Top Flutter Open Source Projects to Enhance Mobile Development Skills

Flutter is the most flexible, cost-effective, and versatile open-source framework of all time. There are several advantages of developing mobile apps with Flutter. However, ensuring fast cross-platform application development with low-cost delivery is the biggest reason developers choose Flutter over other frameworks. It has become one of the choicest platforms for building comprehensive apps, offering users a native-like experience. Small and big companies, including startups, rely on Flutter to kickstart their projects at the initial stage.

Flutter has a thriving and supportive community that contributes phenomenally to various open-source projects. These projects help new developers build innovative apps with additional functionality. Flutter offers many valuable tools, libraries, and abundant learning resources for developers who want to enhance their mobile development skills. With the robust Flutter ecosystem, developers know the latest trends and best practices for building stellar mobile applications.

Any developer from a reputed Flutter app development company can get access to open-source projects. They can contribute to codebases created by other developers. Through this, Flutter developers acquire knowledge and skills for developing better mobile apps. Knowing the different codes of open-source projects, they will learn how to structure their own code, manage state, use better UI animations and designs, and integrate with API and services. Simultaneously, while learning from experienced developers, they can use their insights and learnings to contribute to creating better open-source projects for the developers community.

The blog post highlights the top ten open-source projects helping Flutter developers perform better in their field. These projects have covered vivid use cases, including empowering new developers to build better Flutter apps. So, if you are a new Flutter developer looking for a platform where you can learn how to excel in Flutter app development, this blog is for you.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is a versatile toolkit created by Google – the most prominent tech giant. The core purpose of creating Flutter is to empower developers to build dynamic mobile, web, and desktop applications, including cross-platform mobile apps, desktop apps, single-page or multi-page web apps, desktop apps, PWAs, and MVPs. In 2015, Google introduced Flutter; however, it was officially released to the world in 2018. And since then, Flutter’s popularity has quickly risen, making developers choose it as the most preferred toolkit.

Some of the top reasons why there is so much buzz around Flutter are its features such as hot-reloading, widget-based system, and single-codebase. Developers can see the changes made rapidly without restarting the app, making the entire process faster and more productive. Flutter’s widget-based system enables seamless UI that works excellently on different platforms. Above all, Flutter is very easy to learn, highly flexible, and suitable for making custom designs. It is the developers’ choice any day to create cross-platform applications.

Most startups nowadays hire Flutter app development services because they can develop seamless cross-platform applications for multiple platforms through a single codebase. Flutter allows them to build diversified mobile applications—small and big—quickly and at low cost. Developers write a single codebase and deploy it across various platforms, saving costs, time, and resources. This calls for a detailed explanation of why Flutter is so popular.

Why is Flutter Gaining Popularity?

You must hire Flutter app developers for your mobile app development project because Flutter has numerous advantages. A quick and insightful overview is as follows:

Single Codebase

Flutter is a dynamic framework. It can create cross-platform applications with great flexibility and allow developers to build a product using the same codebase for multiple platforms. It can go beyond simple iOS and Android apps and cover several types of web applications. Officially, Flutter can support seven different platforms: Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, Windows, Embedded, and Web.

Hot Reload

Unlike traditional frameworks, Flutter cuts down a significant time to developing simple to complex web and mobile applications. With the Hot Reload features, developers can render a change in sub-seconds. Apart from saving time, it optimizes time, money, and effort. Flutter uses Dart programming language that has a virtual machine. It makes a widget tree wherein only selected codes change according to developer preferences. The current state of the application remains the same as usual in the virtual server. Developers can visualize the changes and their effects without disturbing the rest of the components and emulators.

Native Performance

Flutter can work wonders for building intuitive UI elements. It has various widgets that can be integrated with platform-specific functionalities such as icons, navigation, scrolling, etc. So, if you are looking for Flutter mobile app development services, they ensure your app users get a native-like experience, including camera, geolocation, and third-party integrations for both Android and iOS platforms,

Huge Widget Library

All you see in Flutter can be termed a widget. It can be a color, menu, or padding. Flutter can create complex widgets that can be further customized according to the application requirements. You can also use in-built widgets. Cupertino pack and Material Design are some sets of widgets providing a glitch-free user experience.

Cross-Platform Development

Developers can write a single code that can be used for multiple platforms in Flutter. With the same codebase, you can create two different applications for two different platforms. All you need to do is share the UI code. The benefit is that developers need to maintain only a single codebase, which is far easier than writing different codes for different platforms.

Open-Source

Flutter is an open-source platform. You can explore numerous designs to create stellar Flutter applications. You can create user-friendly applications using Material Design and Cupertino widgets. Flutter also has a community called Flutter Form that comes together fto answer questions related to Flutter. Above all, it is free of cost and has detailed documentation.

