[Android][Vulkan] App crashes on Adreno GPUs when session replay is enabled

[null-io]

Description

Description

After enabling PostHog session replay (frame capture) in our Flutter app, we are seeing consistent crashes on Android devices with Adreno GPUs.

Stacktraces indicate the crash occurs in the Vulkan driver library (vulkan.adreno.so) during framebuffer operations. This issue did not occur before enabling session replay.

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Steps to Reproduce

1. Run the Flutter app on an Android device with an Adreno GPU.
2. Enable PostHog session replay (even at 1 FPS).
3. Interact with the app (scroll lists, view images, minor animations).
4. Observe the app crashing; the backtrace points to vulkan.adreno.so.

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Stacktrace

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
pid: 0, tid: 29347 >>> com.falaq.app <<<


backtrace:
  #00  pc 0x000000000017a418  /vendor/lib64/hw/vulkan.adreno.so (!!!0000!a120ef209d5178a4423deb015222c1!8699000cd8!+120)
  #01  pc 0x00000000001790a4  /vendor/lib64/hw/vulkan.adreno.so (!!!0000!097ece140a689b3ba2b5661cb74dce!8699000cd8!+252)
  #02  pc 0x0000000000178cdc  /vendor/lib64/hw/vulkan.adreno.so (!!!0000!29ace6fe96216dcfbbe73828801572!8699000cd8!+28)
  #03  pc 0x00000000000d5194  /vendor/lib64/hw/vulkan.adreno.so (!!!0000!d181a8f7c47818ec36ff475c08ff06!8699000cd8!+180)
  #04  pc 0x00000000000a3020  /vendor/lib64/hw/vulkan.adreno.so (qglinternal::vkDestroyFramebuffer(VkDevice_T*, VkFramebuffer_T*, VkAllocationCallbacks const*)+64)
  #05  pc 0x000000000048183c  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #06  pc 0x00000000007f91f8  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #07  pc 0x000000000048183c  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #08  pc 0x00000000007f9398  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #09  pc 0x000000000048183c  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #10  pc 0x00000000007a007c  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #11  pc 0x000000000083b630  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #12  pc 0x000000000083b6bc  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #13  pc 0x00000000004b7fa8  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #14  pc 0x00000000004b7f44  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #15  pc 0x00000000004b7e40  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #16  pc 0x00000000004bbd68  /data/app/~~xrO_PCX5x7pvnJa4A6EVfg==/com.falaq.app-2I8bmnJTDJLu0zhP9cfh7A==/lib/arm64/libflutter.so (BuildId: 19c789d73f23041f9209dc31b7aa2e5f30f7fdff)
  #17  pc 0x00000000000177e4  /system/lib64/libutils.so (android::Looper::pollInner(int)+1060)
  #18  pc 0x0000000000017360  /system/lib64/libutils.so (android::Looper::pollOnce(int, int*, int*, void**)+112)
  #19  pc 0x00000000001a1ad4  /system/lib64/libandroid_runtime.so (android::android_os_MessageQueue_nativePollOnce(_JNIEnv*, _jobject*, long, int)+44)
  #20  pc 0x0000000001021b40  /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.art/dalvik-cache/arm64/boot.oat (art_jni_trampoline+112)
  #21  pc 0x0000000000a2a89c  /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.art/dalvik-cache/arm64/boot.oat (android.os.MessageQueue.next+364)
  #22  pc 0x0000000000a269c0  /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.art/dalvik-cache/arm64/boot.oat (android.os.Looper.loopOnce+96)
  #23  pc 0x0000000000a268a8  /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.art/dalvik-cache/arm64/boot.oat (android.os.Looper.loop+1032)
  #24  pc 0x00000000007b8da0  /data/misc/apexdata/com.android.art/dalvik-cache/arm64/boot.oat (android.app.ActivityThread.main+3824)
  #25  pc 0x00000000002ce060  /apex/com.android.art/lib64/libart.so (art_quick_invoke_static_stub+640)

Affected Devices (observed crashes)

• Realme 12 Pro
• Honor Magic 5 Lite
• Realme GT Master Edition
• Honor X8b
• Poco X3 Pro

All devices have Adreno GPUs, maybe more devices but this is what i got after 2 days of the update release.

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Observed Behavior

• The app crashes when session replay is enabled on Vulkan/Impeller rendering backend.
• Crash appears to originate inside vulkan.adreno.so.
• Users experience sudden app termination.

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Expected Behavior

• The app should not crash when session replay is enabled.

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Environment

• Flutter version: 3.38.4
• PostHog Flutter plugin: 5.11.1
• Impeller / Vulkan enabled (default on recent Flutter versions)

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Notes

• This issue started after enabling session replay.
• Stacktrace suggests the crash occurs during framebuffer operations in the Vulkan driver.
• We do not currently have information on whether disabling Impeller or using OpenGL prevents the crash.

[ioannisj]

Hey there, have you identified if the app crashes on specific screens or interactions, or is it completely random?
Also, I see that Flutter has been enabling/disabling Impeller on Adreno GPUs (flutter/flutter#161287 and flutter/engine#57069) which seems to me that they are buggy in general. Is there any way to check if the versions that are causing the crashers are in this list here? If possible, can you get your hands and share a symbolicated stack trace that may be more useful?

[null-io]

I don't have exact specifications on how this crash is occurring because this is happening in production

Firebase crashlytics notified me about these crashes, I have opened an issue here and not in flutter's repo because I didn't have these crashes occurring before using posthog, keep in mind the update i released only added posthog and changed nothing else in the application.

I'm hoping you guys can trace the source of these crashes and maybe open an issue in the flutter repo if it's not solvable on your end, I hope there is a swift workaround on your end tho.

I provided the stacktrace logged in crashlytics so unfortunately i have no better stacktrace to present.

these are the GPUs of the devices i specified above

Realme 12 Pro | Adreno 710
Honor Magic 5 Lite | Adreno 619
Realme GT Master Edition | Adreno 642 / 642L
Honor X8b | Adreno 610
Poco X3 Pro | Adreno 640

I'm pretty sure more devices are effected by this, it just hasn't occurred yet, but it seems like they are all Adreno devices.

[ioannisj]

@marandaneto have you bumped into this issue before and can share some context?

[marandaneto]

Nope, GPT links me to flutter/flutter#181069 but i cant tell if its the same issue.
The stack traces says nothing about posthog, only about vkDestroyFramebuffer.
One suggestion is to disable impeller/vulkan (eg --no-enable-impeller I guess, also possible via android manifest), and release a new version and see if the crash stops.
Otherwise, we're running blind without more context, a repro.