Dinithi De Silva

Flutter Migration — From Native iOS, Android or React Native

Migration makes sense the moment maintaining two native codebases costs more than building one in Flutter. I plan and run that migration so functionality isn't lost in the process.

What migration covers

  • Migrating native iOS (Swift/Objective-C) or Android (Java/Kotlin) apps to Flutter
  • UI/UX modernisation alongside the technical migration
  • Parity testing against the existing native app feature-by-feature
  • A phased migration strategy rather than a single high-risk rewrite

When migration makes sense

  • You're maintaining two codebases and two teams for what is functionally one product
  • The maintenance overhead of staying native now exceeds the cost of migrating

What breaks and how I handle it

  • Platform-specific APIs — wrapped behind platform channels so the rest of the app stays platform-agnostic
  • Push notifications, deep links, and in-app purchases — re-implemented and tested against the native behaviour they replace
  • Keychain and Keystore — bridged carefully since this is where silent data loss happens if migration is rushed

Proof

Flutter Migration — Legacy iOS/Android to Flutter

12+ year old native app fully modernised to Flutter without losing functionality or users.

Read the case study →

Frequently asked questions

How long does a Flutter migration take for a mature native app?+

For a multi-year native app, expect 4 to 9 months depending on feature surface area and how much of the backend also needs to change. A 12-year-old app migrated under my lead at IronOne took roughly 18 months end-to-end, including a full UI/UX redesign.

Will we lose any native functionality after migrating to Flutter?+

Not if the migration is planned properly. Every native capability — push notifications, deep links, payments, platform-specific storage — gets an explicit parity check before launch.

Can we migrate incrementally or does it have to be a full rewrite?+

Incremental migration is possible for some app shapes using a hybrid native/Flutter shell, but in practice most production migrations are cleaner as a phased full rewrite run alongside the existing app, cut over once parity is reached.

Have a project in mind?

Book a 20-minute call and let's talk through it.