Evaluation of the Cross-Platform Framework Flutter Using the Example of a Cancer Counselling App

Abstract

The advance of digitalization is constantly bringing new solutions to various areas of life in our society. The COVID-19 pandemic, among other things, brought increased attention to the application and support of treatments through digital solutions in the healthcare sector due to contact restrictions. However, the development of digital solutions comes at a high cost in terms of time and expenses. Mobile app development requires the development of two separate apps for the two respective market-leading mobile operating systems iOS and Android. Cross-platform frameworks make it possible to develop apps for both operating systems on a single code base, thus saving the development and maintenance of two separate codes. Flutter is currently the most popular cross-platform framework for the development of mobile apps. This paper has evaluated Flutter based on an existing criteria catalogue. As a usage context for the evaluation, a prototype for Cancer Counselling App of the University Medical Center Freiburg was implemented. According to the gained own prototyping experience with Flutter and a thorough literature analysis in this area, the criteria catalogue was filled out and the result was compared with other mobile App development paradigms.