Introducing Impeller : Flutter's new rendering engine

Unleashing next level performance!!!

The highly anticipated Impeller rendering engine has arrived, revolutionizing the way apps are built and pushing the boundaries of performance and user experience.

But what actually is Impeller?

Well, today you’re going to find out.

Impeller is a new renderer within Flutter’s Engine. Until now, Flutter has been using something called Skia. The problem is that Skia wasn’t designed for Flutter. It has a ton of rendering features built for a wide range of devices, which means that it’s not always optimized for Flutter’s needs.

Enter Impeller,

Flutter’s new renderer.

Impeller is built specifically to focus on the rendering needs of Flutter applications and the Flutter team’s main goal was to eliminate jank or any stuttering that’s happening inside of the flutter app. This way it’ll always look and feel great for the end users.

Now for everyone who’s reading who’s not a graphics engineer, you might be wondering, What’s a renderer? Well, a renderer is a software that helps you translate your UI code into the pixels that you actually see on the screen.

Impeller precompiles a smaller, simpler set of shaders at Engine build time so they don’t compile at runtime. It brings a host of remarkable features that will undoubtedly transform the way you create Flutter apps. Here’s a closer look at what Impeller has to offer:

Unprecedented Performance : Impeller takes performance optimization to a whole new level. App animations become smoother, transitions seamless, and rendering lightning-fast, even on devices with limited resources. Through advanced techniques, Impeller significantly reduces GPU memory usage and enhances frame rendering efficiency, allowing your app to realize its true potential.

Instantaneous Response : Say goodbye to input latency! With Impeller, the event handling and processing pipeline has been streamlined for lightning-fast response times. Users will enjoy a highly responsive app that reacts instantaneously to their gestures, delivering a delightful and engaging user experience.

Enhanced Visuals : Impeller raises the bar for visual quality. Leveraging superior anti-aliasing and sub-pixel rendering techniques, your app’s graphics and text will appear sharper and more polished. Prepare to be amazed as your user interface comes to life with enhanced clarity and visual appeal.

Adaptive Graphics Pipeline : Device compatibility is no longer a concern. Impeller automatically selects the most suitable graphics pipeline based on the capabilities of the user’s device. Whether it’s Metal on iOS or OpenGL on Android, Impeller intelligently adapts to ensure optimal performance across a wide range of devices.

Seamless iOS Integration : Flutter with Impeller seamlessly integrates with the latest iOS technologies and frameworks. By leveraging the power of Metal, Apple’s high-performance graphics API, Impeller unlocks the full potential of iOS devices, creating a harmonious and immersive experience for the users.

Where can you use Impeller?

Flutter enables Impeller by default on iOS from 3.10 release. Android development continues but it’s not ready for preview. Impeller on Android might not work on the master channel. To see what direction Android support will take, experiment with Impeller in the 3.7 or later stable release.