Freehand technological requirements
  • 26 Apr 2023
  • 3 Minutes to read
  • Dark
    Light

Freehand technological requirements

  • Dark
    Light

Article Summary

For the best possible Freehand experience—and to resolve common browser warnings or performance issues—follow the guidance below and ensure that your device and browser meet the minimum required specifications.

System requirements

Always ensure that your graphics drivers and browser are up to date. Freehand is supported in the latest two versions of most modern browsers including:

When using Freehand in the InVision iOS app, we support mobile devices with the latest two versions of iOS.

Freehand doesn't officially support Internet Explorer or any browser or operating system prior to the two most recent versions.

The latest Intel, AMD or Apple processor with 8 GB of RAM is recommended.

Browser settings

Hardware acceleration

If supported, be sure to enable "hardware acceleration” in your browser settings. This step can resolve poor performance or incompatibility warnings.

To enable this setting in Firefox:

  1. From the menu bar, click Firefox and then select Preferences.
  2. In the General tab, locate the Performance section.
  3. Uncheck Use recommended performance settings.
  4. Check Use hardware acceleration when available.

To enable this setting in Chrome:

  1. Click the three dots icon next to your profile picture and select Settings.
  2. Click the Advanced drop-down menu and select System.
  3. Toggle on the setting Use hardware acceleration when available.

To enable this setting in Microsoft Edge:

  1. Click the three dots icon next to your profile picture and select Settings.
  2. Go to System and Performance.
  3. Toggle on the setting Use hardware acceleration when available.

WebGL

Freehand relies on WebGL, which is a standard rendering library in most modern browsers. To find out whether WebGL is enabled in your browser, click here to run a quick WebGL test. If you don't see a spinning cube, follow the steps below.

Firefox

  1. Navigate to about:config.
  2. Search for webgl.force-enabled and make sure this preference is set to true.
  3. Search for webgl.disabled and make sure this preference is set to false.
  4. Restart Firefox to apply your new settings.

If you are still having trouble running WebGL in Firefox on a Windows computer after taking these steps, your graphics driver may be the cause, since WebGL isn't compatible with certain graphics drivers. If you continue to have trouble, you can either update your driver (Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA) or switch to a compatible browser.

Chrome

Chrome offers full support for WebGL on all platforms, so if you are having trouble running WebGL on Chrome, you may need to update to a more recent version of Chrome and ensure hardware acceleration is enabled (see the steps to enable this setting above).

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge offers full support for WebGL on all platforms, so if you are having trouble running WebGL on Microsoft Edge, you may need to update to a more recent version of Microsoft Edge and ensure hardware acceleration is enabled (see the steps to enable this setting above).

Safari

WebGL is generally enabled by default in Safari. However, if you are using a computer on which WebGL may present a security risk, you may have to enable WebGL manually by taking the following steps:

  1. From the menu bar, click Safari and then select Preferences.
  2. Select the Websites tab.
  3. Select WebGL from the list on the left.
    Note: You will only see this option if WebGL has been disabled in your browser.
  4. If you see invisionapp.com listed, select Allow from the drop-down menu.
  5. If you don't see invisionapp.com listed, look for When visiting other websites in the lower-right corner and select Ask or Allow from the drop-down menu.

Override software rendering

If you are still experiencing poor performance in Chrome or Microsoft Edge, we recommend testing the browser setting to “override software rendering list.” This setting may have unintended consequences across other web applications, so proceed with caution.

Chrome

  1. Navigate to chrome://flags.
  2. Enable Override software rendering list.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Navigate to edge://flags.
  2. Enable Override software rendering list.

Running Freehand in a virtual desktop

It’s common at large organizations for end-users to access their applications via a hosted virtual desktop including:

  • Citrix Workspace / Virtual Desktops
  • VMWare Horizon
  • AWS Workspaces

These environments can degrade performance of all web applications, but particularly graphic intensive applications like Freehand.

A number of factors can impact performance over VDI, including settings and policies unique to each organization. We list several recommendations below, but please contact our Support team if you're encountering any troubles so that we can understand and accommodate your unique needs.

  • Ensure your VDI server allocates enough resources (memory and CPU) to each client. This is a function of server resources and number of concurrent clients. In general, monitoring your server logs to ensure you don’t exceed 60–70% capacity is good practice. A minimum of 8GB of RAM per client is recommended.
  • Allow the server to share GPU access to clients.

Support limitations

InVision has tested Freehand compatibility extensively on the platforms listed above, including when used with common tools like wireless mice, Wacom tablets, various trackpads, and the Apple Pencil; however, because we haven't thoroughly tested Freehand with the ever-growing list of other tablets and styluses available, we can't offer support for an exhaustive list of devices.


Was this article helpful?