Adding a splash screen to your mobile app
Splash screens (also known as launch screens) provide a simple initial experience while your mobile app loads. They set the stage for your application, while allowing time for the app engine to load and your app to initialize. This guide teaches you how to use splash screens appropriately on iOS and Android.
iOS launch screen
All apps submitted to the Apple App Store must use an Xcode storyboard to provide the app’s launch screen.
The default Flutter template includes an Xcode
storyboard named LaunchScreen.storyboard
that can be customized as you see fit with
your own assets. By default,
the storyboard displays a blank image,
but you can change this. To do so,
open the Flutter app’s Xcode project
by typing open ios/Runner.xcworkspace
from the root of your app directory.
Then select Runner/Assets.xcassets
from the Project Navigator and
drop in the desired images to the LaunchImage image set.
Apple provides detailed guidance for launch screens as part of the Human Interface Guidelines.
Android launch screen
In Android, there are two separate screens that you can control: a launch screen shown while your Android app initializes, and a splash screen that displays while the Flutter experience initializes.
Initializing the app
Every Android app requires initialization time while the
operating system sets up the app’s process.
Android provides the concept of a launch screen to
display a Drawable while the app is initializing.
The default Flutter project template includes a definition
of a launch theme and a launch background. You can customize
this by editing styles.xml, where you can define a theme
whose windowBackground is set to the
Drawable that should be displayed as the launch screen.
<style name="LaunchTheme" parent="@android:style/Theme.Black.NoTitleBar">
<item name="android:windowBackground">@drawable/launch_background</item>
</style>
In addition, style.xml defines a normal theme
to be applied to FlutterActivity after the launch
screen is gone. The normal theme background only shows
for a very brief moment after the splash screen disappears,
and during orientation change and Activity restoration.
Therefore, it’s recommended that the normal theme use a
solid background color that looks similar to the primary
background color of the Flutter UI.
<style name="NormalTheme" parent="@android:style/Theme.Black.NoTitleBar">
<item name="android:windowBackground">@drawable/normal_background</item>
</style>
Set up the FlutterActivity in AndroidManifest.xml
In AndroidManifest.xml, set the theme of
FlutterActivity to the launch theme. Then,
add a metadata element to the desired FlutterActivity
to instruct Flutter to switch from the launch theme
to the normal theme at the appropriate time.
<activity
android:name=".MyActivity"
android:theme="@style/LaunchTheme"
// ...
>
<meta-data
android:name="io.flutter.embedding.android.NormalTheme"
android:resource="@style/NormalTheme"
/>
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/>
<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
</intent-filter>
</activity>
The Android app now displays the desired launch screen while the app initializes.
Android S
See Android Splash Screens first on how to configure your splash screen on Android S.
Make sure neither io.flutter.embedding.android.SplashScreenDrawable is set in
your manifest, nor is provideSplashScreen implemented, as these APIs are
deprecated. Doing so will cause the Android splash screen to fade smoothly into
the Flutter when the app is launched.
Some apps may want to continue showing the last frame of the Android splash screen in Flutter. For example, this preserves the illusion of a single frame while additional loading continues in Dart. To achieve this, the following Android APIs may be helpful:
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.window.SplashScreenView;
import androidx.core.view.WindowCompat;
import io.flutter.embedding.android.FlutterActivity;
public class MainActivity extends FlutterActivity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
// Aligns the Flutter view vertically with the window.
WindowCompat.setDecorFitsSystemWindows(getWindow(), false);
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S) {
// Disable the Android splash screen fade out animation to avoid
// a flicker before the similar frame is drawn in Flutter.
getSplashScreen()
.setOnExitAnimationListener(
(SplashScreenView splashScreenView) -> {
splashScreenView.remove();
});
}
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
}
}
import android.os.Build
import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.core.view.WindowCompat
import io.flutter.embedding.android.FlutterActivity
class MainActivity : FlutterActivity() {
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
// Aligns the Flutter view vertically with the window.
WindowCompat.setDecorFitsSystemWindows(getWindow(), false)
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S) {
// Disable the Android splash screen fade out animation to avoid
// a flicker before the similar frame is drawn in Flutter.
splashScreen.setOnExitAnimationListener { splashScreenView -> splashScreenView.remove() }
}
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
}
}
Then, you can reimplement the first frame in Flutter that shows elements of your Android splash screen in the same positions on screen.
Migrating from Manifest / Activity defined custom splash screens
Previously, Android Flutter apps would either set
io.flutter.embedding.android.SplashScreenDrawable in their application
manifest, or implement provideSplashScreen within their Flutter Activity.
This would be shown momentarily in between the time after the Android launch
screen is shown and when Flutter has drawn the first frame. This is no longer
needed and is deprecated – Flutter now automatically keeps the Android launch
screen displayed until Flutter has drawn the first frame. Developers should
instead remove usage of these APIs.