A memory leak occurs when using SurfaceView together with AndroidView

[add022]

Details

There seems to be a memory leak when using AndroidView together with SurfaceView at native side.

I've created simple app which can demonstrate the issue. It displays AndroidView which could use SurfaceView or TextureView to display native content.
App is able to toggle AndroidView visibility.
The leak occurs when AndroidView is removed from widget tree and then recreated multiple times during app operation.
Sources: https://github.com/add022/flutter_native_view_sample_java

Here is sample screenshot from Profiler when app is using SurfaceView and toggling AndroidView visibility multiple times. Memory constantly growing, GC is also not able to reclaim allocated memory.

I've used SurfaceHolder's callbacks to track surface lifecycle and it seems that surfaceDestroyed() seems to be not called when AndroidView is removed from widget tree. That may be some clue.

On the other side when TextureView is used with the same scenario the leak seems to be not visible, and memory seems to be correclty reclaimed by GC:

I've also examined the lifecycle of TextureView using TextureView.SurfaceTextureListener.
In this case the onSurfaceTextureDestroyed seems to be called every time AndroidView is removed from widget tree.

Issue was oserved on Flutter 3.3.9 and also verified that it still exists in 3.7.0-1.4.pre.

Target Platform: Android
Target OS version/browser: Android 13(and others)
Devices: Samsung S22+(and others)

Logs

Logs

Here is some StrictMode violation which can be observed after GC:

2023-01-12 14:26:48.017 20071-20092 StrictMode              com...utter_native_view_sample_java  D  StrictMode policy violation: android.os.strictmode.LeakedClosableViolation: A resource was acquired at attached stack trace but never released. See java.io.Closeable for information on avoiding resource leaks.
                                                                                                    	at android.os.StrictMode$AndroidCloseGuardReporter.report(StrictMode.java:1986)
                                                                                                    	at dalvik.system.CloseGuard.warnIfOpen(CloseGuard.java:336)
                                                                                                    	at android.view.Surface.finalize(Surface.java:310)
                                                                                                    	at java.lang.Daemons$FinalizerDaemon.doFinalize(Daemons.java:319)
                                                                                                    	at java.lang.Daemons$FinalizerDaemon.runInternal(Daemons.java:306)
                                                                                                    	at java.lang.Daemons$Daemon.run(Daemons.java:140)
                                                                                                    	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1012)
                                                                                                    Caused by: java.lang.Throwable: Explicit termination method 'Surface.release' not called
                                                                                                    	at dalvik.system.CloseGuard.openWithCallSite(CloseGuard.java:288)
                                                                                                    	at dalvik.system.CloseGuard.open(CloseGuard.java:257)
                                                                                                    	at android.view.Surface.setNativeObjectLocked(Surface.java:760)
                                                                                                    	at android.view.Surface.<init>(Surface.java:294)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.plugin.platform.VirtualDisplayController.create(VirtualDisplayController.java:53)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.plugin.platform.PlatformViewsController$1.configureForVirtualDisplay(PlatformViewsController.java:541)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.plugin.platform.PlatformViewsController$1.createForTextureLayer(PlatformViewsController.java:219)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.embedding.engine.systemchannels.PlatformViewsChannel$1.create(PlatformViewsChannel.java:128)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.embedding.engine.systemchannels.PlatformViewsChannel$1.onMethodCall(PlatformViewsChannel.java:55)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel$IncomingMethodCallHandler.onMessage(MethodChannel.java:258)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.embedding.engine.dart.DartMessenger.invokeHandler(DartMessenger.java:295)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.embedding.engine.dart.DartMessenger.lambda$dispatchMessageToQueue$0$io-flutter-embedding-engine-dart-DartMessenger(DartMessenger.java:322)
                                                                                                    	at io.flutter.embedding.engine.dart.DartMessenger$$ExternalSyntheticLambda0.run(Unknown Source:12)
                                                                                                    	at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:942)
                                                                                                    	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
                                                                                                    	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:226)
                                                                                                    	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:313)
                                                                                                    	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8741)
                                                                                                    	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
                                                                                                    	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:571)
                                                                                                    	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1067)

Also following logs about abandoned buffers seems to appear after GC execution:

2023-01-12 14:26:49.423 20071-20238 BufferQueueProducer     com...utter_native_view_sample_java  E  [SurfaceTexture-0-20071-0](id:4e6700000002,api:1,p:1138,c:20071) dequeueBuffer: BufferQueue has been abandoned
2023-01-12 14:26:49.423 20071-20238 BufferQueueProducer     com...utter_native_view_sample_java  E  [SurfaceTexture-0-20071-1](id:4e6700000005,api:1,p:1138,c:20071) dequeueBuffer: BufferQueue has been abandoned
2023-01-12 14:26:49.423 20071-20238 BufferQueueProducer     com...utter_native_view_sample_java  E  [SurfaceTexture-0-20071-2](id:4e6700000008,api:1,p:1138,c:20071) dequeueBuffer: BufferQueue has been abandoned
2023-01-12 14:26:49.423 20071-20238 BufferQueueProducer     com...utter_native_view_sample_java  E  [SurfaceTexture-0-20071-3](id:4e670000000b,api:1,p:1138,c:20071) dequeueBuffer: BufferQueue has been abandoned
2023-01-12 14:26:49.423 20071-20238 BufferQueueProducer     com...utter_native_view_sample_java  E  [SurfaceTexture-0-20071-4](id:4e670000000e,api:1,p:1138,c:20071) dequeueBuffer: BufferQueue has been abandoned
2023-01-12 14:26:49.423 20071-20238 BufferQueueProducer     com...utter_native_view_sample_java  E  [SurfaceTexture-0-20071-5](id:4e6700000011,api:1,p:1138,c:20071) dequeueBuffer: BufferQueue has been abandoned
2023-01-12 14:26:49.424 20071-20238 BufferQueueProducer     com...utter_native_view_sample_java  E  [SurfaceTexture-0-20071-6](id:4e6700000014,api:1,p:1138,c:20071) dequeueBuffer: BufferQueue has been abandoned
2023-01-12 14:26:49.424 20071-20238 BufferQueueProducer     com...utter_native_view_sample_java  E  [SurfaceTexture-0-20071-7](id:4e6700000017,api:1,p:1138,c:20071) dequeueBuffer: BufferQueue has been abandoned

