Everything you need to know about new Flutter 1.7 version
If you are a mobile app developer, you must know about Flutter, one of the most used and most cherished mobile app frameworks that have earned quite a reputation and popularity across the globe among mobile app developers and mobile app development community. When Flutter 1.5 was launched, the developers have announced that they have solved more than 1500 reports and recently with the launch of Flutter 1.7, they are claiming to have solved more than 1700 reports and issues in the new version. Isn’t it great? Working with Flutter is quite fun and interesting now and in this article, we will discuss what’s new in Flutter 1.7.
For laymen who don’t know about Flutter, let me explain you in brief that Flutter is a renowned mobile app development framework developed by Google and has been an integral part of the mobile app developers since its inception. Flutter app developers are always in demand as Flutter makes mobile app development easy, effective and superlative by all means.
Well, there are some superior features and updates available with Flutter 1.7.8 releases that need to be discussed to know what it has to offer to the developers and the community. In this blog, we will discuss all the new features and updates one by one.
Before we begin, let me tell you if you have not installed a new and updated version of Flutter 1.7, you need to do now by running Flutter update from the command line. If you are directly downloading Flutter, you will end up downloading the updated version only, so no worries!
AndroidX Support for New Apps
It was a bit complex earlier for developers to update the app components without compromising backward compatibility. However, with the availability of AndroidX, the latest open source support library, it is possible now to update apps with the latest components. The new and updated Flutter supports developers to develop new android projects with AndroidX. It will make things easy for developers and also save their time and efforts.
All you need to do is to add the -AndroidX flag while starting a new project and the project will automatically target the new AndroidX library. If you have existing Android projects that you want to move to AndroidX, it is possible too. All you have to do is to visit Flutter.dev.
Support for Android app bundles and 64-bit android apps
If you don’t know, Google has announced that from August 1, 2019, the developers have to add a 64-bit version for the app that uses native code and made for Android 9 Pie, before deploying it to the Google Play Store. The 32-bit version addition is still there. Thanks to the Android app bundles by Flutter 1.7, it supports both 32-bit and 64-bit version of the apps with a single submission. Also, you can create separate APK files for both- 32-bit and 64-bit versions too.
New Widgets and framework enhancements
People want the mobile apps they download are visually stunning and offer incredible user experience. Even mobile app development companies too make sure that the app is visually impressive and appealing to hit more downloads. It is a core thing to get more organic downloads. Regardless of the platform you use, your app should function natural and great.
Flutter 1.7 has introduced some new widgets for an unparalleled experience. For both Android and iOS, Flutter continues to update and enhance the widgets. For example, a new widget called Rangslider control is a widget that allows you to select a range of values such as minimum and maximum temperature or contrast.
Also, the old SnackBar widget has an updated version that supports an updated look in the material spec.
Other such widgets are updated such as CupertinoPicker, and CupertinoDateTimePicker too.
Also, Flutter 1.7 has improved the text selection and editing experience in the iOS platform irrespective of which design language you are using. Also, some of the features such as slashed zeros, stylistic sets, tabular and old-style numbers are introduced in typography too. Hire Flutter developers and developing mobile apps would be easy for you now.
If you are looking to develop some very funny apps, Flutter 1.7 is yours truly.
Focus on Fundamentals
One of the most challenging tasks for mobile app developers is to resolve the big issues by the users and that too promptly. Since its last release, we have addressed more than 1,250 issues in the last two months. The team has worked hard to ensure that all the bugs and issues are resolved with utmost accuracy.
The main issue is the bug process that was flawless earlier, is no longer relevant and fully functioning now due to project size. Hence, the Flutter team is trying to ensure that more and more personnel are hired to address reported bugs and issues immediately and to close duplicate issues too.
Also, if you want smooth documentation, you can create a list of samples directly from the Flutter create the tool by running a simple command.
Also, they are planning to embed the famous Widget of the Week videos directly into the documentation to keep people aware of different widgets and educate them about the same.
Also, Flutter 1.7 has a new Xcode Build System to support the flutter app development on Mac. You can start a new project or enable it on the existing projects too.
Rapidly growing Flutter community
It is interesting to note that the Flutter community is growing rapidly and more and more numbers of developers are using flutter for mobile app development to take advantages of its versatile features and functionalities. Even the developer team at Flutter is too busy with different events and meetups and presentations across the globe. Recently, they have visited China for GMTC and has conducted various presentations in New York and Mexico.
In addition to that, an open-source community of flutter is ever-growing like anything.
Conclusion:
As you can see, there are not many new components added with the Flutter 1.7 releases, but they have tried to polish and update the existing features and components to make the Flutter framework more interesting and superior to work with. It has extended support for crucial APIs and libraries to make basic and excellent mobile applications.
