Did you know that, according to Google, 73% of smartphone users have used an app to manage their finances in the past month? So, yes! Not having a finance app can be a problem nowadays. Does your business have one?
As we know, financial apps are becoming increasingly popular in today's digital world with consumers with high expectations and financial requirements. Due to this, offering users the ability to manage their finances, invest in financial products, and make payments from anywhere using their mobile or desktop devices is no longer a convenience, but a competitive need.
Developing a fintech app can be a demanding process, requiring a combination of data privacy configuration, stable system performance, legal regulations, and also an intuitive user interface. In this blog, we will explore why Flutter is a great tool for addressing all of these issues and integrating multiple features into a single application. Let’s get started!
Finance industry: the rise of Fintech Apps
Fintech applications have been disrupting the financial industry little by little. In 2021, mobile finance apps reached 573.1 million downloads in the USA, and according to Chase – Banking Consumers Study:
Two out of three respondents reported that they can’t live without their banking app.
This not only shows the usage increment of banking apps, but also the value of having one. Providing increased customer convenience and improved functionalities, for a society used to technology and immediacy, has become vital in today's finance industry.
Users not only use these apps for payments or checking bank accounts, they use them for much more. The chart below presents the top finance activities of users recorded by Google in the past 30 days. And yes, there are a lot!
Developing a Fintech App with Flutter: Challenges and Solutions
The fintech industry is evolving, and more companies are facing the challenge of developing financial applications for their clients. Among the challenges that need to be considered and planned is which technology to use for the development process, and the answer is Flutter for multiple reasons.
Flutter is an open-source development kit for software created by Google, that enables developers to create mobile, web, and desktop applications from a single codebase. Let’s dive into the main challenges of these apps and the solutions Flutter’s technology has to offer.
1. Scalability
Financial applications need to be able to handle numerous users and transactions, especially with all the information that these apps manage. This requires infrastructure and the ability to scale quickly and efficiently.
💡 How Flutter solves this: Flutter is a cross-platform framework, which allows developers to write a single codebase and run it on both Android and iOS platforms. This reduces development times and costs and enables finance businesses to scale easily.
2. Security
Ensuring the security and data privacy of the users is one of the main challenges. These apps deal with sensitive data such as bank account numbers and personal identification numbers. This is why fintech apps must ensure that their app has security features to prevent data breaches.
💡 How Flutter solves this: Its technology can provide users with safe access by setting up biometric authentication via Face ID or Touch ID, there are also data encryption algorithms that can be used to enforce data security.
3. User Experience
Fintech apps need to provide an intuitive, user-friendly, and smooth experience for users. When developing, you must consider the user preferences and the devices they mostly use.
💡 How Flutter solves this: Design-wise, the development process with Flutter is smooth and simple because of the wide range of widgets and libraries available on the platform. Let’s see ProWallet as an example, one of our team's success cases that has a user-friendly interface and was highlighted by Forbes as an easy-to-use app with no waiting periods.
4. Compliance
Ensuring compliance and making sure all regulations are preserved is another challenge that needs to be faced while developing a fintech app.
💡 How Flutter solves this: the platform provides built-in support for encryption through its code language. This makes it easier for developers to encrypt sensitive user data and comply with regulations. Also, Flutter has libraries and plugins that support compliance standards like PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR, which can help fintech apps to meet regulatory requirements.
5. Third-party integration
Fintech apps usually need to integrate third-party services, such as banking systems, payment methods, and more.
💡 How Flutter solves this: the technology, as we’ve already seen, has a wide range of libraries and packages. These can be used to integrate with various fintech services and APIs. For example, integrating with payment gateways or financial data providers such as Stripe, PayPal, and Plaid.
So, let’s highlight the most relevant benefits of developing a financial app with a cross-platform technology like Flutter:
- Sensitive information is highly protected
- Faster time-to-market
- Time and cost-effective
- Better user experience and well-designed UI
- Easier maintenance
- Better audience reach by existing on multiple platforms
There are several top-notch companies that have been betting on Flutter for their finance apps: Nubank, ING Business, Google Pay, Nextbank, Credit Agricole, and more! Even smaller fintech startups use Flutter for their app development process, achieving excellent results with only one team of cross-platform experts.
Types of Fintech apps
Finance apps are designed to help users manage their finances, make informed financial decisions, and achieve their financial goals. Therefore, when building a fintech application, it's crucial to understand the type of app your business needs.
Among the most important finance apps, there are:
- Banking apps
- Payment apps
- Personal finance apps (Budgeting apps, Expense Tracking Apps)
- Cryptocurrency apps
- Investment apps
- Trading apps
- Tax Preparation Apps
Wrapping up
Crafting a finance app can be challenging, choosing the right technology to build it, partnering with a specialized team in the field, and having the most strategic tech for your app. If your business needs to be digitally omnipresent on many platforms, with scalable technology and fast time-to-market, you’ve come to the right place.
Our Flutter specialized team can help you build any type of app you have in mind! They are experienced in creating financial applications with beautiful UI designs and scalable digital solutions while balancing the pressure of time market expectations, consistent user experience, legal requirements, and data privacy regulations.
And if you already have a native application, don't worry. That's not a problem. With Flutter, we can make it better! Attaching cross-platform modules is possible and gives you the opportunity to test or implement new functionalities such as Fast payments, Cryptocurrencies, Savings Accounts, and more.
Don't hesitate in reaching out for more information at hello@somniosoftware.com, or schedule a free consultation here!
