FAQ's

Digia and Shorebird serve different purposes and have distinct features for app development and updates. Here is a breakdown of their key differences:

• Primary Function: Digia functions as a Server-Driven UI (SDUI) with a Visual App Builder. Shorebird is focused on providing Over-the-Air (OTA) Dart code updates for Flutter apps.

• Update Scope: With Digia, you can update both the user interface (UI) and the application logic via JSO. Shorebird, on the other hand, is limited to updating Dart logic only.

• Workflow: The development workflow for Digia involves using Visual Studio to build flows. Shorebird integrates directly into the native Flutter IDE.

• A/B Testing: Digia includes built-in support for experimentation and A/B testing, a feature that is not natively supported by Shorebird.

• Team Collaboration: Digia is designed to facilitate collaboration among product managers, designers, and developers. Shorebird's tools are primarily developer-focused

• Deployment Time: The time from design to deployment is significantly faster with Digia, taking only minutes, whereas Shorebird's process typically takes hours.

Choose Digia if:

• You want visual control over app flows without coding.

• Your team includes product, design, and engineering working together.

• You need to test experiments, personalize screens, or manage frequent UI/logic updates.

Choose Shorebird if:

• Your app is a stable Flutter build.

• You need to hotfix logic bugs without releasing a new version.

• Your dev team prefers staying within Flutter's native codebase.

• Pure Flutter (No Digia) has the fastest cold start, averaging around 20 ms, since there's no SDK overhead.

• Flutter + Digia (Cache Init) adds minimal overhead: about 68 ms startup time, with ~40 ms spent initializing the Digia SDK, nearly imperceptible to users.

• Flutter + Digia (Network Init) shows the highest cold start time at approximately 190 ms, with ~165 ms dedicated to fetching real-time config from the server.

• With cache-first setup, adding Digia SDUI to your app incurs only a modest delay (~40 ms), which is almost unnoticeable to end users.

• In scenarios needing real-time UI updates, the network-init mode introduces larger startup delays (~190 ms) but may be acceptable depending on product needs.

Server Driven UI (SDUI)

• Static ListView (1,000 items) • FPS: 58–60 • Memory: 130–150 MB • Time-to-Interactive (TTI): ~300 ms (due to config fetch)

• Animation‑Heavy Screen • FPS: 56–60 • Memory: 140–160 MB • CPU: 9–12%

• Form + Network API • Build time: < 1 min (no deployment) • Field updates: instant • FPS: 58–60

• Navigation & Deep Linking • Cold start: ~500 ms • Memory: 130–150 MB • FPS: 60

• CPU Overhead • Additional 1–2% due to layout parsing; overall CPU remains under 15%

• Perceived Performance • First paint: ~200 ms • TTI: 300–500 ms • With UX strategies (skeleton loaders, lazy loading), user experience remains smooth and responsive

Client Driven UI (CDUI)

• Static ListView (1,000 items) • FPS: 60 • Memory: 120–130 MB • TTI: ~150 ms

• Animation‑Heavy Screen • FPS: 60 • Memory: 130–140 MB • CPU: 8–10%

• Form + Network API • Build & deploy cycle: 20–25 min (requires app update) • FPS: 60

• Navigation & Deep Linking • Cold start: ~250 ms • Memory: 120–140 MB • FPS: 60

• CPU Baseline • No layout parsing overhead • CPU usage: 0–10% depending on task

• Perceived Performance • First paint: ~100 ms • TTI: 150–250 ms

Choose Server‑Driven UI (SDUI) when your priorities include:

• Frequent feature experiments or personalized flows.

• Releasing UI/logic updates without App Store reviews.

• Enabling non-technical teams (product/design) to manage and release UI changes.

Stick with Client‑Driven UI (CDUI) when:

• Building performance-critical experiences (e.g., gaming, animations).

• You don’t need frequent UI updates and prefer full code ownership.

• Release cycles and developer control are manageable via traditional app deployments.

• Digia Studio: Implements a Server‑Driven UI model where layouts, flows, and logic are defined and pushed from the backend using configuration, enabling instant updates without app store redeployment.

• React Native: A traditional Code‑Driven UI approach where every UI element and state is managed in JavaScript/TypeScript, offering full developer control but requiring builds and deployments for changes .

