Flutter 2.10, the latest version of Google’s open source framework for building natively compiled applications from a code base, introduces strong support for Windows.
With Flutter 2.10, developers no longer have to raise a flag to get tools for building Windows apps on the Flutter stable channel. This feature is now enabled by default. Microsoft’s signature management platform has gained support for a production-ready release on Flutter, along with iOS and Android. Desktop support for MacOS and Linux is still in beta. Two years ago, Flutter’s founders planned to expand Flutter from iOS and Android upgrades to other platforms, including Windows and the web. Windows applications built with flutter can communicate with the Win32, COM, and Windows Runtime APIs through the Dart C middleware or through a platform plug-in written in C++.
Flutter 2.10, introduced on February 3, also provides direct Windows integration, including support for command-line arguments, accessibility, and globalized text input. On the other hand, Flutter’s partners are adding Windows support through tools like FlutterFlow, a low-code tool for designing Flutter applications; MongoDB Realm, a local data store; and Syncfusion Flutter widgets.
Instructions for installing Flutter can be found at docs.flutter.dev. Other new features and improvements in Flutter 2.10:
Added initial support for regional waste management with partial repainting enabled by iOS/Metal to improve performance.
For iOS, slower keyboard animations are displayed.
The 64-bit iOS architecture uses compressed pointers to reduce memory usage.
Flutter defaults to the latest version of Android.
Margin scrolling for text selection has been introduced for web and desktop applications. If the selection moves outside the text box, the box scrolls and the scroll width is displayed.
Flutter 2.10 starts the transition to Google’s Material 3 design system, which includes the ability to create an entire color scheme from a single color scheme. The ThemeDatauseMaterial3 flag code changes the Material 3 skin elements. There are also 1,028 new material icons.
Flutter DevTools now has features such as improved support for inspecting large lists and maps in the debugger variable window. The Visual Studio Code extension for Flutter has been enhanced with improvements such as multi-color code previews and a color picker that updates the code.