Rebuild it in Flutter when the interface is the product
Flutter draws every pixel itself, which is why an animation-heavy or heavily branded interface behaves identically on both platforms instead of nearly identically.
- Typical timeline
- 8–14 weeks depending on surface area
- Pricing
- Fixed quote per phase after a scoping call
What this is actually about
The parts that decide whether the project takes three weeks or three months, and which nobody mentions until they bite.
- 01
Identical rendering on both platforms
Flutter does not delegate to the platform's widgets, it paints its own.
- 02
Animation and custom UI without fighting the platform
Complex transitions, custom charts, gesture-driven interfaces and drawing surfaces are noticeably less painful in Flutter.
- 03
One team, three targets
iOS, Android and - where it makes sense - desktop and web from one codebase.
- 04
It is a considered choice, not a default
We recommend Flutter roughly a third of the time. Being told plainly when it is not the right answer is worth more than being sold it, and the deciding factor is usually your team rather than your product.
The sentences we hear most, and what we do about each one
Paraphrases of things founders have actually said on scoping calls. Left column is the experience; right column is the work.
"Everyone tells me a different framework"
The advice is genuinely contradictory because most of it is offered without looking at the codebase.
How we helpTwo questions settle it, and we ask them in the first call.
"I already paid for a React front end"
Choosing Flutter after a React web app exists means accepting that the presentation code does not come across.
How we helpWe quantify it before you commit: how much of the existing code would survive a React Native move versus a Flutter one, in hours.
"Nobody on my team writes Dart"
Dart is easy to learn and that is not the concern.
How we helpThis is the deciding question and we make you answer it before the build.
"How do I connect it to what I already have?"
The backend was built by a builder, the schema is platform-shaped, and the endpoints were designed for a React front end fetching whole tables.
How we helpThe API contract is defined and typed in phase 1, generated into Dart models so a backend change becomes a compile error rather than a runtime crash.
The decisions that shape the whole project
We work through every one of these before the first submission, because finding them one rejection at a time is where the weeks go.
Who maintains it in two years
The single most important input. Answer it before the framework is chosen, not after.
What carries over
Design system, API contracts, business rules as specification. Not the React components.
API contract, typed
Generated Dart models from a single schema, so backend changes fail at compile time.
State management chosen once
Picked in phase 1 and applied consistently. Mixed approaches are the most common source of unmaintainable Flutter.
Platform behaviour where users expect it
Identical rendering is the point, but back gestures, share sheets and date pickers should still feel native.
Build and release pipeline
Cloud builds for both platforms, signing in your accounts, staged rollout, crash reporting.
Deliverables
Everything lands in accounts you own, with the certificates and keys in your name.
- Flutter app for iOS and Android from one codebase
- Typed API layer generated from a single schema
- Design system implemented as a reusable widget library
- Push notifications, offline behaviour, biometrics, deep links
- Cloud build and submission pipeline with signing in your accounts
- Crash reporting, release health, staged rollout gates
- Submission to both stores
- Handover documentation and 30 days of post-launch support
Phases
Scope is fixed after phase one. Every phase ends in something you keep.
- 011–2 weeks
Decide, then scope
We confirm Flutter is actually the right call and write down why.
- 022 weeks
Design system in widgets
The design system becomes a reusable widget library before the screens are built, so the app is consistent by construction rather than by review.
- 035–9 weeks
Build
Screens built against the widget library and the typed API, with device capability wired in as it is needed.
- 042–3 weeks, plus 30 days support
Submit and hand over
Both store submissions, staged rollout, monitoring, and documentation that leaves your team able to ship.
What can go wrong, and what stops it
Choosing Flutter for the wrong reason
Phase 1 is a decision phase with a written recommendation, and it can end with us recommending React Native instead.
Backend endpoints that are wrong for mobile
Chatty, unpaginated, oversized endpoints are identified in phase 1 and fixed as part of the project.
Inconsistent state management making the app unmaintainable
Chosen once in phase 1 and enforced in review. This is the most common reason an inherited Flutter codebase is unpleasant.
Nobody able to maintain Dart after handover
Asked and answered before the framework is chosen. Where the answer is nobody, we recommend against Flutter regardless of technical fit.
Before you book the call
Neither is better in general and anyone who says otherwise is not looking at your codebase.
The design system and the API contracts, and the business rules as a specification to reimplement.
Technically yes, and usually you should not. Flutter web produces a heavy, unindexable page - bad for a marketing site or anything that needs search traffic.
The expensive part of either choice is the presentation layer, which is roughly half the project.
Related tracks
React Native rebuild
Lovable, Bolt, v0 and most Base44 front ends are React. That is the whole argument for React Native: the component model, the state handling, the validation rules and every line of your API layer come across largely intact.
Read the planApple App Store
Apple rejects wrapped web apps under guideline 4.2, and that is the single most common outcome for an app built in Base44, Replit or Lovable and dropped into a WebView.
Read the planGoogle Play
Play is easier to publish to than the App Store and harder to plan around, because a new personal developer account has to run a closed test with a dozen real testers for fourteen continuous days before it can even apply for production.
Read the plan
Want a straight answer on the route?
The review is free and it ends in writing, including the case for the cheaper option.