Choose Digia Studio if:

• You need instant UI/logic updates without App Store delays.

• Your team includes product managers and designers who want hands-on control.

• You want visual experimentation, versioning, and rollback support from a central dashboard.

Choose React Native if:

• You require full code ownership and custom native modules.

• Your team is developer-heavy and already invested in JavaScript.

• You benefit from code reuse across web and mobile, or prefer complete control over CI/CD workflows.

• Digia Studio is built on Flutter and uses a Server‑Driven UI (SDUI) model, where UI layouts and logic are controlled via backend configurations, enabling instant updates without app store resubmissions.

• Expo is based on React Native with a Code‑Driven UI (CDUI) approach. App logic and layout are written directly in JavaScript, with OTA updates handled through Expo Go/EAS but deeper native access requires ejecting.

Choose Digia Studio if:

• You’re building with Flutter and want server-driven layout and logic updates without resorting to app redeployment.

• You need collaboration tools for designers, PMs, and developers, including visual dashboards, live previews, and version control.

Choose Expo if:

• You're working in the React Native ecosystem, and prefer a managed workflow for rapid prototyping.

• You’re okay with the limitations unless you eject for full native module access.

• Glide is a no-code, spreadsheet-driven platform that turns Airtable or Google Sheets into lightweight web apps (PWAs). Ideal for internal tools, dashboards, and quick prototypes but uses webviews and lacks native app performance.

• Digia Studio is a Flutter-based, server-driven UI (SDUI) framework designed for high-performance, native mobile apps. It supports real-time updates, A/B testing, offline capabilities, and production-scale features.

Choose Glide if:

• You need a no-code solution to quickly turn spreadsheets into internal apps.

• You're targeting PWA/web tools, not native mobile experiences.

• You don't require offline support, app-store distribution, or deep analytics.

Choose Digia Studio if:

• You're building a production-grade mobile app with native performance.

• You want the ability to run experiments, update UI remotely, and manage releases visually.

• You need offline functionality, smooth animations, and full analytics from the start.

• Flutter (Raw) uses a code-driven UI (CDUI) approach, where every screen and interaction is manually written in Dart. This allows full customization at the expense of slower update cycles requiring redeployment.

• Digia Studio adopts a server-driven UI (SDUI) paradigm, enabling UI and logic to be defined through backend JSON configurations and pushed instantly without app store resubmissions. It sits atop Flutter (and native SDKs) to orchestrate the frontend.

Choose Flutter (Raw) if:

• You need complete code control, deep customization, or complex native integrations.

• Your development team is developer-centric, comfortable with build pipelines and Flutter’s full codebase.

• You're focusing on building from scratch with bespoke UI/UX flows.

Choose Digia Studio if:

• You want to deliver updates instantly, empowering non-technical team members (PMs/designers) to manage UI and logic.

• You’re maintaining an existing app and wish to avoid frequent App Store updates.

• You’re running experiments, need analytics, or require fast rollbacks and versioning through a controlled dashboard.

• Adalo is a no-code platform that transforms Google Sheets or Airtable data into mobile or web apps using a drag-and-drop interface. It’s ideal for MVPs, internal tools, or small consumer apps with basic customization.

• Digia Studio is a mobile-first low-code frontend orchestration framework, built atop native SDKs (Flutter, iOS, Android), enabling real-time UI and logic updates via server-driven configurations. It supports experimentation, analytics, and live deployments.

Choose Adalo if:

• You're a non-technical founder or indie maker looking to build a simple app or MVP quickly.

• You prefer a drag-and-drop interface with built-in hosting and database.

• Scalability, offline support, or deep UX doesn’t matter and simplicity is key.

Choose Digia Studio if:

• You’re building a production-grade native mobile app that needs performance and scale.

• You want to iterate UI and logic instantly, run experiments (A/B tests), and collaborate across product, design, and engineering teams.

• You require features like offline access, analytics integration (e.g. GA4, Moengage, LaunchDarkly), versioning, and native data integrations.

• Bubble.io is a no-code, web-first platform that enables non-technical users to build web and mobile apps visually all without writing code. It's fully cloud-hosted, featuring built-in UI, workflows, data modeling, and hosting.

