Flutter 1.7 Adds Support for AndroidX, Game Controller, and More

Google’s UI framework, Flutter has reached a new milestone. The framework has recently released its 1.7 version with an ample number of new components, improvement, and bug fixes to user-reported issues.

Let’s talk about the update in detail here.

What’s New in Flutter 1.7 Version?

1. AndroidX Support for New Apps

The very first thing that is new in Flutter 1.7 is support for AndroidX. For those not familiar with the term, AndroidX is an open-source support library by Jetpack team. This library empowers developers to update an Android app without compromising on backward compatibility feature.

This support for AndroidX will lower down the efforts required to integrate with other elements of the Android ecosystem. And, eventually would act as a significant pointer towards why should android developers focus on Flutter.

2. Android App Bundles and 64-bit Support

As shared by Google Developers, all the Android apps targeting Android Pie will have to provide a 64-bit version along with the 32-bit app version during Play Store submissions from August 1, 2019. 

Considering this, Flutter 1.7 is also coming up with support for creating Android App Bundles that fulfill this condition of 32-bit and 64-bit from a single submission. 

3. RangeSlider Widget

Flutter 1.7 version is also introducing a RangeSlider control feature, which will enable developers to choose multiple values on a single slide and thus, deliver seamless UI experience for both Android and iOS platforms.

4. OpenType Rich Typography Features

The new Flutter OS version is also getting a big upgrade in the form of typography support. The Flutter 1.7 version will enable mobility experts to enrich the UI experience with different typography features, such as slashed zeros, tabular and old-style numbers, stylistic sets, and more. This will make Flutter app development gain more momentum in the market.

5. Improved Text Editing on iOS

Flutter 1.7 has also introduced various significant changes in the text selection and editing experience on the iOS platform. Now, mobile application development companies can make changes in the text formatting and styling, regardless of whether they are opting Cupertino or Material design language – something beyond what we have covered in Flutter 1.5 highlights.

Besides, Google’s UI framework has also added support for localization to non-English languages. This, on one side, will deliver a seamless experience to non-English users. While, on the other side, will make businesses and developers more interested in learning how to localize app.

6. 1,250 Triage Issues Resolved

Flutter 1.7 has also come up with an effective response to customer-reported issues. Clear evidence of which is that the framework has already resolved nearly 1,250 issues in a time frame of 2 months.

7. Game Controller Support

Flutter framework, in its newest version, is also coming up with some accessorial USB HID codes that are not currently available on the Chromium source code, and target those on Android to the gamepad buttons. Or better say, Flutter is also coming up with the feature of Game Controller support now onwards.

Besides the aforementioned features, there are various other changes that are going at the backend of the Flutter development area. Some of these are:- 

1. Widget of the Week Videos

The Flutter development community is also planning to embed ‘Widget of the Week’ videos in the documentation for making it easier to comprehend the concepts.

2. Focus on Making Flutter match with macOS and Windows

Various efforts are also being put into making Flutter infrastructure suitable for macOS and Windows, such as support for right-click, MSBuild, and new Xcode build system.

While these features make Flutter best for cross-platform app development, there are various missing elements that can bring a significant impact.

Wondering what are these elements are? Let’s uncover in the next section of this piece.

What’s Still Missing in Flutter Environment?

1. Effective Bug Handling System

With continual improvements in Flutter environment, the existing bug process is often failing to deal with triage issues arising. This is bringing it the urgency of having a proper error and bug management system in Flutter development world.

2. Support for Non-mobile platforms

Currently, Flutter UI framework is focusing only on Android, iOS, macOS, and other such platforms. It does not support non-mobile platforms.

With this attended to, let’s wrap up this piece by giving you insight into how to install the latest Flutter version on your device.

How to Upgrade Your Device to Flutter 1.7 OS Version?

If you are new to Flutter cross-platform app development, refer to this installation guide. But, in the other case, you can update it to the latest version by running Flutter upgrade from the command line.