Flutter doctor:

[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.3.9, on macOS 12.5.1 21G83 darwin-x64, locale en-PL)
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[!] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 30.0.3)
    • Android SDK at /Users/domin/Library/Android/sdk
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      Run `path/to/sdkmanager --install "cmdline-tools;latest"`
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[✓] Connected device (3 available)
    • SM S906B (mobile) • RFCTA01WFRA • android-arm64  • Android 13 (API 33)
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! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

[darshankawar]

Thanks for the report and details around it.
It seems that SurfaceTexture is a stream of frame and rendering using this class will force the device to do a copy on each render and on top of that this use case is using SurfaceView and AndroidView together which could be leading to memory spike.
Using the code sample provided and running on Samsung S10, seeing the same behavior as reported.

code sample

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';

void main() {
  runApp(const MyApp());
}

class MyApp extends StatelessWidget {
  const MyApp({super.key});

  // This widget is the root of your application.
  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return MaterialApp(
      title: 'Flutter Demo',
      theme: ThemeData(
        primarySwatch: Colors.lime,
      ),
      home: const MyHomePage(title: 'Flutter Demo Home Page'),
    );
  }
}

class MyHomePage extends StatefulWidget {
  const MyHomePage({super.key, required this.title});

  final String title;

  @override
  State<MyHomePage> createState() => _MyHomePageState();
}

class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
  bool _showNativeView = false;
  bool _useTexture = false;

  void _toggleNativeView(bool value) => setState(() => _showNativeView = value);
  void _toggleTextureInUse(bool value) => setState(() => _useTexture = value);

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: Text(widget.title),
      ),
      // backgroundColor: Colors.red,
      body: Center(
        child: Column(
          mainAxisAlignment: MainAxisAlignment.start,
          children: <Widget>[
            SwitchListTile(
              title: const Text(
                'Toggle native view',
              ),
              value: _showNativeView,
              onChanged: _toggleNativeView,
            ),
            SwitchListTile(
              title: const Text(
                'Use texture',
              ),
              value: _useTexture,
              onChanged: _toggleTextureInUse,
            ),
            AspectRatio(aspectRatio: 1, child: _buildNativeViewWidget()),
          ],
        ),
      ),
    );
  }

  Widget _buildNativeViewWidget() {
    if (_showNativeView) {
      return Container(
        decoration: BoxDecoration(border: Border.all(color: Colors.blueAccent)),
        child: AndroidView(
            viewType:
                _useTexture ? 'texture_native_view' : 'surface_native_view'),
      );
    } else {
      return const SizedBox.expand();
    }
  }
}

stable, master flutter doctor -v

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! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

[[!] Flutter (Channel master, 3.7.0-20.0.pre.28, on macOS 12.2.1 21D62
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[✓] Connected device (5 available)
    • SM G975F (mobile)       • RZ8M802WY0X • android-arm64   • Android 11 (API 30)
    • Darshan's iphone (mobile)  • 21150b119064aecc249dfcfe05e259197461ce23 •
      ios            • iOS 14.4.1 18D61
    • iPhone 12 Pro Max (mobile) • A5473606-0213-4FD8-BA16-553433949729     •
      ios            • com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-14-3 (simulator)
    • macOS (desktop)            • macos                                    •
      darwin-x64     • Mac OS X 10.15.4 19E2269 darwin-x64
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! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

[ygit]

Any updates on when a fix for this will be released?

[varunvasista]

When it will be fixed ?

[ArkeshGKalathiya]

Same issue here while integrating cocos2d-x game engine with flutter, destroying and re-adding native views leads to memory leak ( each time 5-10mb jump ).

[ArkeshGKalathiya]

Mine was related to stale cocos2dx view instance.

[limingchina]

I've modified the code from the repository(https://github.com/add022/flutter_native_view_sample_java) of the report so that it automatically switch the native view's visibility. Please refer to diff.txt.

This way, one can use memory profiler to see how the memory grows. Even using TextureView, the memory still grows constantly overtime. I even tried to replace the SurfaceView with a simple TextView to display a few text, I still can see the constant growth. That might be additional leak somewhere. If it's confirmed to happen for general usage, I think the priority should be raised.

The following is my simple native view containing a TextView:

package com.example.hello_world;
import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.TextView;
import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
import androidx.annotation.Nullable;

import java.util.Map;

import io.flutter.plugin.platform.PlatformView;

public class NativeTextView implements PlatformView {
    private TextView textView;
    NativeTextView(@NonNull Context context, int id, @Nullable Map<String, Object> creationParams) {
        textView = new TextView(context);
        textView.setTextSize(72);
        textView.setBackgroundColor(Color.rgb(255, 255, 255));
        textView.setText("Rendered on a native Android view (id: " + id + ")");
    }

    @NonNull
    @Override
    public View getView() {
        return textView;
    }

    @Override
    public void dispose() {
    }
}

[zilong-zZ]

When it will be fixed ? urgent！！

[yunikkk]

@favazHF I think this one was resolved in https://docs.flutter.dev/release/release-notes/release-notes-3.16.0#android / flutter/engine#43807

[ankiimation]

any update?