Flutter 3 Released: Six Platforms from a Single Codebase

What happened

Flutter 3 was released on May 11, 2022, as part of the Google I/O 2022 keynote, according to the official Flutter documentation's archive of releases and the Introducing Flutter 3 blog post. It shipped alongside Dart 2.17 and was described as completing Flutter's roadmap from a mobile-centric to a multiplatform framework.

Six platforms from one codebase

The centrepiece was that macOS and Linux desktop support reached stable, joining the previously stable Windows support. Combined with iOS, Android and the web, this meant developers could build beautiful experiences for six platforms from a single codebase. Flutter's documentation updated its desktop pages to reflect that developers could now target any or all of these platforms.

Apple Silicon and performance

Flutter 3 added support for Apple Silicon processors, with the macOS install page offering a dedicated Apple Silicon download. The release also rewrote the performance best-practices guidance with additional advice on avoiding jank, including minimising layout passes caused by intrinsics and reducing calls to saveLayer, reflecting the framework's continued focus on smooth rendering.

Firebase, games and more

The release overhauled Flutter's Firebase integration and documentation, launched the Casual Games Toolkit to help developers build games with Flutter, and introduced the Happy Paths project, later discontinued in favour of the Flutter Favorite program, to help developers level up. It also added guidance on customising web app initialization for developers wanting more control over the launch process.

Why it mattered

Flutter 3 was a landmark release that fulfilled Flutter's long-stated ambition of true multiplatform support, letting a single codebase target mobile, web and all three major desktop operating systems. Stable macOS and Linux support plus Apple Silicon readiness cemented Flutter as a serious cross-platform framework beyond mobile.

Related on Skillo

See also: Flutter 3.16 and Material 3 by default.

Sources

• Flutter release notes archive (docs.flutter.dev)

Published date reflects the original event date (2022-05-11). This article is original Skillo editorial written from the sources above; facts were verified in September 2026.