I’ve been using Figma prototypes in my unmoderated user testing, and all my prototypes take upwards of 30 seconds to 2 minutes to load for my users. I’ve been able to replicate the problem on both my desktop and mobile device. Once the prototype has loaded, it works well enough (albeit a little laggy), but the upfront loading time is frustrating my users before they even get into testing my product.
I’ve tried a lot of things to fix this, but nothing seems to remedy the problem. My prototypes aren’t overly complex - only 5 frames, with overlays swapping in and out. I am working out of a fairly sizable file (.18 GB with ~10 pages and 100k layers), but it’s nothing massive. I’ve also tried duplicating just the prototype page, and it has the same load problems. The only thing I can think of is that I have image files on every screen, but I’ve compressed them as much as I can without reducing usability. Another thing that might be the culprit is the Interactive Components beta feature, but I have it disabled so I’m not sure why it would still be affecting load times.
There are others on my team that are having the same problems, but I haven’t found anything recent on this forum that could help.
+1 In addition to a very long load, there is still a problem with a constant reboot of the prototype when viewing in the browser. As a result: the prototype is loaded for a long time, then when it boot immediately breaks the tab, browser complains about memory problems, and the tab is atomatically rebooted - and so infinite … (((
+1 here. Although I know one possible cause is the hidden layers in my case, we tend to keep the master/base components in our library with some hidden layers. It helps create and maintain variants. I am wondering if Figma can exclude/downsize those hidden layers when in prototype mode or provide a different mode/toggle to optimize the experience when presenting the prototype.
I’m just guessing, but you might get a performance boost if you use instances wherever you can if you’re not doing so already. Even compononize (yes that’s a made up word, but so are all words) your images instead of duplicating them across your workspace.
In theory, since instances point to the same point in memory this could release some computing power. I’m just not sure how big an impact it would make.
Thanks for brining this up Hannah. My team has been noticing this issues in our unmoderated user testing as well. Prototypes loading at a snails pace where users drop out of the study. So were not getting the data we need from a significant amount of participants unable to complete our tasks.
I imagine it is because our participants do not have super fast work computers with high RAM and or high speed internet.
Some feedback from the Figma team would be great, as I’ve seen this problem being share on Twitter lately.
Same problem. Trying to implement some user testing on a fairly robust navigation here and I’m having issues loading the homepage screenshot images on desktop and mobile. I’ve tried using the plugin “Insert Big Image” which seems to chop up a large screenshot image into pieces, making it load somewhat faster, but but it still does not load very quickly in prototype mode.
I have this issue as well. I don’t have large images in my prototypes, it’s mostly just text. The initial wireframe takes 15-20 seconds to load, which makes testers impatient. It also makes them feel like there is something wrong with the prototype from the get-go so they give up easily. They also keep refreshing or re-clicking the link thinking the prototype should load faster. Any insight from the Figma team would be helpful!
We are also experiencing this issue. It’s a huge hurdle for testing, and we are honestly considering switching back to Sketch for some projects insert facepalm
Hi, I am experiencing very slow response issues on Android tablets with my Figma prototypes!!! It happens all the time, not only at the beginning, so currently I cannot do Usability testing! Any hints of fixing it?
Hey everyone, apologies for any disruption this is causing to your work!
Are you seeing any error messages on your end? I’d suggest trying quick fixes, please try force-quit and open Figma in a new browser window (or force-quit the Figma Desktop app and restart it).
Also, please clear out the cache. Here are some information to troubleshoot: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/articles/360040523973-Troubleshooting-checklist 1.
You can read about how to Reduce memory usage in files and most of the suggestions there also apply to prototype loading.
For mobile performance issues / crashes please try the following steps:
Checking the impact ofinteractive components with variantsBecause the presentation view currently loads all variants in a set, not just those used in a specific transition, using large variants sets for interactive components uses a lot of available memory. We’d suggest creating a set with only the states needed for a specific transition or disabling interactive components as needed.
Removing hidden layers: Loading and then hiding many layers, especially in components or with images stored in them, can cause a high use of available memory on loading.
Removing stacked masks and effects like shadows and blurs also take a lot of memory to load.
Downsizing large images: You can check the size you’ve added an image to a File at by temporarily toggling the Image Fill settings to ‘Tile 100%’. If the preview you see is much larger than the Frame it’s filling, we’d suggest toggling this setting back, and then exporting the Frame and replacing the Fill with that export. You can also optimise image size in bulk using a plugin.
For frames, turn clipping on if possible
If this doesn’t help, I’d suggest you to reach out directly to the support team by filling this form: https://help.figma.com/hc/en-us/requests/new 1, out Technical Quality team can investigate further. Be sure to use your Figma account email, include links to the file, and share it with support-share@figma.com.
Hello, just fyi, we tested with developers in our team the Figma prototype on multiple devices (tablets, phones and laptops) and I can confidently say now that it is really a performance issue of the tablets. Out of all devices the Android (Smasung) tablets performed really bad from GPU perspective, as Figma is requiring a lot of GPU resources!!!
I created a fresh new file, optimized it (6% memory usage), cleared out Chrome browser cache (couldn’t install other browser or Figma app due to internal policies reason) and still on 8" and 10" Samsung tablets the tap response time was really slow between 3 and 12 seconds (also the initial loading of the prototype).
on Android phones it actually performed a bit better
on Windows laptop it performed ok, not great but the lagging was almost imperceptible
on iPad and MacBook Pro it was the best performance
So I went for iPad after all as SAmsung tablets performs really bad with Figma prototype in the browser.