doesn’t utilize OEM widgets but has in-house widget collections – Cupertino for iOS and Material for Android. Flutter developers re-rendered all UI elements, fully reflecting their behavior.
Comparison of Flutter, React Native and Xamarin
The most popular cross-platform frameworks are Flutter, React Native and Xamarin. Let’s compare them based on some key factors:
| Flutter | React Native | Xamarin |
Architecture | Uses a bridge to communicate with native components, but unlike React Native, it doesn’t use JavaScript Bridge. This makes Flutter apps more responsive and fast. | Uses JavaScript Bridge to communicate with native components. This makes it slower than native apps. | Uses a bridge to communicate with native components, but it doesn’t use JavaScript Bridge. |
User Interface | The best user interface because of its Material Design widgets. | A good user interface, but it is not as smooth as Flutter. | A good user interface, but it is not as good as Flutter and React Native. |
Performance | Uses a fast and modern graphics engine called Skia to render UI elements, which allows for high-performance and smooth animations. Flutter uses a just-in-time (JIT) compilation process during development, which allows for fast code reloads and a quick development cycle. | Uses a bridge to communicate between the JavaScript code and the native components of the operating system, which can introduce some performance overhead. | Uses a ahead-of-time (AOT) compiler that generates native code, which provides high-performance and reduces app startup time, but it takes the longest time for development. |
Documentation | Rich and easy | Chaotic and unclear | Lack of good documents |
Developer Community | Popular | Popular | Less popular |
Overall, all three frameworks offer good performance and are widely used for Fintech app development, the choice can depend on the specific use case and the developer's implementation. However, we can see that Flutter leads in some crucial factors.
When making a choice, we also recommend paying attention to who is already using the framework, successful cases are the best confirmation.
Top Fintech companies who use Flutter
The efficiency of development in Flutter is the reason why some giants of the fintech industry chose Google’s framework. Here are some of the top Fintech companies that use Flutter:
Google Pay is one of the most popular mobile payment applications, and it has been built using Flutter's cross-platform development capabilities. By using Flutter, Google Pay was able to develop its app faster, with a beautiful user interface, high performance, and security features. The use of Flutter also ensures that the app works seamlessly on both Android and iOS devices.
Nubank - Nubank is a Brazilian digital bank that offers a range of financial services, including credit cards, personal loans, and savings accounts. They use Flutter to develop their mobile app, which offers a simple and user-friendly interface for their customers.
Xianyu (Idle Fish) is an e-commerce app developed by the world-known Alibaba. In addition to the common buy-sell option, it supports recycling, donating, and renting. Currently, the app runs on the combined Flutter-native engine. Among other big fintechs that use Flutter are ING Business, Tide, Credit Agricole, etc.
Approach Suggested by Velmie
We asked Velmie’s CTO Sasha Kukareko to share his expert thoughts regarding Flutter and describe some use cases.
- Sasha, why does Velmie choose Flutter?
- We believe that Flutter is the best solution for cross-platform development at the moment for the following reasons. Hot reload. Flutter allows you to reduce the time for testing and development, making it more convenient and enjoyable for developers. Integration with native code. Flutter can communicate and call any platform code, allowing it to implement and achieve all the capabilities of native applications. Standard Widget Library. Easily customizable views and design elements, the ability to create designs for native platforms, a declarative approach to layout. Work speed. It is comparable and not inferior to native applications. Single code base, which reduces development costs and complexity of support. Strong community providing a wide range of libraries and resources for Flutter developers.
- Could you tell us about any recent customer cases of using Flutter?
- I will give only a small part of what Velmie has already done for our clients on Flutter: 1) Integration of payment systems into the application. For example, we implemented and configured Stripe, an online payment processing platform, SDK in a very short time. 2) Integration of KYC modules, even integration of native modules such as KYC Alice SDK, goes without any difficulties. 3) Localization of applications through services that allow you to change the text in the application without releasing a new version. 4) Integration of biometric functions. 5) Integration of client sites directly into the application through WebView capabilities. E.g. in one of our applications, the client can leave a loan application on the client site without leaving the application. 6) Flutter also doesn't have any issues with referral programs or in-app invitations. A simple integration of Deep Links from Branch.io allowed our client to implement a system of rewards for inviting to the application.
- How does Flutter help Velmie to make customers’ apps more cost-effective?
- The main ways that possibly allow us to be more efficient stem from the advantages of Flutter. Having a single code base reduces the time and cost of developing, maintaining and testing applications for multiple platforms compared to native development. Hot reload allows you to achieve high speed during development, since each new iteration does not require restarting the entire application and going through all the steps again. It also significantly reduces the time for testing applications. The standard widget library allows you to quickly create and customize screens with both the same design and platform-specific ones. Using a declarative approach increases the speed of layout, readability and testability of the code, which significantly reduces the cost of support and debugging.
To sum up, Flutter is an excellent choice for developing mobile banking apps due to its fast development process, cross-platform capability, beautiful UI, high performance, security features, and large developer community. If you're considering developing a mobile banking app, contact us to discuss the best options for your solution.