How To Measure App Performance With MetricKit
App developers frequently focus on app development while paying almost no attn to post-development activities such as monitoring iOS app performance. That’s a shame!
Like dessert is as important as the main course, iOS app performance is as important as app development itself. They will be pleased if your app allows them to complete their task quickly and easily. In contrast, lags and freezes are more likely to leave the user frustrated. And this will undoubtedly have an impact on your business objectives.
It is a fallacy to believe that spending a day to save 300ms of UX time is a waste. In reality, if you have a 100k viewers, you will save them 30k seconds in sum (8hrs 20mins)
So in this article I want to share my insights on the following issues:
- What is Metrickit and how to set it up
- Types of MetricKit metrics
- How to use Metrickit to monitor iOS development performance (examples of signposts requests).
What Do We Mean By IOS App Performance?
Performance of an iOS application is a combination of multiple things:
- Reasonable app launch time;
- Considerate memory usage;
- Frequency of disk writes;
- Battery consumption.
- Frames per second (FPS);
- Cellular data usage.
Furthermore, good performance implies that every component functions flawlessly. A seamless functionality and quick responses enhance the user experience and encourage more people to use the app. As a result, it is crucial to assess application performance and keep improving it in order to satisfy users and entice them to come back to the app. Metrickit is an excellent tool for monitoring the performance of iOS apps.
What Is MetricKit?
MetricKit is a structure that assists in the collection and analysis of per-device findings on exception crash diagnostics, as well as performance and power metrics. It is a potent tool that gives users real-time access to the performance data from each of their devices via the application. This tool can also assist in identifying patterns and trends in performance regression.
How To Set Up MetricKit?
It is very simple to get started with MetricKit in your venture. In fact, there are only three steps required to get started:
Step 1. Import MetricKit Framework Into Your Code.
Step 2. Create A Shared Instance Of A Class That Is The Entry Point Of Interaction With Framework, Let’s Call It MetricManager.
Simply implement the provided subscriber delegate protocol, and you are ready to receive metrics from the framework.
Example Of Payload:
Note that MetricKit necessitates iOS 13 or greater, so if your proposal supports iOS versions older than iOS 13, you must include an availability check.
Types Of Metrics To Track With MetricKit
MetricKit collects a variety of metrics to assist you in measuring the behavior of your iOS app. There are metrics such as power supply, performance, responsiveness, disc access, custom metrics, and data types among them.
It is not necessary to track each of these performance measures for every iOS app. For instance, if you don’t use a data base and very seldom save files on your phone, disc write metrics aren’t as important.
However, I’d like to discuss the metrics that really are frequently essential for any iOS app. The following is a list:
- Location activity metric
- Network transfer metric
- App exit metric
- App launch metric.
- Custom Metrics
Location Activity Metric
It displays the length of time the place was activated for each accuracy type. It is useful if ones app uses LocationManager because you can see if some numbers are abnormally high and investigate.
Network Transfer Metric
It displays how much data has been uploaded and downloaded via cellular and WiFi connections.
App Exit Metric
This is an extremely important metric because it can reveal the explanations why ones app exists in both high contrast modes. For example, reasons for backstory mode could include: using it too much recollection, excessive use of CPU, invalid memory access, and others.
App Launch Metric
This one displays the amount of time required for the app to launch. Reduced official launch enhances the user experience and reduces the likelihood of the iOS watchdog terminating the app.
Custom Metrics: Signpost Metric Overview
Signpost is one of the Metrickit metrics that deserves special attention. This is a custom measurement that developers can use to measure computation.
Signpost metrics can indeed be useful in a variety of situations, such as measuring the performance of requests.
Numerous iOS apps communicate with external services, which provides an excellent chance to track performance. You can, for example, keep track of requests and the time of each request.
These measurements allow you to determine which requests are most frequently used and what can be optimised (in case the time of request is increasing).
Using MetricKit To Track Performance: Step-By-Step Guide
Finally, now that we’ve looked at the value and kinds of metrics, we’ll look at how to measure iOS app performance. Personally, I would divide it into three steps:
Step 1
First, create a class which will manage logic with signposts, as shown in the example below:
Step 2
This struct’s interface is straightforward. You must dial
logger.startLog(name: “example”) prior to request and
After receiving a response, call logger.endLog(name: “example”).
Step 3
You saved the request information, and you need to fetch it.
back. To do this you need to add code to didReceive(_ payloads:
[MXMetricPayload]) method:Because the signpostIntervalData property of the signpostMetric variable has a complex structure, you will need to add additional logic to obtain the data you require (basically duration of request).
Conclusion
Users will start deciding whether or not to return to your app predicated on how well it behaves, not how it was created. As a result, measuring the performance of your iOS app is crucial for both user satisfaction and business goals. MetricKit allows you to monitor multiple performance metrics for your iOS app at the same time in three simple steps. This is a fantastic tool for keeping your iOS app user-friendly and performant.