What is Hardware Acceleration & How to Use it in a Xamarin (.NET MAUI) Application?

Xamarin (now succeeded by .NET MAUI) platform is used to build comfortable, and user-friendly iOS and Android application. Sometimes to achieve customer expectations, a developer needs to follow a complex structure and different C# codes during its development. As a result, the App becomes heavy in size, and therefore it works slower in many user devices. But the developer can make there Xamarin application faster by enabling their apps to utilize mobile and tablet device hardware as per requirement. Yes, Xamarin Android and iOS application work more efficient and faster with the technique called Hardware Acceleration.

So, what is Hardware Acceleration in Xamarin (.NET MAUI)?

In simple term, Hardware Acceleration allows mobile or tablet device to perform all 2D drawing operation that performed in View`s canvas through GPU technology. So, once you enable Hardware Acceleration, your application will start utilizing more RAM based on its resource.

If you want to run your App in Android 3.0+, you must enable Hardware Acceleration to improve its UI (User Interface). To enable HA (Hardware Acceleration), follow the below instruction for better understanding and its limitation.

Effect of not using Hardware Acceleration in Your Application?

android:hardwareAccelerated="false"

It will cause multiple issues on controls such as scrolls will stop working and unresponsive entries in your apps (varies on devices). In this condition, the application background process works fine, but the View doesn`t redraw meaning on Property change section. It will not affect any changes in value change section or control state. To enable HA (Hardware Acceleration), follow the below instruction for better understanding and its limitation.

How to Enable Hardware Acceleration?

To enable Hardware Acceleration for your application, add below code on your App to change the status based on your requirement.

Hardware Acceleration Tag for Android & Xamarin

1. <application android:hardwareAccelerated=“true”></application>

Add the above code in your application manifest file and use “android:hardwareAccelerated” property.

Disable Hardware Acceleration in Android Activity?

If you are facing some issue on your application activity section, once you enable Hardware Acceleration application wide. You can disable this functionality through below code in the activity part.

1. <application android:hardwareAccelerated=“true”><activity … />
2. <activity android:hardwareAccelerated=“false” /></application>

Building or modernising a cross-platform app?

Migrating a legacy Xamarin app to .NET MAUI and tuning its performance takes specialist skills. You can hire experienced .NET MAUI developers from Codevision to handle the migration and rendering optimisation end to end

Setting Hardware Acceleration in Android View Section?

To set Hardware Acceleration in view section on Android application, use below code with specific controls and view.

1. if ((int)Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 19)
2. {
3. view.setLayerType(View.LAYER_TYPE_HARDWARE, null);
4. }
5. else
6. {
7. view.setLayerType(View.LAYER_TYPE_SOFTWARE, null);
8. }

Setting Up Hardware Acceleration in Xamarin Forms?

To enable hardware acceleration in Xamarin.forms view section is straightforward. Just render the form and put below code.

1. set hardwareAccelerated on View in Xamarin.forms
2. make rendrer and put this
3. using Android.Content;
4. using Android.OS;
5. using XXX.Droid.Renderers;
6. using Xamarin.Forms;
7. using Xamarin.Forms.Platform.Android;
8.  [assembly: ExportRenderer(typeof(WebView), typeof(CustomWebViewRenderer))]
9. namespace XXX.Droid.Renderers
10. {
11. public class CustomWebViewRenderer : WebViewRenderer
12. {
13. public CustomWebViewRenderer(Context context) : base(context) { }
14.  
15. protected override void OnElementChanged(ElementChangedEventArgs e)
16. {
17. base.OnElementChanged(e);
18.  
19. if (Control != null)
20. {
21. if ((int)Build.VERSION.SdkInt >= 19)
22. {
23. Control.SetLayerType(Android.Views.LayerType.Hardware, null);
24. }
25. else
26. {
27. Control.SetLayerType(Android.Views.LayerType.Software, null);
28. }
29. }
30. }
31. }
32. }

In .NET MAUI, the same approach applies through a platform handler instead of a Xamarin.Forms renderer — the underlying SetLayerType call and GPU rendering behaviour are identical.