As a developer, time is one of the most essential factors in developing projects, such as websites, mobile applications, and others. Most projects take much planning, meetings, agenda settings, blah blah blah, before they even reach the development phase. But what if we throw time out of the window? What if a supposed year-long project is already due for the next 3 months? What approach should we use to solve this issue and possibly excel in the task at hand?

For this article, we will talk about FlutterFlow. As a novice mobile developer, I have been using Flutter for more than a year, and in school, I have been developing a mobile application for my thesis for nearly a year, with an elapsed time of more than five months. Meanwhile, I have only been using FlutterFlow for less than two weeks as a requirement for my internship. With the limited time I spent developing with FlutterFlow, I am shocked at how easy it is to develop a mobile application with FlutterFlow. As someone who is not a first-timer using LowCode applications, I believe FlutterFlow has some added convenience, making development much easier than hard-coding with Flutter. Here are some key functionalities, key differences, and features you better not miss while using FlutterFlow:

1. YOU DON’T HAVE TO START FROM SCRATCH

In FlutterFlow, you do not have to start from scratch; you can select from thousands of templates available online. Depending on what type of app you are trying to build, FlutterFlow has you covered. From the Meal Planner App, Chat App, and Shopping App, you name it, and FlutterFlow has it for you. However, not all templates are free; more advanced templates that provide advanced functionalities have a price typically ranging from $50 to $300, depending on the functionalities they offer. Furthermore, FlutterFlow has a preview feature for the users to see the templates and test whether they suit their liking.

Although you saved plenty of time because of the templates, it can be disadvantageous sometimes when the UI/UX does not fit the standard set by your supervisors. In addition, some logic might not add up to your desired functionality. A handy tip is to always discuss with your team and communicate so that your organization won’t waste resources buying templates you don’t need. Which brings me to the next feature you better not miss…

2. TEAMS

FlutterFlow provides a Team Feature that lets you and your team members easily collaborate. Each team member can be assigned to a specific role., such as Manager, Designer, Developer, and Tester. Each role has certain access to the project that best suits their job description. When your project is on a Teams Plan, each team member has collective access to the project’s resources, source code, and design libraries. However, this feature is not free, so if your team wants seamless collaboration, you might want to invest in a team plan.

3. SEAMLESS INTEGRATION TO BACKEND

With FlutterFlow, connecting to a backend service hasn’t been much easier. As someone who hasn’t used Firebase their whole career, I find setting up a Firebase project using FlutterFlow easy. It will only take 2-3 minutes, and your Firebase project is already set up. If you already have an existing Firebase Project set up, integrating it into FlutterFlow will only require a few additional steps, and you’re ready to go. Having this feature made it easy for me to understand and use Firebase for the very first time.

4. WIDGET PALETTE

Lastly, the Widget Palette. In FlutterFlow, every widget that you will need to develop your mobile application will be seen in the Widget Palette. It is a convenient feature that allows you to search for widgets that you need for your application. It also suggests widgets that are commonly used for specific situations and hints at the widgets you might need. This feature is helpful in saving time, especially for novice developers who often forget the widgets needed. Instead of going to the Flutter documentation for help, we can use the FlutterFlow Widget Palette and browse through the types of widgets to find the ones that our system requires.

As I have said earlier, I have only been using FlutterFlow for two weeks, and quite frankly, I haven’t had enough time to use FlutterFlow’s full potential. I still have a lot of areas to explore, such as Animations, Query Collections, and API Calls. However, despite the short time of using it, I saw what FlutterFlow can offer, and I am excited to explore it more and use it in developing new projects. I am confident that with my one year of experience using Flutter, I can develop more projects using FlutterFlow if given the same amount of time.

Conclusion

As a developer, time is of the essence, and we use all the resources in the world just to beat time and deadlines. If you’re fast, you are first in the market, first in demand, first to conquer it all. Platforms like FlutterFlow help us ramp up our development speed by offering features and functionalities that give us convenience, ease, and an overall headstart in our competition. These types of platforms are essential for us developers to utilize, and with the help of AI, our job will only get easier

References

• Documentation