iPhone Simulator is slow compared to device - objective-c

I've been working on a new app, and when I run it on the simulator, it's VERY slow. There's nothing fancy in the app, just UINavigationControllers and text. The slowness only occurs if I launch the app from Xcode (with or without debugging on, doesn't matter). If I run the app on my iPhone or launch it directly from the simulator by clicking it's icon from SpringBoard, the performance problems all disappear.
For what it's worth, all my other apps perform just fine when run launched from Xcode in the simulator, so it must be something specific to this app. Has anyone experienced this before?
UPDATE: There is no performance hit when the app is run through Instruments either. I'm not using any 3rd party libraries. It's all calls to the Apple SDK.
Thanks,
Arash

Have you looked at it in Instruments to see where it's spending its time? No reason to guess when you can test.

Running an app in the simulator while in active debugging will always make the app slower. Always, and in a way that is exactly what you are describing.
Basically, "Build and Go" will be slow because its running the debugger.
This is different from "Debug" vs. "Release". The debug build will run fast if you aren't actually debugging it.

Are you using NSLog() to print a large amount of information? When you launch through Xcode, that information is piped to the debugging console and, if there's a lot, will take time to update the window. When you launch directly or on the device, the data is simply stored in a file, which generates less overhead.
I once reduced a program's run time from several minutes to a few seconds simply by removing logging statements. Unfortunately, it was for a timed programming contest.

I had the exact same problem and spent about 2hrs now to solve it. In my case I think it was because I had "Enable Guard Malloc" set. If it wasn't that, my other guess is bad karma.

Simulator Debug, You should need to be ensure when your app running on simulator debug->slow animations isn't check marked

Related

XCode Time Profiler does not record

When building my XCode application for profiling and running the time profiler, it allows me to press record, but the recording immediately stops without any data. It seems that the correct application is selected in the time profiler, and I've used the tool several times before.
Any hints what I might be doing wrong?
Many thanks
I identified the problem -- my application uses a multi-threaded third-party library, and XCode is for some strange reason not executing this part of the code...

Titanium NSInvalidArgumentException

I'm trying to build a crossplatform (Android-ios) mobile application, using Titanium SDK. I didn't have a chance for a long time to build it for ios, I only used my Windows-android combination, to test it, and it works great on the Android system. But when i try to build it on the mac for the ios, i get this message, and the application shuts down in a second:
The application has crashed with an uncaught exception
'NSInvalidArgumentException'.
Since i can not provide any relevant code, because the exception doesn't show what's the problem with my javascript code, and I certainly didn't write any native, ios specific code, i have no idea, what to do.
From the few posts i have found here is what i have tried:
Restart Titanium Studio
Clean the project
Made sure to close any ResultSet, and DB objects when done with
them (as suggested here: topic)
Test the code on both 3.0.0 and 2.x.x versions
I'm looking forward to any advice, on how you solved this problem, if you had it!
Thanks in advance!
Update:
The problem was the following: I called hasOwnProperty on Titanium UI elements, and on the ios version these elements don't have this function (which is weird, since every javascript objects have it, if i'm not mistaken).
If you have similar problems, i recomend reading this article, besides mr.VVoos answer, it helps a lot in avoiding the problems i had!
I'm developing with Titanim and iOS & Android for a long time. Usually there are many differences between iOS and Android parts of the code.
In most cases this exceptions means that an operation is called that is not available for the called class. (In Java this would mean: Class.method() -> Class has no method called method()).
You can try to run the app in debug mode (on iOS Simulator). There is a big advantage debuggin iOS compared to Android. Usually the iOS simulator stops if there is an exception and it shows the JavaScript code that caused the exception. Unfortunately this doesn't work all the time and it only works on simulator.
If this does not provide any further information you can do the following:
- go to your app.js and set a breakpoint in one of the first lines.
- start app in debug mode.
- move on this breakpoint each time until your app crashes - maybe then you are able to detect the error or provide further information.
One last tip: Check your code if there are any platform-specific parts. (Like Android Intents and something that is not available on iOS).
I know that this can be very ugly but we had to solve many of these nasty issues while migrating from iOS to Android.

Why does my app always open with a memory warning, if there is almost no code for the first view?

