[PlatformView] Hybrid composition can be slow on android. #167547
Description
Steps to reproduce
Hi, it seems the platform view issues are more widespread than initially expected.
Here's the current situation:
- Hybrid Composition (HC) causes performance issues on Android devices. Initially, we believed this was limited to older phones, but one of our users shared a video showing the issue on a OnePlus 13 running SDK 35 (device specs). You can find the video in the “Videos” section.
In summary:
- The HC issue impacts performance only on certain Android devices, but they are many, and the performance degradation is severe.
- Currently, there is no reliable fallback or configuration that consistently avoids these issues.
- Given the current state, PlatformView on android is not reliable enough for production use.
Note:
- We tested on Flutter 3.24.5, the version used in production.
- We also tested on Flutter 3.27, and platform view issues appeared to be worse in this version (ie. [Android][PlatformView] Slow/Choppy Screen Animations After Flickering Fix (Regression) #162428 ; [Android][PlatformView] Screen Flicker Caused by Hybrid Composition (Regression) #162310)
- Flutter 3.29 has not been evaluated yet due to other known issues that currently block its adoption in our production environment (ie. images unloaded after resuming app from background and other platform view / UI glitch issues).
A reliable and performant Platform View is critical for our app, as we rely on it for key components such as text fields, video player, Google Maps, WebView, and more.
Expected results
Platform Views should not cause such significant performance degradation—especially for something as basic as a text field. Additionally, Platform Views should always render reliably on devices.
Actual results
Platform Views degrade performance on certain Android models when using HC, and on some subset of devices, also don't render properly.
Code sample
Code sample
Sample repository is linked below in the discussion.
Screenshots or Video
Screenshots / Video demonstration
The video demonstrates a screen where a platform view is used at the bottom for a native text field, and also for rendering video content when the user posts a video.
HC Issue:
UI performance is noticeably janky on an undefined number of android models. Here's a video captured on a OnePlus 13 running SDK 35 (device specs) :
HC.issue.MP4
HC with no issue:
On some Android devices, HC performs smoothly. However, the models where issues occur are unpredictable and appear to include also newer mid-to-high-end devices. Note: The below video showing no HC issues was recorded on a Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G (vulkan and SDK 34)
HC-good.mp4
Logs
Logs
[Paste your logs here]Flutter Doctor output
Doctor output
[!] Flutter (Channel [user-branch], 3.24.5, on macOS 14.7.4 23H420 darwin-arm64, locale en-IT)
! Flutter version 3.24.5 on channel [user-branch] at /Users/delf/Development/flutter
Currently on an unknown channel. Run `flutter channel` to switch to an official channel.
If that doesn't fix the issue, reinstall Flutter by following instructions at https://flutter.dev/setup.
! Upstream repository unknown source is not a standard remote.
Set environment variable "FLUTTER_GIT_URL" to unknown source to dismiss this error.
• Framework revision dec2ee5c1f (5 months ago), 2024-11-13 11:13:06 -0800
• Engine revision a18df97ca5
• Dart version 3.5.4
• DevTools version 2.37.3
• If those were intentional, you can disregard the above warnings; however it is recommended to use "git" directly to perform update checks
and upgrades.
[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
• Android SDK at /Users/delf/Library/Android/sdk
• Platform android-35, build-tools 34.0.0
• Java binary at: /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents/jbr/Contents/Home/bin/java
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.10+0-17.0.10b1087.21-11609105)
• All Android licenses accepted.
[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 16.2)
• Xcode at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
• Build 16C5032a
• CocoaPods version 1.16.2
[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
• Chrome at /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome
[✓] Android Studio (version 2024.1)
• Android Studio at /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents
• Flutter plugin can be installed from:
🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
• Dart plugin can be installed from:
🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart
• Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 17.0.10+0-17.0.10b1087.21-11609105)
[✓] Connected device (6 available)
• 2109119DG (mobile) • bef49dd4 • android-arm64 • Android 14 (API 34)
• iPhone 16pro di delf (mobile) • 00008140-00062D900E98801C • ios • iOS 18.3.2 22D82
• iPhone di delf (mobile) • 00008110-000A788A2161801E • ios • iOS 18.3.2 22D82
• macOS (desktop) • macos • darwin-arm64 • macOS 14.7.4 23H420 darwin-arm64
• Mac Designed for iPad (desktop) • mac-designed-for-ipad • darwin • macOS 14.7.4 23H420 darwin-arm64
• Chrome (web) • chrome • web-javascript • Google Chrome 135.0.7049.96
[✓] Network resources
• All expected network resources are available.