Swift Vs Flutter Comparison for iOS App Development

Aug 21, 2019

Having a mobile app for your business is the need of the hour. It opens up a lot of opportunities for businesses to encash their users and offer an opportunity to interact directly with the target audience. In addition to that, mobile apps also help businesses to notify users about offers, deals and new product launching in advance to improve revenues and profits. However, when it comes to iOS app development, businesses nowadays prefer to develop an app by using hybrid platforms and there are many reasons for them.

When it comes to startups, they are at the beginning of their businesses and have budget constraints. For them, developing a native iOS app is an issue as developing an iOS mobile app from scratch is a costly affair. It is just impractical for them to spend so much money on app development. Even developers and mobile app development companies too understand this concern and that is the reason flutter app development is preferred by the companies for Android and iOS app development. It is a completely different thing than native android or iOS app development.

Also, when a developer has to choose the best framework for mobile app development, they are always confused between Swift Vs Flutter. In this blog, we have done a detailed analysis of both Swift and Flutter to kill the dilemma developers face. Stay tuned!

Before we start the comparison between Swift Vs Flutter, let's discuss both the frameworks in brief.

Swift

If you want to develop a native iOS app for your project, Swift is a Numero Uno choice for you as it has so much to offer to the developers. It is a programming language that has carved a niche for itself by offering some unparalleled advantages to the developers by making native iOS app development easy and interesting.

It is a fast, modern, logical and safe programming language which is still in the phase where new features are incorporated in it till date. Apple also has some exceptional tools, documentation and frameworks to offer to the developers for easy and quick native iOS app development.

Flutter

Flutter is multiple platforms, open-source mobile SDK that can be used to create android and iOS mobile apps with single source code. It has gained popularity among developers recently due to many reasons, but the main reason is that it is a cost-effective affair where app development cost is very less than Swift Development.

Flutter uses Dart programming language to develop iOS and Android mobile apps and has all the native features support that makes the tasks of developers easy and streamlined. No wonder, it has become a sensational hit among developers across the globe.

A detailed comparison between Flutter and Swift

Which language to choose from swift and Flutter for iOS app development depends on many factors. The complexity of the app, personal preferences of the developers and many other things. However, when you know the main differences between Swift and Flutter, it would become easy for you to choose amongst the two. Let's go in details for an in-depth comparison.

Onboarding process

Swift is widely used for native mobile app development and Flutter uses Dart programming language and hence, the setup for both platforms is different and distinct.

Swift

For onboarding, first of all, you will need native tools by using Xcode as the IDE. It has a basic development kit incorporated in it and you need to install Xcode in a macOS device.

After that, you need to choose a new project in Xcode with the command File> New> Project> iOS Single View App. Name the project and you have to select Swift as a programming language.

Once you fill up all the necessary details, Xcode will build the template code for iOS and you can now actually start building the iOS application. There is a "Press Me" button in the stimulator and once you write codes in the stimulator, you need to press the button.

Flutter

When it comes to flutter onboarding, you also need to install Flutter binary along with Xcode. Also, you can add other options which incorporate Android Studio and IntelliJ IDEA too.

Once you complete all the formalities, now you can start developing a new Flutter app by initiating some commands. It will show the description of the Flutter project. Press the button with the Flutter Raised Button Widget and it will allow you to run the application. Don't forget that you will need a stimulator to open the app.

Analysis

When it comes to Swift Vs Flutter performance for onboarding, you also need to check out the integration process for both platforms. The Swift iOS development is less stressful compared to flutter app development as it requires less configuration.

Development time

It is very crucial to know the total development time of each of these platforms and for comparison, you can always measure the development time for each platform by checking out each app made with both the platforms.

Swift

It is very simple to measure the build time for swift. All you need to do is to use the command called xcodebuild or Xcode.

$ defaults write com.apple.dt.Xcode ShowBuildOperationDuration -bool YES

If you want to measure the build time, you need to get rid of the build folder or derived data and it can be achieved by choosing a command Product> Clean Build Folder. Once you do it, the dashboard will show you the total development time.

Flutter

Here too, you can measure the development time by using the command shown below by erasing the derived data from the build directory.

$ flutter build iOS –debug –no-codesign –simulator

Analysis

Here, Flutter app development takes more development time for clean builds. However, when the development goes further, flutter picks speed.

App Reloading

App reloading is a very crucial part of the development process. When developers make some changes in the code, they test the results on stimulator or devices and this procedure is called app Reloading. Let's see Flutter and Swift performance when it comes to app reloading.

Swift

When it comes to Swift, if you want to change the button name, you need to rename the element and it will also require additional changes in data and accessibility. Also, you need to ensure that the simulator or device shows the changes. It takes 7 to 12 seconds to do this procedure.

Flutter

Flutter has an amazing feature called Hot Reload that allows developers to incorporate changes in the app and also in automatic reloading of the app. It takes just a few seconds to make changes on the simulator or device. The total estimated time is just 3 seconds.

Analysis

Flutter wins the race here as it takes significantly less time to make changes in the code.

Profiling

Profiling is a dynamic procedure that is done to check out the CPU, memory, resources and other functionalities of the app. App profiling is very crucial and must be done correctly.

Swift

In Xcode, there is a command named Product> Profile with which you can profile your app. With several criteria in line, you can profile an app.

Flutter

In Flutter, you can use IDE or a command line to profile the iOS app. It also has a detailed guide for you to help you out when it comes to app profiling. The approximate time for profiling in Flutter is 149 seconds.

Analysis

Both flutter and swift are excellent when it comes to profiling as platforms offer great support to them. Xcode has an app for profiling and Flutter does that with the help of the browser.

Accessibility

Accessibility feature is incorporated in the apps to improve the user experience of people with some kind of disability. An app developer must keep this thing in mind.

Swift

When it comes to Swift, it is a very simple procedure when it comes to accessibility feature incorporation. There is an in-built accessibility in the UIKit of Xcode. You don't need to import any other framework for accessibility feature incorporation. With the help of UIAccessibility protocol, developers can easily offer accurate accessibility to each UI element.

Flutter

Flutter performs very poorly when it comes to accessibility. It does not have any supporting framework for accessibility and it relies on Accessibility inspector tool of Xcode.