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>Flutter is the best thing that happened to UI development since Qt. Most people don't realize how many apps written in Flutter they use daily, simply because i

by kernal 2y ago

>Flutter is the best thing that happened to UI development since Qt. Most people don't realize how many apps written in Flutter they use daily, simply because it's impossible to tell I agree with you that Flutter has been a boon for cross platform development, but to say it's impossible to tell you're using a Flutter app is a bit of an exaggeration. I have no problem identifying Flutter apps. Not that I care as they often have a genuinely nice UI and are performant.

dotancohen 2y ago
Is the complete lack of accessibility still the giveaway? Last I looked Flutter was a complete nonstarter for accessibility.
- divan 2y ago
  Can you elaborate? What's missing that makes you feel confident saying "complete lack of" despite well-documented accessibility functionality (including testing for accessibility)? [1] [1] https://docs.flutter.dev/ui/accessibility-and-internationalization/accessibility https://docs.flutter.dev/ui/accessibility-and-internationali...
- hyperhopper 2y ago
  I worked on the GPay flutter rewrite and our standard for accessibility was higher than almost any other app I've seen, and was a significant amount of effort spent on that. What accessibility shortcomings does flutter have?
  - jonas21 2y ago
    This may be a silly question, but how do I install the Google Pay app on my iPhone? I'd like to try it out since it's the first app listed in the Flutter Showcase, people keep mentioning it in this thread, and it probably works as well as a Flutter app can, given that it's first-party from Google. But when I search for it on the App Store, it's nowhere to be found (or at least not in the first 20 results).
    - satvikpendem 2y ago
      It's only for the Indian market. As Google often does, they released Google Wallet for the US market. But that's not a failure of Flutter itself of course, only internal Google politics.
  - onlyhumans 2y ago
    Google pay was never able to fix the pre-compiled animation rendering issue on iOS where the first transition or animation is always janky and then it gets cached and no longer has jank. That is quite a non-starter imo
ClassyJacket 2y ago
How do you know this isn't the toupee fallacy? You spotted a few correctly so you assume you always spot correctly - but there might be more you miss. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Toupee_fallacyhttps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Toupee_fallacy https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Toupee_fallacyhttps://rational...
- kernal 2y ago
  The setting screen is the tell. I've yet to see a Flutter app that looks like a traditional iOS setting screen.
divan 2y ago
How do you do that? I just opened my phone, and the last app I used was a food delivery app. How can I figure out if it's a Flutter app or a native one?
- no_carrier 2y ago
  I don't think people are able to tell a Flutter app from any other cross platform/web framework. They just think they can.
  - jwells89 2y ago
    It’s more difficult to distinguish if an app is Flutter or some other cross platform framework, but “native or not” is very easy on iOS. Even React Native, which is the least foreign, has tells. On Android it’s more difficult, partially because it’s kind of like Windows where Google/Microsoft uses 50 separate reimplementations of Material/Fluent and there’s no consistency to be found anywhere.
    - knifie_spoonie 2y ago
      I'm really curious what the specific tells are. Do you have any specific examples? When using the apps on my iPhone, I just don't see how I could tell the difference.
      - jwells89 2y ago
        For React Native it’s common for navigation to be weird compared to UIKit/SwiftUI apps. Also common for things like padding/margins to be off since standard layout facilities aren’t being used, and devs of RN apps will often visually customize controls (web style) that native devs don’t. For Flutter, the most visually obvious thing (aside from usually using Material Design) is that its animation curves are all totally different from those of UIKit/SwiftUI and interact with gestures differently. The Cupertino theme is a poor facsimile of UIKit and lands squarely in the uncanny valley, which is arguably worse than Material Design. Flutter on iOS also tends to hitch where UIKit/SwiftUI don’t.

by kernal 2y ago

dotancohen 2y ago

Is the complete lack of accessibility still the giveaway? Last I looked Flutter was a complete nonstarter for accessibility.

divan 2y ago
Can you elaborate? What's missing that makes you feel confident saying "complete lack of" despite well-documented accessibility functionality (including testing for accessibility)? [1] [1] https://docs.flutter.dev/ui/accessibility-and-internationalization/accessibility https://docs.flutter.dev/ui/accessibility-and-internationali...
hyperhopper 2y ago
I worked on the GPay flutter rewrite and our standard for accessibility was higher than almost any other app I've seen, and was a significant amount of effort spent on that. What accessibility shortcomings does flutter have?
- jonas21 2y ago
  This may be a silly question, but how do I install the Google Pay app on my iPhone? I'd like to try it out since it's the first app listed in the Flutter Showcase, people keep mentioning it in this thread, and it probably works as well as a Flutter app can, given that it's first-party from Google. But when I search for it on the App Store, it's nowhere to be found (or at least not in the first 20 results).
  - satvikpendem 2y ago
    It's only for the Indian market. As Google often does, they released Google Wallet for the US market. But that's not a failure of Flutter itself of course, only internal Google politics.
- onlyhumans 2y ago
  Google pay was never able to fix the pre-compiled animation rendering issue on iOS where the first transition or animation is always janky and then it gets cached and no longer has jank. That is quite a non-starter imo

ClassyJacket 2y ago

How do you know this isn't the toupee fallacy? You spotted a few correctly so you assume you always spot correctly - but there might be more you miss. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Toupee_fallacyhttps://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Toupee_fallacy https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Toupee_fallacyhttps://rational...

kernal 2y ago
The setting screen is the tell. I've yet to see a Flutter app that looks like a traditional iOS setting screen.

divan 2y ago

How do you do that? I just opened my phone, and the last app I used was a food delivery app. How can I figure out if it's a Flutter app or a native one?

no_carrier 2y ago
I don't think people are able to tell a Flutter app from any other cross platform/web framework. They just think they can.
- jwells89 2y ago
  It’s more difficult to distinguish if an app is Flutter or some other cross platform framework, but “native or not” is very easy on iOS. Even React Native, which is the least foreign, has tells. On Android it’s more difficult, partially because it’s kind of like Windows where Google/Microsoft uses 50 separate reimplementations of Material/Fluent and there’s no consistency to be found anywhere.
  - knifie_spoonie 2y ago
    I'm really curious what the specific tells are. Do you have any specific examples? When using the apps on my iPhone, I just don't see how I could tell the difference.
    - jwells89 2y ago
      For React Native it’s common for navigation to be weird compared to UIKit/SwiftUI apps. Also common for things like padding/margins to be off since standard layout facilities aren’t being used, and devs of RN apps will often visually customize controls (web style) that native devs don’t. For Flutter, the most visually obvious thing (aside from usually using Material Design) is that its animation curves are all totally different from those of UIKit/SwiftUI and interact with gestures differently. The Cupertino theme is a poor facsimile of UIKit and lands squarely in the uncanny valley, which is arguably worse than Material Design. Flutter on iOS also tends to hitch where UIKit/SwiftUI don’t.