> I don't think the vast majority of users would be able to notice the difference or cares that much.
Users do notice these things. They just can't explain it in technical terms like "i feel like this app is built with a non-native toolkit that is why animations are wrong".
They explain it as "this feels off" and "why doesn't it run like X" and "I don't like it" etc.
I think long-time users of Apple's various platforms will notice, especially. I bought my first Performa back in 1996. That old OS -- especially up against Windows 95/2000/XP apps -- conditioned people to be UI snobs. If I download an app from the App Store, and something rubs me the wrong way within the first few seconds, I will almost always ditch it. I want a native experience, and I don't think I'm alone.
It boggles my mind that anyone invests precious time and effort chasing such a fickle group of users. Anything less than Apple's vision of perfection and harmony or you'll be dumped in a heartbeat. "Think Different" indeed.
The people willing to put up with mediocre and bad software aren't willing to spend money on it either. Just look at the revenue gap between iOS and Android. It makes sense that people put time and effort into pursuing the fickle users willing to pay money.
If you've been around that long, you know that Apple changes their UI guidelines sometimes and not always for the better. I no longer know what a "native experience" is supposed to be. (I haven't even used Monterey yet.)
And then Kai's Power Tools came along with its completely unique UI and everyone loved it. And other developers decided to emulate that idea - that a funky UI is a differentiator.
I don't think it's fair to blanket blame Flutter though. What you are noticing are poorly made apps. What you are not noticing are well made Flutter apps, that are almost indistinguishable from native apps. I guarantee you we all interact with way more different UI frameworks then we are aware of on a daily basis.
Some apps also fail by trying to emulating native UI so hard, when it would be better advised to just adopt a more abstract style. Today's flat UI is just simple shapes after all.
From technical a standpoint, Flutter definitely is performant, capable of delivering smooth scrolling and 60 fps. Your experience may vary of course, but I've been shipping an app with it for 2 years now and things been working out well. Can only really say great things about it.
> What you are not noticing are well made Flutter apps, that are almost indistinguishable from native apps. I guarantee you we all interact with way more different UI frameworks then we are aware of on a daily basis.
That is, indeed true. So the question becomes: does the framework nudge you towards and help you with making well-made apps almost indistinguishable from native apps, or the opposite :)
I'd wager these sentiments have more to do with performance/responsiveness than they do with whether or not UI elements and animations are system defaults. Pretty much every wildly popular application in the market has a totally custom UI.
Users do notice these things. They just can't explain it in technical terms like "i feel like this app is built with a non-native toolkit that is why animations are wrong".
They explain it as "this feels off" and "why doesn't it run like X" and "I don't like it" etc.