We Chose Flutter for a Ride-Hailing App. Here's Why.
When Shatta Wale's team came to us to build Shaxi, a full ride-hailing platform for Ghana, we had to make this exact decision. Two apps (rider + driver), real-time GPS, payment processing, push notifications. Native would mean two codebases, two teams, double the maintenance.
We went with Flutter. One codebase. Both apps shipped to the App Store and Google Play. Here's what we learned about making this choice.
Native Development
Best for: Performance-critical apps, complex animations, hardware access
Building separate iOS (Swift/SwiftUI) and Android (Kotlin/Jetpack Compose) apps gives you maximum performance and platform-specific UX.
Pros:
- Best possible performance
- Full access to platform APIs
- Platform-native look and feel
Cons:
- Two codebases to maintain
- Higher development cost
- Longer time to market
Cross-Platform (React Native / Flutter)
Best for: Most business apps, MVPs, teams with web developers
Modern cross-platform frameworks have closed the performance gap significantly. For 90% of business applications, cross-platform is the smart choice.
Pros:
- Single codebase for both platforms
- Faster development, lower cost
- Easier to find developers (especially React Native)
- Hot reload for rapid iteration
Cons:
- Slight performance overhead
- Occasional platform-specific workarounds
- Dependency on framework updates
Our Recommendation
For most of our clients, we recommend React Native as the default choice. It offers the best balance of development speed, performance, and developer ecosystem. We switch to native only when the project genuinely requires it.
SmartQix Mobile Development
We've shipped mobile apps across healthcare, logistics, ride-hailing, and e-commerce. Whether you need a quick MVP or a production-grade app, we've got you covered.