What are the most common debugging challenges you've faced in Flutter or React Native?

Question

And how did you overcome them? Are there any gaps in the existing tools like crashlytics or instabug which needs to be bridged specifically for flutter and react native?

Accepted Answer

As for tools  like Crashlytics or Instabug, while they are great, there's always room for improvement.

Answer

In Flutter, managing state can be tricky. Using packages like Provider or Riverpod has helped in keeping things organized and predictable.

Answer

For  Flutter and React Native, more integration with debugging  tools and better support for real-time error reporting would be useful.

Answer

I usually start by  simplifying my state management approach or using tools like Redux in React Native or Provider in Flutter.

Answer

I've had a lot of trouble debugging in both Flutter and React Native, especially with bugs that happen at different times (asynchronous bugs). In Flutter, the error messages aren't always clear, especially when the app has a lot of nested widgets. I've found that using Dart DevTools and adding my own logs helps a lot.

In React Native, I often deal with problems that happen only on iOS or Android, making debugging tricky. Using Flipper along with React Native's built-in debugger has been helpful, but it can still be frustrating when issues are different on each platform.

Karthik M S N · Answer

@emily_wh_eeler Debugging async code can definitely get tricky in React Native. It’s great that tools like React DevTools and extra logging help, but I’m curious—have you found any specific techniques or tools that make debugging async issues even smoother? How do you usually handle complex scenarios where multiple async operations are involved?

Answer

Debugging in React Native can definitely be a challenge! The biggest issues I've run into are around differences in behavior between iOS and Android, unexpected crashes, and lack of good stack traces from native code. Using tools like Flipper for inspecting the React tree and network requests helps a lot. Crashlytics is great but it would be awesome to have more seamless symbolication of native stack traces, especially for Flutter. I'd also love a tool that could automatically catch and report errors in release builds, similar to what Instabug does for mobile apps, but tailored for RN and Flutter. Let me know what debugging tricks you've found helpful!

Answer

Crashlytics can miss some errors, particularly with complex animations in Flutter. Custom logging and better error handling in code have been necessary to catch those issues.

Karthik M S N · Answer

@lily_edward Absolutely, tools like Crashlytics and Instabug are solid, but there’s always that quest for more features or better usability. But they might sometime fail when debugging flutter or RN specific issues like state management, widget tree mapping etc. in my experience.. Have you faced this and if yes, how do you solve those?

Karthik M S N · Answer

@linda_bency I completely agree—better integration with debugging tools and enhanced real-time error reporting would be game-changers for Flutter and React Native. What specific features or improvements would you like to see in these areas? Have you come across any tools that are heading in the right direction?

I'm actually working on a flutter debugging support in my product zipy.ai - would love to understand your painpoints a bit more.

Karthik M S N · Answer

@susan_r_pruitt State management in Flutter can definitely be a challenge. It's great to hear that packages like Provider and Riverpod have helped you keep things organized. How do you decide which state management approach to use for different projects? Have you encountered any situations where these packages didn’t quite fit the bill?

Karthik M S N · Answer

@eloise_ivy Tools like Redux for React Native and Provider for Flutter definitely help keep things manageable. How do you determine when it’s time to move from a simpler approach to something more complex? Have you ever found that sticking with a simple method was more effective in the long run?

What are the most common debugging challenges you've faced in Flutter or React Native?

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