Monta

Goal

As a challenger brand in a fast-moving industry, Monta needed a way to quickly launch and iterate on their first mobile app, allowing them to find their product-market fit in as little time as possible. The solution also had to be scalable for future platform growth and ensure the team could maintain quality and consistency across platforms with maximum efficiency.

Why Flutter?

The team at Monta was familiar with technologies like Firebase Cloud Messaging and the Google Maps Geocoding API. They were also well-versed in Flutter, and saw it as the ideal solution for their mobile needs. Flutter's ability to create custom, visually appealing interfaces that perform smoothly across different devices was a key factor in their decision. After a successful proof of concept confirming smooth integration with Google Maps - a crucial feature for their app - they decided to move ahead. Flutter's cross-platform capabilities allowed them to efficiently create both iOS and Android versions simultaneously.

From mobile to web

The success of the mobile app led Monta to reconsider their web strategy. They decided to rewrite their existing web application, then called Monta Portal and built with a traditional framework, using Flutter Web. This move was motivated by the opportunity to share resources across platforms and craft a more refined, consistent user experience. The rewrite led to a phased rollout, with the new Flutter version being named Monta Hub. The rewrite was well received by users, and was quickly made the default web app.

The decision to use Flutter for both mobile and web solidified it as Monta's go-to technology for all user-facing applications, enabling a cohesive look and feel across all platforms while maximizing code reuse and development efficiency.

Their solution

Flutter’s Hot Reload feature made it easy for the Monta team to iterate quickly, allowing for rapid development and testing cycles. They found the documentation on flutter.dev extremely helpful, giving their developers a running start as they learned the new framework. Right away, they started planning for scalability by creating a centralized UI library with custom widgets, UI patterns, theming, assets, and an architecture package that could be shared across teams.

“Flutter accelerated our mobile launch and set the foundation for rapid, consistent development across our entire product ecosystem.”

- Markus Rubey, Head of Flutter, Monta

Results

Using Flutter, the team launched the first version of the Monta Charge mobile app for iOS and Android in just 3 months. The new UI library is also used by multiple development teams for consistency and efficiency across the organization, which has enabled them to fully leverage their frontend engineering talent across multiple platforms and teams, facilitating swift and agile planning and resource allocation.

As a result all user-facing apps are or will be developed with Flutter, including the migration of existing web apps, like Monta Hub.