Why Contribute to Open Source Projects?

Do you know how developers gain recognition and respect apart from working in an organization? To avoid burnout, it becomes crucial to learn continuously and evolve. Especially when beginners get frustrated with many tools and technologies, they must use tutorials and courses to gain confidence. On the other hand, experienced developers seek vivid projects or different tech stacks. Contributing to open-source projects will be a great way to harness their skills and learn new coding practices. Hence, as a developer, even if you are working with a reputed Flutter app development company, you must contribute to open-source projects for the following reasons:

Help Other Members of Open-Source Community

You get a chance to create things for others. You can create codes, make documentation, or improve tools or software, making lives easier for other developers. Likewise, you are helping them write readable and maintainable code. In this manner, you also get help from other developers in the community to solve your problems.

Exceptional Project Quality

When developers worldwide contribute to the open-source project, its quality will be brilliant and flawless. This is because the best developers use their coding approach to implement some features or improve the codebase. Working on quality projects helps developers contribute with different solutions or coding approaches.

Learning Best Coding Practices

Developers get enormous opportunities to learn by working on an open-source project. You get a chance to collaborate with experts, obtain their feedback, and learn how they create software for big tech giants like Microsoft, Google, or Facebook. Knowing technologies from the deepest levels will sharpen your coding skills. All you need is to follow specific steps, and understand the concept and principle of the project you are working on.

Build A Solid Portfolio

When you learn to build quality projects with the best coding practices, you are sure to get recognized in the community. Adding these achievements to your work portfolio will help you climb the success ladder. You will start getting a lot of great career opportunities, which is hard to get nowadays with just a standard CV. If you have an impressive portfolio on GitHub, your skills can be directly verified, and you can become the chosen one.

Cost-free and Effective

Unlike other fields, working with open-source projects is completely free of cost. Yet, it gives you an opportunity to learn about software development from the top tech giants sitting all around the world. Hence, you can make a shiny career in programming and get noticed by the top software development companies.

Top 10 Flutter Open Source Projects to Explore

1. Flutter Awesome

Flutter Awesome is a collection of open-source Flutter projects, packages, and libraries. The community widely drives the platform. It is a comprehensive resource for developers to contribute and share code snippets, tutorials, tools, and UI components. Developers can find reusable widgets and explore different functionalities for their Flutter projects.

Features of Flutter Awesome

• Widgets and Packages are organized in the form of categories such as state management, UI, animations, etc.
• Highlights trending and latest projects
• Showcases developers submitted projects, tools, and libraries.
• Integrated with GitHub
• Updates content regularly.

GitHub Stars:4.6K
GitHub Forks:6.8k
GitHub Source Code: https://github.com/Solido/awesome-flutter

Key Learnings for Developers

When developers contribute to this project, they will be contributing to a large repository driven by the community. They can build reusable components and libraries, which will help them understand the basic needs of having the widest range of Flutter apps.

2. Flutter Gallery

Flutter Gallery is an extensive project that showcases Flutter’s capabilities. There are various examples and demos that explain different features that you can learn to integrate into Flutter.

Features of Flutter Gallery

• Showcases core Flutter components and features
• Demonstrates material and Cupertino widgets
• Has interactive demos and documentation.

GitHub Stars: 4.8K
GitHub Forks: 1.7K
GitHub Source Code

Key Learnings for Developers

By contributing to Flutter Gallery, developers can learn the best practices of Flutter mobile app development directly from the Flutter team. They can understand the terms of UI/UX design and various multi-platform support. They will also learn to optimize the apps on mobile and web platforms.

3. Flutter Samples

Flutter Samples is an open-source project that was created in Flutter. It is a collection of all open-source Flutter projects maintained by the Flutter team. It offers example apps for showcasing various Flutter features, complex use cases, and best practices. The sample projects will help developers and engineers learn how to build Flutter apps.

Features of Flutter Samples

• Has official examples of Flutter projects
• It gives a variety of sample apps, such as simple apps with single features and complex apps with full-fledged functionality.
• Well-documented code, for developers to understand all component and their functionality
• Focuses on a real-world scenario
• Provides cross-platform samples and examples.

GitHub Stars:1.5k
GitHub Forks:7k
GitHub Source Code: https://github.com/flutter/samples

Key Learnings for Developers

As a developer, if you contribute to Flutter Samples, you will learn the ways to implement and present the real-world features to the users. The features can be state management, animation, and navigation. All this should be made possible by adhering to the Flutter guidelines.

4. Flutter E-commerce App

Flutter e-commerce app is a tailored and comprehensive open-source project. It is used to develop E-commerce applications using Flutter. It has user authentication, payment integration, eCommerce features, and eCommerce functionality.

