What is the role of Scaffold and SafeArea in Flutter?
TL;DR: Scaffold provides the basic Material Design visual layout structure (AppBar, body, FAB, Drawer, BottomNavigationBar); SafeArea adds padding to avoid system intrusions like notches, status bars, and home indicators.
Full Answer
Scaffold is a convenience widget that implements the standard Material Design layout. SafeArea uses MediaQuery.of(context).padding to add insets that avoid hardware/system UI overlaps.
Use SafeArea in the body of your Scaffold if your content needs to avoid the status bar. The Scaffold's AppBar already respects the status bar, so you typically only need SafeArea for custom full-screen designs or bottom content near home indicators.
Interview Tip
SafeArea.minimum lets you specify a minimum padding. On Android 15+ with edge-to-edge enforcement, SafeArea is essential to prevent content from going under system bars.