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Mobile Performance Profiling

Testing & Quality
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Mobile app performance analysis and optimization

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/a5c-ai/babysitter/blob/HEAD/library/specializations/mobile-development/skills/mobile-perf/SKILL.md

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Mobile Performance Profiling Skill

Overview

This skill provides mobile app performance analysis and optimization capabilities. It enables profiling with Xcode Instruments, Android Profiler, Flipper, and Flutter DevTools to identify and fix performance issues.

Allowed Tools

  • bash - Execute profiling tools and build commands
  • read - Analyze performance reports and profiles
  • write - Generate optimization configurations
  • edit - Update performance-related code
  • glob - Search for performance files
  • grep - Search for patterns

Capabilities

Xcode Instruments

  1. Time Profiler

    • Profile CPU usage
    • Identify hot paths
    • Analyze call trees
    • Measure function durations
  2. Allocations

    • Track memory allocations
    • Identify memory leaks
    • Analyze retain cycles
    • Monitor heap growth
  3. Core Animation

    • Profile rendering performance
    • Identify offscreen renders
    • Measure frame rates
    • Detect layer issues

Android Profiler

  1. CPU Profiler

    • Record method traces
    • Analyze thread activity
    • Identify CPU bottlenecks
    • Profile startup time
  2. Memory Profiler

    • Track allocations
    • Capture heap dumps
    • Identify memory leaks
    • Analyze GC events
  3. Network Profiler

    • Monitor requests
    • Analyze response times
    • Profile bandwidth usage

React Native

  1. Flipper Performance

    • Monitor React renders
    • Profile JavaScript thread
    • Analyze bridge communication
    • Track native modules
  2. Hermes Profiler

    • Profile Hermes engine
    • Analyze bytecode execution
    • Optimize bundle size

Flutter DevTools

  1. Performance Overlay
    • Monitor frame rendering
    • Identify jank
    • Profile widget rebuilds
    • Analyze timeline

Metrics

  1. App Startup

    • Cold start optimization
    • Warm start measurement
    • Hot start profiling
    • Deferred initialization
  2. Memory Management

    • Peak memory usage
    • Memory warnings handling
    • Image caching strategies
    • Object pooling
  3. Rendering Performance

    • Frame rate maintenance
    • Scroll performance
    • Animation smoothness
    • Layout optimization

Target Processes

  • mobile-performance-optimization.js - Performance tuning
  • mobile-testing-strategy.js - Performance testing
  • jetpack-compose-ui.js - Compose optimization
  • swiftui-app-development.js - SwiftUI optimization

Dependencies

  • Xcode Instruments
  • Android Studio Profiler
  • Flipper
  • Flutter DevTools

Usage Examples

Instruments Command Line

# Record Time Profiler trace
xcrun xctrace record --device "iPhone 15 Pro" \
  --template "Time Profiler" \
  --attach "MyApp" \
  --time-limit 30s \
  --output ~/Desktop/profile.trace

# Export trace data
xcrun xctrace export --input ~/Desktop/profile.trace \
  --xpath '/trace-toc/run/tracks/track[@name="Time Profiler"]' \
  --output ~/Desktop/profile_data.xml

Android Profiler Commands

# Capture CPU trace
adb shell am profile start com.example.myapp /data/local/tmp/profile.trace

# Stop and pull trace
adb shell am profile stop com.example.myapp
adb pull /data/local/tmp/profile.trace ./profile.trace

# Capture heap dump
adb shell am dumpheap com.example.myapp /data/local/tmp/heap.hprof
adb pull /data/local/tmp/heap.hprof ./heap.hprof

React Native Performance Optimization

// Optimize list rendering
import { FlashList } from '@shopify/flash-list';

const OptimizedList = () => {
  const renderItem = useCallback(({ item }) => (
    <MemoizedListItem item={item} />
  ), []);

  return (
    <FlashList
      data={items}
      renderItem={renderItem}
      estimatedItemSize={100}
      keyExtractor={item => item.id}
    />
  );
};

// Memoize expensive components
const MemoizedListItem = memo(({ item }) => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.item}>
      <Text>{item.title}</Text>
    </View>
  );
}, (prev, next) => prev.item.id === next.item.id);

// Optimize images
import FastImage from 'react-native-fast-image';

const OptimizedImage = ({ uri }) => (
  <FastImage
    source={{ uri, priority: FastImage.priority.normal }}
    resizeMode={FastImage.resizeMode.cover}
    style={styles.image}
  />
);

SwiftUI Performance

// Optimize view updates
struct OptimizedView: View {
    @State private var items: [Item] = []

    var body: some View {
        List {
            ForEach(items) { item in
                ItemRow(item: item)
                    .equatable() // Prevent unnecessary redraws
            }
        }
    }
}

// Use Equatable for custom views
struct ItemRow: View, Equatable {
    let item: Item

    static func == (lhs: ItemRow, rhs: ItemRow) -> Bool {
        lhs.item.id == rhs.item.id
    }

    var body: some View {
        Text(item.title)
    }
}

// Lazy loading
struct LazyImageView: View {
    let url: URL

    var body: some View {
        AsyncImage(url: url) { phase in
            switch phase {
            case .empty:
                ProgressView()
            case .success(let image):
                image.resizable().aspectRatio(contentMode: .fit)
            case .failure:
                Image(systemName: "photo")
            @unknown default:
                EmptyView()
            }
        }
    }
}

Compose Performance

// Optimize recomposition
@Composable
fun OptimizedList(items: List<Item>) {
    LazyColumn {
        items(
            items = items,
            key = { it.id }
        ) { item ->
            // Stable key prevents unnecessary recomposition
            ItemCard(item = item)
        }
    }
}

// Use derivedStateOf for computed values
@Composable
fun SearchableList(items: List<Item>, query: String) {
    val filteredItems by remember(items, query) {
        derivedStateOf {
            items.filter { it.title.contains(query, ignoreCase = true) }
        }
    }

    LazyColumn {
        items(filteredItems, key = { it.id }) { ItemCard(it) }
    }
}

// Use remember for expensive calculations
@Composable
fun ExpensiveView(data: ComplexData) {
    val processedData = remember(data) {
        expensiveCalculation(data)
    }

    Text(processedData.result)
}

Quality Gates

  • App startup < 2s (cold), < 1s (warm)
  • Frame rate >= 60fps (120fps for ProMotion)
  • Memory usage within platform limits
  • No memory leaks detected
  • Scroll performance smooth

Related Skills

  • mobile-testing - Performance testing
  • react-native-dev - RN optimization
  • flutter-dart - Flutter optimization
  • kotlin-compose - Compose optimization

Version History

  • 1.0.0 - Initial release