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Flutter arrives on Windows; macOS and Linux still in the works

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Flutter arrives on Windows; macOS and Linux still in the works

Flutter, a popular framework for building mobile apps, has expanded to include Windows. The first production release for Windows as an app target was announced on Thursday, allowing Windows developers to use the framework to build apps for Windows, mobile and the web alike.

Every part of the Flutter framework is now accessible to Windows developers. The framework can talk to necessary Windows APIs such as Win32, COM and the Windows Runtime API directly using the Dart C interop layer or a platform plugin written in C++. This allows the framework to use precisely the same Dart code, except it also takes advantage of core Windows APIs.

Additionally, several common plugins have also been adapted for Windows support. Finally, the Flutter community has added Windows support for several other packages, including everything from taskbar integration to serial port access.

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Flutter across platforms

Flutter’s tooling partners are also working on adding Windows support. Some of the first ones to implement this include

  • FlutterFlow: Already added Window support along with features desktop-specific app development features.
  • Realm: The latest version gets Windows support with access to the underlying database using Dart FFI.
  • NeverCode: Updated their Codemagic CI/CD tool to include Windows support.
  • Rive: Announced Windows support in their graphics tooling suite.
  • Syncfusion: Added Windows support for their entire suite of widgets.
Flutter arrives on Windows; macOS and Linux still in the works
Here’s how Flutter will work on Windows using the same Dart code. | Source: Flutter

Flutter 2.10, releasing on Thursday, is the first official build that’ll come with Windows support and performance improvements, bug fixes and additional features. 

Several Microsoft teams also worked on the framework’s transition, including the Fluent design team, with Flutter awarding their fluentui_system_icons package Flutter Favourite status to signify its quality. 

To cap off their announcement, Flutter also put out the word about completing stable support for macOS and Linux in the coming months, completing Flutter as a development framework to be used across desktop, mobile and web applications alike. 

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Yadullah Abidi

Someone who writes/edits/shoots/hosts all things tech and when he's not, streams himself racing virtual cars. You can contact him here: [email protected]

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