Features of Flutter E-commerce App

• Provides payment methods such as debit card, credit, and mobile wallets
• Users can create new accounts, get logged in to existing accounts, and personalized profiles
• Supports modern interface design
• Custom features and eCommerce applications

GitHub Stars: 2.9K
GitHub forks: 1.1K
GitHub Source Code: https://github.com/TheAlphamerc/flutter_ecommerce_app

Key Learnings for Developers

When contributing to this open-source project, Flutter app developers will understand how to design and implement complex and scalable features. They will also understand the need for such features in an e-commerce app and the types of features such as cart management, product catalogs, and payment integrations.

5. Open Food Facts

Open Food Facts is an open-source mobile application that helps users make healthier food choices. It provides nutritional information, such as product ingredients and the nutritional value of products they buy. Users can also scan barcodes for descriptive information. They can compare nutritional values with other food products and contribute to the database of Open Food Facts.

Features of Open Food Facts

• It gives access to barcode scanning to obtain information on food products.
• Access to the vast database containing information about millions of food products across the globe.
• Offers data contributed by users and shares ratings to help make purchasing decisions
• Supports multiple languages
• Has no advertisements and data tracking mechanisms.

GitHub Stars: 706
GitHub forks: 254
GitHub Source Code: https://github.com/openfoodfacts/smooth-app

Key Learnings for Developers

It is important to have such a project in your portfolio as a developer. If you hire a Flutter developer, make sure they know how to work with large datasets. This open-source project teaches developers very well. It also teaches how to perform API integrations and handle user-generated data in real-time for consumer apps.

6. Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja is a web-based Admin portal application developed with Flutter. It manages invoices, payments, products, and clients for companies through a centralized management system. The Admin Portal is used alongside the Invoice Ninja mobile and web apps. It is a standalone solution for Flutter open-source projects.

Features of Invoice Ninja

• Custom dashboard with key metrics such as payments received, pending invoices, etc.
• Can create, send, and manage invoices with automated operational workflow for payment reminders, multiple payment gateways, and customized templates
• Manages client information such as contact details, billing address, and payment history
• A database of products and services offered, enabling you to assign prices and taxes
• Reports generation about financial performance such as revenues, expenses, and taxes
• Various payment processing options with multiple payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and more.

GitHub Stars: 7.8K
GitHub forks: 2.2K
GitHub Source Code: https://github.com/invoiceninja/invoiceninja

Key Learnings for Developers

To develop and maintain a business-driven app, you must contribute to this open-source project. It majorly focuses on integrating financial features like payment handling, invoice generation, and client management through multi-currency and localization support.

7. Flutter Todo

Flutter To Do Again is an open-source application that allows users to create and plan to-do lists. It includes colorful themes, and users can create task lists. They can also track and review the list and select themes from the available collection.

Features of To-Do

• Share a list of color theme support
• Offers multiple material style design style icons for color customization
• Shares provider-consumer state management system
• Provides multi-lingual support

GitHub Stars: 2K
GitHub forks: 432
GitHub Source Code: https://github.com/asjqkkkk/flutter-todos

Key Learnings for Developers

With Flutter ToDo, you can learn a lot by contributing to it. If you seek to understand a structured task management system, the Flutter To Do project is a must. It will help you learn to focus only on organizing, state management, and handling user interactions in a productive application.

8. InKino

InKino is a notable Flutter app example. Users can browse movies and showtimes for Finnkino cinemas across various platforms. It can be used for both Android and iOS through a single codebase. For progressive web apps you can use AngularDart. InKino follows the Flutter project structure and can separate codes into different directories according to their functionalities.

Features of Inkino

• Browse movies and showtimes in real-time for Finnkino Cinemas
• Filter movies by language, genre, and age rating
• View movie schedules day-wise and time-wise
• Easy browsing through grid-based movie views
• Detailed information about the movie, trailers, images, and cast members
• Includes Redux for state management
• Easy-to-use and intuitive UI
• Extensive set of automated testing
• Supports multiple languages for enhanced user experience.

GitHub Stars: 3.6K
GitHub forks: 678
GitHub Source Code: https://github.com/roughike/inKino

Key Learnings for Developers

To build a responsive Flutter app seamlessly, one needs profound knowledge about the UI/UX elements of Flutter. When developers contribute to projects like InKino, they learn to develop a responsive mobile app with various features, such as showing data through APIs, ticket booking, and maintaining high performance.

9. Newz Buzz

NewsBuzz is a new app developed with Flutter. It aggregates top news through various sources. Using APIs and Flutter widgets, it highlights their uses to create a dynamic and intuitive news app.

