Google Releases Flutter 3.0, A Cross-platform App Development Framework

Software developers can use Google's 'Flutter' framework to create apps that operate on mobile devices, macOS, Windows, Linux, and even web browsers. Flutter 3.0 was recently released, and it may soon power more of your apps.
SIA Team
May 15, 2022

During its Google I/O keynote today, Google announced Flutter 3, which adds a few key capabilities for the Flutter app and game developers. In addition to Windows (which was introduced to the roster in February), Linux and macOS are now fully supported, including native compatibility for Macs with Apple Silicon (M1) chipsets. Flutter apps are compatible with Android, iOS/iPadOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, and the web, for those keeping track at home. Granted, not all features are available on all platforms — web apps, for example, cannot access all of your files, even if they are developed using Flutter — but it’s still a remarkable achievement.

Superlist, a to-do and task management tool, was featured by Google as a high-quality desktop application built with Flutter. Although the software is only accessible for Mac at the moment, the company says they are working on Windows, Android, and iOS versions using the same codebase.

Material You, the changeable theme feature featured on most phones and tablets running Android 12 or later, is also mostly supported in Flutter 3. Material You creates color palettes based on the wallpaper and themes on your phone or tablet, and Flutter apps may now use them in their designs.

Google produced a 3D pinball game that plays on the web and has online top score monitoring to demonstrate Flutter’s ability to create games. It’s a fun browser game that you may play (especially if you played plenty of 3D Pinball on Windows back in the day).

Flutter is now available on all major desktop platforms, however it’s uncertain whether many popular apps will transition to it. The bulk of cross-platform desktop programs are being built with Electron, which uses web standards like JavaScript and HTML. Discord, Slack, Visual Studio Code, Skype, and a bevy of other apps use Electron, but the framework has been scolded for its exorbitant memory and CPU usage – each Electron program is simply a Google Chrome copy. Flutter appears to utilize less CPU and RAM than Electron while yet performing better.

Flutter is a framework for developing Dart-based applications that run on a variety of desktop and mobile devices. Many services and games, like Google Pay, eBay Motors, Google Stadia, WeChat, and others, are now powered by it. Flutter is most commonly used to create Android, iPhone, and iPad apps, but it’s also used to create a few high-profile desktop applications, such as the Ubuntu Linux installer.