Should I use ConstraintLayout in Android Jetpack Compose for a better performance?

Question

Before Jetpack Compose ConstraintLayout was the recommended way of building complex layouts since it allows to flatten UI hierarchies. See Manage complexity: layouts matter documentation section.

The most common case in which layout takes an especially long time is when hierarchies of View objects are nested within one another. Each nested layout object adds cost to the layout stage. The flatter your hierarchy, the less time that it takes for the layout stage to complete.

Is it still true in the Compose world?

Answer 1

This is not the case in Compose. Use ConstraintLayout if it helps you to implement a layout but not because of performance concerns. See Compose ConstraintLayout documentation:

Note: In the View system, ConstraintLayout was the recommended way to create large and complex layouts, as a flat view hierarchy was better for performance than nested views are. However, this is not a concern in Compose, which is able to efficiently handle deep layout hierarchies.