Android Performance Observability

When To Use

• Use this skill when the request is about: android performance profiling, baseline profile or macrobenchmark, app startup issue android.
• Primary outcome: Measure startup, rendering, memory, jank, vitals, logs, and crash signals for Android apps with actionable traces.
• Read references/patterns.md when you need the measurement ladder for startup, jank, traces, and production signals.
• Read references/scenarios.md for repeatable profiling and trace-oriented entry points.
• Handoff skills when the scope expands:
• android-compose-performance
• android-ci-cd-release-playstore

Workflow

1. Classify the symptom before choosing tools: cold start, warm start, frame/jank, scrolling, memory, ANR, crash, battery, or production vitals drift.
2. Measure on release-like builds and physical devices whenever possible; avoid debugging from debug-only traces or profile-unfriendly builds.
3. Pick the smallest tool that answers the question: Macrobenchmark for startup/scroll numbers, Baseline Profiles for ahead-of-time optimization, Perfetto/System Tracing for deep traces, JankStats or FrameMetrics for frame quality, and Play Vitals for field evidence.
4. Change one thing at a time, then compare before and after traces or benchmark outputs instead of stacking multiple optimizations blindly.
5. Hand off UI-specific rendering changes or release rollouts only after the measurement surface is stable and the bottleneck is evidenced.

Guardrails

• Treat benchmarks, traces, and vitals as different evidence sources with different noise profiles; do not mix them casually.