Features of Newz Buzz

• Aggregates news from multiple sources
• Segregates all news sections
• Supports offline reading
• User-friendly and has visually appealing UI

GitHub Stars: 600
GitHub Forks: 120
GitHub Source Code

Key Learnings for Developers

Developers will learn how to fetch and display news articles from various APIs by contributing to this project. They can do this through multiple APIs and implement features such as filtering, search, and offline storage for a news aggregator app.

10. GitTouch

GitTouch is also an open-source project. It is a Flutter app offering a mobile client for GitHub, Bitbucket, GitLab, and Gitea. It provides a sleek interface for managing your repositories even while you are on the go.

Features of GitTouch

• It supports multiple Git platforms
• It has repository browsing and management
• Tracks issues and pulls requests
• Notifications and activity feeds.

GitHub Stars: 800
GitHub Forks: 100
GitHub Source Code

Key Learnings for Developers

With GitTouch as an open-source project for developers, they will learn to integrate with multiple API services. They can also build intuitive interfaces to view and manage repositories on mobile devices.

How to Get Started with These Projects

Developers can kickstart any open-source project available on several platforms. There are even several resources available to guide them. They can easily connect with the open-source community, which has aspiring contributors. It is as simple as choosing a project. The next comes knowing the guidelines and getting started. You must open a pull request and continue learning from others to get feedback on your work. The following are the most preferred platforms to help developers contribute in many ways.

GitHub

GitHub is the largest and most popular platform for hosting open-source projects. On this platform, you can explore a variety of projects based on programming languages, trending repositories, and topics.

CodeTriage

CodeTriage offers an incredible platform for working on quality open-source projects. Here, you can filter by language and subscribe to receive issues in your inbox. Hence, it is a great way to have a continuous stream of problems you can work on.

Up-For-Grabs

It is a website that aggregates projects with various issues, such as “up-for-grabs,” “good first issue,” or similar labels. Here, too, you can filter projects based on various programming languages. You can even find issues appropriate for beginners.

First Timers Only

All the GitHub issue links are collected here on First Timers Only. They are labeled as first-time contributors, and the platform is curated with a range of projects that openly welcome newcomers to explore, learn, and excel. This platform provides new developers with a good entry point for making that very best first impression.

Besides the above tools and resources, you can utilize various resources to jumpstart your open-source career. Some popular resources are Bugzilla, Awesome for open-source beginners, and Contributor. Ninja, Hacktoberfest, Gauger.io, Issuehub, Open Source handbook, Opensource.guide, Your first PR, and more.

Another way is to read project documentation created by experienced contributors to better understand what to do. They comment on existing code and APIs and add their context for the project. If you get stuck somewhere in between, you can always reach out to the community and seek help and clarification.

Tips for Contributing to Open Source Projects

Now you know what platforms are available for getting open-source projects. You must also learn how to contribute at the initial stage and what the next steps can be toward handling complex issues of open-source projects. So here are some ways you can get started:

• Create a README file by adding a description to a project’s documentation for elaborating on a certain point.

  • Offer suggestions, if any, for any documentation after reading it.
  • Fixing small things such as typos or dead links, adding missing information or links to a relevant blog post
  • Review any pull requests on the documentation.
• Give guidance on a specific project and the ways to use it.
• Including a sample output for showing the ways a code works
• Write detailed tutorials for the project
• Add suitable translation for any project. You can start doing this through FreeCodeCamp’s translation program.
• Answer questions about any project that is related to Stack Overflow or Reddit.
• Mentoring another contributor
• Make a pull request to solve an unresolved issue through excellent communication.
• Fix and arrange the project’s work folder
• Add unit tests and new features if needed
• Cleaning up the code

These are some of the common ways to contribute to an open-source project. However, based on your years of expertise in dealing with open-source projects, you can handle various complex issues and challenges, helping the project team create an exceptional open-source project.

Conclusion

As a developer, when you contribute to any open-source project, you are helping yourself first. Working on such projects will enhance your coding skills. It will give you live issues and challenges you can resolve and gain experience from. Above and all, when you give back something valuable to the community, you are recognized by everyone.

Having experience in Flutter app development won’t suffice to make a bright career in the field of coding and creating mobile apps. There will always be something extra that the community and tech giants look up to. So, all you need to do is get started by contributing to a suitable open-source project from a reliable resource and getting recognized.

We hope the above projects will help you get valuable insights and inspiration to excel in your flutter development services. If you need expert guidance and effective ways to build your flutter app development career, Atharva System is the right place to be. We are the best Flutter App Development Company, specializing in providing custom flutter solutions for various businesses. Just get started with Flutter open-source projects and start contributing to the community. Stay ahead in the tech-space with the recent trends in the world of Flutter!