• Digia Studio is a mobile-first, low-code orchestration framework built on Flutter, iOS, and Android SDKs that empowers product teams and engineers to build production-grade mobile apps. It supports instant UI and logic updates via server-driven configurations, A/B testing, analytics, and release versioning.

Choose Bubble.io if:

• You’re a non-technical founder, indie maker, or small team focused on web apps or simple mobile MVPs.

• You want an all-in-one visual builder including database, hosting, UI, and workflows without writing code.

• You don’t need complex mobile features, offline support, or native performance.

Choose Digia Studio if:

• You’re building a scalable, native mobile app with real users and distributed teams.

• You need to push UI + logic changes instantly without App Store delays, and run experiments natively (feature flags, analytics).

• You desire deeper performance, offline capabilities, team collaboration, and integration with full backend systems (APIs, CRMs, Firebase).

• FlutterFlow is a code-generation tool that produces Flutter source code. You visually build your UI, export the generated code, and manage builds and deployment manually.

• Digia Studio is a frontend orchestration platform using Server‑Driven UI (SDUI). It interprets backend JSON configurations in real time enabling live UI, logic, experimentation, and analytics without needing to rebuild or resubmit your app.

• FlutterFlow is aimed at developers, designers, and early-stage teams who want to quickly prototype and then export full Flutter code.

• Digia Studio serves product, design, growth, and development teams after launch focused on post-release iteration, experimentation, and orchestration.

• With FlutterFlow, updates require rebuilding and resubmitting to App/Play Store.

• With Digia Studio, you push updates live through backend configs no additional submission needed.

Choose FlutterFlow if:

• You’re building a brand-new app or MVP and want full access to generated code.

• You prefer control over source code and plan to manage builds manually.

Choose Digia Studio if:

• Your app is live or soon to launch, and speed in iteration, live experimentation, and feature flags matter.

• You need a unified orchestration dashboard across mobile platforms for UI, logic, and analytics.

Server-Driven UI is an architectural paradigm where the server controls the UI layout, styling, and behavior dynamically via structured configurations (typically JSON). The app functions as a lightweight renderer that interprets this data, enabling UI/logic updates without releasing new app versions.

• Design System – Defines visual standards: typography, color tokens, spacing, and UI components.

• SDUI JSON Config – The structured backend “instructions” describing UI elements, layouts, interactions, data binding, and styles.

• Renderer – Client-side engine that parses the JSON and renders native UI components interactively.

• Page UI – The dynamically generated interface users interact with, fully driven by server.

• Data Source – Backend databases or APIs supplying content and business logic.

• BFF (Backend For Frontend) – Middleware layer that hydrates UI config with data, applies business rules, personalization, and versioning logic.

• Content-rich or dynamic apps (e.g., news, ecommerce, social feeds) requiring frequent interface updates.

• A/B testing and personalization: server configuration enables serving different layouts per user segment instantly.

• Rapid feature iteration: new screens or promotional flows launched without submitting new app builds.

• Increased backend complexity: Managing dynamic UI logic, versioning, and BFF orchestration requires strong infrastructure and coordination.

• Performance and latency: Initial UI fetch may impact cold start; caching, skeleton UIs, and BFF optimization are essential.

• Backward and cross-version compatibility: Ensuring older app versions can gracefully render new layouts is nontrivial.

• Accessibility and customized UX limitations: Dynamic UIs may lack nuanced animations or accessible patterns unless carefully designed.

Several leading tech companies have adopted Server-Driven UI (SDUI) for various purposes:

• Airbnb uses SDUI (specifically, their Magma framework) to deploy layout changes dynamically across platforms, improving flexibility and consistency.

• Netflix and Spotify have adopted SDUI primarily for running experiments and dynamically rendering content, enabling them to test and deliver new features rapidly.

• Reddit, Tinder, and Robinhood use SDUI within their feeds, for localization processes, and on transactional screens, allowing them to manage UI updates centrally and ensure seamless user experiences across diverse scenarios.

• Shopify, DoorDash, and Faire employ config-driven UI strategies for merchant dashboards and checkout flows, making it easier to roll out changes and maintain complex workflows without frequent app updates.