Nutrient Android SDK 10.8 release notes

23 October 2025

Nutrient Android SDK 10.8 introduces a modernized full-text search API, enhanced outline customization, significant rendering performance improvements, and refined theme consistency. This release also updates the minimum Android SDK version to API 23 to maintain compatibility with the latest Jetpack libraries.

Key highlights include the new LibraryDataSource interface for more flexible document indexing, font customization for outline elements, and substantial performance gains in rendering, zooming, and annotation handling. We've also improved accessibility support and restored the pre-rebrand color scheme for better theme consistency.

This release contains several fixes and enhancements. For the full list of changes, see our changelog.

Minimum SDK version update

Starting with version 10.8, the minimum supported Android API level is now 23 (previously API 21). This change was necessary because Google has dropped support for API levels 21 and 22 in their Jetpack libraries, which are core dependencies of the Nutrient SDK. This ensures you continue to receive up-to-date Android framework features and security improvements.

If your application currently supports Android 5.0 or 5.1 (API levels 21-22), you'll need to update your minSdkVersion to 23 before upgrading to this release. For more details, see the migration guide and Google's Jetpack version information(opens in a new tab).

Modernized full-text search

The PdfLibrary full-text search functionality has been enhanced with new APIs that simplify document management and indexing:

  • LibraryDataSource interface — A flexible abstraction for providing documents to be indexed by PdfLibrary.
  • LibraryFileSystemDataSource implementation — Automatically indexes all PDFs in a directory with built-in monitoring for file changes.

These new APIs replace the previous enqueueDocument* methods and provide better control over the indexing process. The implementation now supports automatic directory scanning and real-time updates when documents are added or removed. For detailed usage examples, refer to our indexed full-text search guide.

We also modernized the tokenizer configuration by replacing string-based tokenizer annotations with a type-safe TokenizerType enum.

Enhanced outline customization

You now have granular control over font styling in the outline view. Three new attributes allow you to customize the typography of different outline elements:

  • pspdf__outlineViewTitleFont — For the outline title
  • pspdf__outlineViewLabelFont — For outline labels
  • pspdf__outlineViewBodyFont — For outline body text

You can also set fonts programmatically using OutlineElement.Builder.setTypeface(), giving you complete control over the outline appearance to match your application's design system.

Rendering performance improvements

This release delivers significant performance enhancements throughout the rendering pipeline:

  • Faster zooming and page transitions — Removed rendering delays during zoom operations and page navigation, resulting in smoother interactions.
  • Improved annotation performance — Optimized selection and deselection of annotations for more responsive editing.
  • Better ink annotation stability — Fixed disappearing ink annotations on documents with complex backgrounds or large images.
  • Shape annotation speed — Eliminated long delays when adding shape annotations programmatically on detailed documents.

These optimizations make the SDK more responsive, especially when working with complex documents containing high-resolution images.

Theme consistency and color scheme

The SDK themes have been reverted to the pre-10.1.0 color scheme with improved consistency across both light and dark modes. The Nutrient rebrand color scheme introduced in earlier versions has been moved to the Catalog example app, giving developers more control over their application's visual identity while maintaining a clean, professional default appearance.

Enhanced stylus support

Building on improvements from 10.7, we've continued to expand stylus capabilities:

  • Stylus button support — The annotation eraser tool can now be triggered using the stylus button for a more intuitive experience.
  • Tool coverage — Both the annotation eraser and redaction tools now have full stylus handling support.
  • UI fixes — Resolved issues with annotation creation toolbar buttons getting squashed when a stylus is connected.

AI Assistant configuration update

The AI Assistant configuration has been updated for more flexible server connectivity. The ipAddress parameter has been replaced with serverUrl, which allows you to specify the complete server endpoint including the protocol (HTTP/HTTPS), host, and port (e.g., https://example.com:8080). This change provides better support for various deployment scenarios and fixes protocol and port configuration issues.

Additional improvements

This release includes several other enhancements:

  • Embedded fonts support — Improved content editing compatibility with embedded fonts in PDFs.
  • Dashed line rendering — Better visual quality for dashed lines.
  • Free text annotation — Fixed text truncation and flickering issues during editing.
  • Dependency updates — Updated numerous dependencies including OkHttp 5.1.0, Retrofit 3.0.0, and Dokka 2.0.0.
  • Target SDK update — Upgraded to Android API 36 (the latest version).

Looking ahead

With this release, we continue to prioritize performance, accessibility, and modern Android development practices. The updated minimum SDK requirement ensures you can leverage the latest Android framework features while maintaining a robust, accessible PDF experience. The modernized full-text search API provides a solid foundation for future indexing enhancements, and our ongoing focus on rendering performance will continue to deliver smoother document interactions.