Flutter build apk with --enable-software-rendering?

TL;DR Put getIntent().putExtra("enable-software-rendering", true); on top of your onCreate()

Note - I assumed Android from the "apk" in question title and the need for software rendering.

Looking at the source code, the --enable-software-rendering flag for flutter run causes the activity to be launched using am start with --ez enable-software-rendering true, which puts that as a boolean extra into the intent.

If you wish to control when to use software rendering from code (such as depending on API level or device model), set the mentioned intent extra early in your onCreate().

Full Example:

import android.os.Bundle;
import io.flutter.embedding.android.FlutterActivity;

public class MyActivity extends FlutterActivity {

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        // use software rendering (ideally only when you need to)
        getIntent().putExtra("enable-software-rendering", true);

        // start Flutter
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    }
}

For those whom got here because are struggling with your Flutter Android app crashing with the following error

ERROR:flutter/shell/gpu/gpu_surface_gl Failed to setup Skia Gr context

when coming back to foreground after being put in background, just add enable-software-rendering to "onCreate" method as our friend Matej Snoha said above.

In other words, change android/app/src/main/kotlin/[project]/MainActivity file to the following Kotlin code:

class MainActivity : FlutterActivity() {

    // add onCreate method (if not exists)
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        // add this line to "onCreate" method
        this.getIntent().putExtra("enable-software-rendering", true)
        // don't forget to call "super"
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    }

}

It worked like a charm for me (no need to call Flutter.startInitialization(this); ).

Matej's answer provides the solution for Java based Flutter apps. For newly created apps using Kotlin for startup, the code looks like this:

import android.os.Bundle;
import io.flutter.embedding.android.FlutterActivity

class MainActivity: FlutterActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {

        // use software rendering (ideally only when you need to)
        getIntent().putExtra("enable-software-rendering", true)

        // start Flutter
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    }
}

The MainActivity class is found in this path:

android/app/src/main/kotlin/com/.../.../MainActivity.kt