I recently have been getting memory warning messages when I load my app on my iPhone. I believe it has something to do with the storyboard that I recently switched over to from the classic .xib files. The app has been running a lot slower since and I don't get why. I got rid of a ton of my code that I was using for loading views, making tables, etc., so I would think that my app would run a lot faster now than it did before. My mainViewController (which is giving me the most problems), only has the default code in it! Is there a reason for this to be happening? Was the code running faster than storyboard or something?
Thanks in advanced.
Profile using Instruments to understand your app's execution -- CPU time (slow) and Allocations (memory consumption).

just before release - how to check memory usage?

Our app is good to go and everything seems to work just fine. We have tried to manage the memory as much as we can and we have no crashes at all.
Now before release, I want to check if there are leaks, or some problems that may cause my app to be rejected by Apple.
What's Apple's policy on memory leaks? Are even small ones not allowed? If some are allowed, then what's the limit?
What software/tool should I use to check memory management/leaks, to be sure that if it gives me good results, my app will be approved by Apple, if simply not crashing is not enough?
Is there a guide about one of this tools ?
Is checking my app in all iOS versions in the iOS Simulator enough? I have only 1 iPhone 4 :)
What you can do:
Run "Analyze" (MenuBar -> Product -> Analyze or SHIFT+CMD+B)
This checks your code for possible leaks and dead stores
Run "Profile" (MenuBar -> Product -> Profile or SHIFT+I)
This runs Instruments which allows you to track your allocations and possible leaks at runtime.
I don't think there is a specific policy about leaks - but a program that leak will crash - and Apple do reject apps due to crashes.
Otherwise I do agree with MatzeLoCal - run Analyze, and fix everything - and run a lot of profiling if you suspect there to be any issues.
In addition to running Analyze...
There is a tool in Xcode called Instruments that allows you to search specifically for memory leaks in your application. Choose the Leaks option when prompted when you open Instruments and then mess around in your app while recording to see any memory leaks that may be hiding in your app.
Here is the official Apple documentation for using Instruments: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/InstrumentsUserGuide/FindingLeakedMemory.html

Why am I having memory leaks using Instruments on the device but not on the simulator

I am getting close to finishing the release of my application and are trying to use Instruments to fix any memory leaks.
How come that I can spot one memory leak when using Instruments and my device but not when I am using the iPhone simulator? I understand that this is a high-level question, but I don't think posting any code would help anyways (quite a bit of code...).
And is it possible to get instruments to point to the source code where it think the leak is? I can do it when using the simulator, but it seems like it doesn't work when using it for the device (objects are represented by the address (I assume) while running it for the simulator it sees what object it is, setup issues?)
Thanks in advance!
Regards,
Niklas
Update: Could it have something to do with that OSX is having automatic garbage collection but iOS doesn't?
Trust only the device. That's what your user will use to run your application.
Don't trust the simulator.
As a demonstration of this, I just intentionally added a leak to a project. The leak was not detected while in the simulator, but showed up as expected on the device.
The simulator is just that: a simulator. It can be useful to work faster, but is never a replacement of the device.
Once Instruments showed you a leaked object, you can double click on it. It will show the part of your code responsible for the leak. This works for the simulator and the device.
When you compile for the device, make sure you are in debug mode (and that the settings for this mode kept all your symbols).
Some more tip that you might find useful:
For a more fluid session, disable the "Automatic Leaks Checking", and manually press the "Check for Leaks Now" button when appropriate.
The "Build and Analyse" command will do a fantastic job to help you find leaks. It's not (totally) magical, so it won't find all leaks. For example, iVars leaked won't be identified. But for the scope of a method, it's just awesome.
I highly recommend to activate the "Run Static Analyser" flag in your build settings (or only for the Release mode if you have a slow to compile machine).
If you want more info about how to use Instruments to find leaks, read this Apple doc: Instruments User Guide: Built-in Instruments and Instruments User Guide: Viewing and Analysing Trace Data > Looking for Memory Leaks
You can also watch the video of the WWDC related sessions.
If you still don't understand where your leak come from, it's time to (re)read the Memory Management Programming Guide.
Thank you for wanting to ship a leak-free application. With iOS 4, it's now more important than ever.
If you haven't already take a look at the handy "Build and Analyze" option in the build menu. It will run the static analyzer which generally does a great job. If nothing turns up with that you should could some time reviewing the WWDC session videos on Instruments.
There is no substitute for profiling on hardware and with the debugger and instruments connected you can get everything you would in a simulator context.