App battle: React Native vs Flutter 🥊

For starters, the added value of mobile apps.

An app literally brings an organisation closer to the user. Joost explains that this goes beyond mere accessibility: "Because an app is on the user's phone, you increase engagement and build more loyalty. Moreover, apps are faster than websites and offer features that are often not available there: offline access, push notifications, location-based services or integration with the camera. That makes for a richer and more personalised experience."

Guus adds: "People always have their phones with them. Through push notifications, you can be instantly visible and trigger the user to open your app. Besides, an app feels more professional and user-friendly than a mobile website. That exudes confidence and gives you an edge over competitors."

That impact goes beyond customer experience alone. Apps also make business processes more efficient. Think of collecting customer data, streamlining orders or sharing information internally. Joost: "By digitising processes and making them mobile accessible, you save time and reduce the risk of errors. In this way, an app enhances both the customer experience and internal efficiency."

Native vs Hybrid apps: the basics.

Traditionally, apps were always built native: entirely in Swift for iOS and in Kotlin or Java for Android. This yields the highest performance, but also means double work - two codebases, developing twice, maintaining twice.

That is why the hybrid frameworks emerged: a single codebase that allows you to create apps for multiple platforms. Hybrid apps are faster to develop, easier to maintain and nowadays so mature that for most organisations they are almost indistinguishable from native apps. The two best-known players? React Native and Flutter.

Framework face-off.

React Native excels in development speed and broad applicability. "You only need one codebase for iOS, Android and sometimes even web," Guus explains. "With Expo, many complex setups are taken out of your hands. Moreover, with over-the-air updates, you can make minor improvements instantly without users having to re-download the app. That makes development and maintenance very efficient."

Flutter, on the other hand, offers Joost the assurance of stability and a powerful UI. "Flutter feels like drawing on a canvas. You have complete freedom to build pixel-perfect interfaces, with smooth animations and high performance. Thanks to null safety and type-checks, many errors are detected early. Using hardware functions, such as sensors, GPS or cameras, is also often easier in Flutter. In React Native with Expo, basic tasks like the camera are doable, but with more complex hardware components, you notice limitations faster. For calling apps, stability is even more important. Calls must work reliably and connect flawlessly to your phone, for instance with an incoming call screen. Because such features work closely with built-in phone systems and network services, Flutter often proves to be a more reliable choice than React Native.

Yet the similarities are at least as great as the differences. Both frameworks offer hot reload, both have an active community and extensive integration capabilities, and both are suitable for high-end apps. Whereas Flutter excels slightly more in stability and UI, React Native delivers speed and flexibility.

Cube's vision for app development.

At Cube, app development is always about the balance between ease of use and future-proofing. An app should feel pleasant, logical and fast for the user, but also be scalable and maintenance-friendly for the organisation.

Joost emphasises the value of a tight architecture: "We divide code into layers: core, data, domain and presentation. This makes it easier to test and add new functionality. Stability and maintainability are always key, because an app should not only work well today, but also in three years' time."

Guus concurs: "We make sure an app can grow with the success of the organisation. New features should be easy to add and everything should stay up-to-date without having to start from scratch every time."

To achieve this, Cube goes through a careful process. From requirements gathering and designsprints, to refinement sessions, code reviews, internal tests and customer reviews. Each step is aimed at building an app that is not only technically sound, but also truly aligned with the client's business goals.

No knockout, but a double win.

In the end, the so-called battle between Flutter and React Native turns out to be more of a friendly sparring match. Guus laughs: "There is no knockout. We are both winners." Joost nods in agreement: "Exactly. We always choose the framework that delivers the most value for the client."

And that is exactly the point: the customer is the real winner. With both Flutter and React Native, Cube has powerful tools to build future-proof apps. The choice of one or the other framework depends entirely on the organisation's specific goals and requirements.

Looking forward.

The future of apps looks promising. According to Joost, AI integrations will create even smarter, more personalised apps that support businesses with recommendations and analytics. Guus expects the distinction between iOS and Android to get smaller and smaller, bringing the move towards a single universal codebase even closer.

One thing is certain: whether with Flutter or React Native, Cube always builds apps that bring organisations closer to their customers as well as make their processes smarter.