Building a Flutter Chat App: Step-by-Step Tutorial and Best Practices

If you come from a tech background, you surely know about Flutter, and you will surely know its popularity among mobile app developers. Almost every developer loves to work with the Flutter framework. The Flutter framework helps mobile app builders to build native chat apps for different platforms in a short time. To get the Flutter app, business owners or say entrepreneurs need to hire flutter developer. 

On the other side, Firebase lets the integration of real-time abilities into the mobile application along with powerful storage & security.

When both Firebase and Flutter technologies combined, it enabled businesses to build a feature-packed, scalable, and user-friendly messaging or chat app for their valuable users with the assistance of a flutter app development company.

In this blog, we are going to discuss the step-by-step process to develop a messaging application in Flutter with Firebase integration. This blog will surely give you an ultimate idea of how famous Flutter messaging apps work with technology like Firebase at its backend.

Why Should You Opt for the Flutter Framework For Your Messaging Application?

Flutter, is a robust framework launched and designed by Google, to assist mobile application developers create powerful apps very quickly. This platform has various pros and aspects that make it the wonderful choice for messaging app development, but here is a long list of reasons you must opt for Flutter for your mobile app.

• User-friendly – The Flutter framework provides a big list of widgets that can be swiftly customized to build a wonderful UI for your mobile application. With support for iOS and Android native visual styles, it’s easy for Flutter app development services to create a messaging application that has an eye-catching, modern, beautiful, native-like UI.
• Faster app development – The Flutter framework provides a powerful feature named, Hot Reload that enables mobile app developers to fasten the process of app development with real-time code alterations & previews. There is no requirement to wait for the mobile application to reload after making modifications to the code; you can continue to improve the aspects & fixing issues without any disturbance. Utilizing the Flutter framework cuts down the time of messaging app development by almost half while maintaining quality.
• Better performance – The most crucial aspect of a messaging application is response time; delayed chats can put off valuable users. The Flutter mobile applications need no request access from the particular platforms they are willing to connect to, minimizing the initiating time & possibility of performance issues remarkably. A reliable Flutter app development company enjoys the pro of developing a messaging application that runs as swiftly and productively as any other native mobile app.
• Cross-platform compatibility – Flutter, being a cross-platform framework, facilitates creating messaging applications that run on different devices & even these devices’ older versions and OSs from a single codebase. There is not any requirement to create dedicated applications for different OS (such as desktops, mobile devices, web browsers, etc.). The Flutter framework can build mobile apps that run on different formats as well as screen sizes because of its wonderful design aspects.
• Time & cost saving – The platforms’ cross-platform compatibility makes it easy to save expenses and time. Flutter app development services provide a development team that can write a single codebase that runs easily on multiple platforms and it is easy for Quality Assurance teams to test the mobile application quicker. If you hire Flutter developer from a reliable Flutter app development company, then you don’t need to hire multiple teams, industries can save time as well as money. This also makes the Flutter framework an incredible option for those who are willing to get their message apps quickly to the market.

Why is it wonderful to Integrate Firebase Into Your Chat App is worthwhile?

Latest communication demands aspects and capabilities that perform way beyond regular messaging applications. Here, Firebase integration acts as the catalyst for creating vigorous and secure real-time infrastructures. Here are the paramount reasons why mobile app developers choose Firebase Integration for their mobile applications:

Real-time functionalities: The time you are developing applications that require delivering data within half a second, typically in real-time then Firebase integration possibly be your best bet.

Security: Authentication of users is a vital aspect of mobile applications that involve multiple users. The time you set up a login for valuable users with phone number, email, password, and Google or other social media platforms such as Facebook sign-in, Firebase assists you incorporate them into your mobile applications easily. Furthermore, the data stored in the cloud is also protected by this service. 

Data Storage: A messaging application typically involves conversations as well as media shares being stored for user access. Firebase offered another service to keep user data safely in a cloud space. 

A step-by-step guide to building a messaging application utilizing both Flutter and Firebase

• Firebase Authorization –Authentication Firebase is an important step of messaging app development as it ensures data security. It lets you sign in to the mobile application directly utilizing your username. But how to build a Google sign-in?

Utilize VS code or terminal/CMD, as both serve as a streamlined code editor while supporting various processes of app development.

1. Go to the comments in the main. dartand remove MyHomePage() stateful widget. Now, structure a folder inside the library.
2. To arrange the images with particular names, create a widget such as Sing-in inside the Sign-in. Dart. Here, you can utilize action buttons, such as Scaffold, floating, appBar, and Body.
3. Make sure you utilize a different document file as appBar will be alike for all the screens.

• Installing the plugins –Since you’re gazing for a Flutter messaging app that is functionally rich, it is crucial to incorporate the appropriate widgets. With this, you can add functionality to your messaging app as per your requirements & preferences.

2 things are of greatest importance when integrating widgets, like adhering to the instructions as well as utilizing the most suitable plugins. 

• Layout creation – It’s time to build a layout for your messaging application screen. Please keep in mind, your messaging app has multiple screens. Therefore, it is crucial to write a distinct set of codes for each screen. Additionally, your mobile app developer must stick to the guidelines while creating the screens.
• Connecting the Flutter messaging application with Firebase – Once you complete the designing part of the layout for your Flutter messaging application screens, the final step is linking the Flutter messaging app with Firebase. To do this, you require to sign in to the Firebase.

While it comes to executing these steps, it’s not as very much easy as it seems. It’s quite a tricky job, which requires experience & skills. So, if you want to hire a Flutter app developer from a reliable Flutter app development company, please do your research well so that you hire the best one.

However, if you’re looking for a reliable, leading as well as trusted organization that offers services of Flutter app development, search no further than Ionicfirebase. We have a number of dedicated Flutter app developers who are dedicated as well as committed to delivering top-notch services. So, why wait, call Ionicfirebase today, and get the Flutter app development service now.