Google Flutter receives a bunch of improvements in its first Release Preview

In February, Google announced the first public beta release of Flutter, a new software development tool that would allow creators to make apps for both Android and iOS simultaneously and also have them share the same code base. Today, Google said that Flutter has hit a new milestone, as the first release preview version is now available for app makers.

Google indicated that the use of the previous beta versions of Flutter have been a big hit already. It has seen a 50-percent increase in active Flutter developers since the Google I/O conference in May. Also, over 150 individual Flutter dev events have been held all over the world since Google I/O.

More importantly, app creators are already publishing apps made with the beta versions of Flutter to the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store. They include Alibaba’s shopping app, the official app for the hit musical Hamilton, and more.

With the launch of the Flutter Release Preview 1, developers can check out a number of improvements to the tool, including support for making apps for older iOS devices like the iPad Mini and iPhone 5c that still use the 32-bit versions of Apple’s mobile operating system. In addition, Flutter community members have contributed additions to the app, including support for external keyboards, barcode scanners and video recording.

The Flutter team will now concentrate on bug fixing and stability improvements for the tool, as it gets closer to its final “stable” release version. If you are an software maker who is interested in making apps with Flutter, you can check out Google’s Getting Started web page for more information.