Quick question: Can too many fragments make an app slow and how many?

Question

I can't seem to find an answer for that. How many fragments can an app have, or how many xml layouts in general, before it starts getting cluttered and slow? All I found was that with too many nested layouts the activity itself performs worse.

Answer 1

Yes, theoretically it can. But it's not the number of fragments which can make an app slow, it's the way you use them. Even 2 fragments, if badly used, can make an app slow. On the other hand, tens of fragments could be handled fine. If your app instead needs 50, or 100 fragments, unless it's a really complex app and you're on top of it, then it's a good indicator that you're doing something wrong, either in the app flow, or the design. Android Studio provides you very good tools for profiling an app, use them, see where your bottlenecks are, and fix them. Measure the improvements before and after the fix.

Answer 2

No, there is no limit on making any number of fragments in Android app. And it does not harm any app if you make hundreds of fragments. But the way you are using those it DOES MATTER . As far as the matter of nested layout is concerned, yes it all depends upon your hierarchical level. Suitable approach should be used. Obviously not all layouts you will be showing in your activity. On depends or in certain conditions you will be using different nested layout. If this is the case then you can use fragment for dynamically update the UI or the Activity or Secondly you can dynamically add the views in your activity on demand. All at once if you are going to show complex nested layouts and those are in deep as well, this can cause sometimes some jerk or flick to load.To overcome this, You need to first think about weather it is necessary to load all the views else load on demand. Hope that helps you.