fix(android): Improve app start type detection with main thread timing by markushi · Pull Request #4999 · getsentry/sentry-java

markushi · 2025-12-29T09:14:43Z

📜 Description

Improves app start type detection by utilizing the main thread isIdle callback and ApplicationStartInfo APIs on API level 35+

Fixes #4920

The firstPost approach as utilized in the papa library does not seem to work on API level 35+ anymore (See square/papa#63)

The changes include:

Use of ApplicationStartInfo APIs on newer devices,
a fallback firstIdle mechanism
the existing mechanism for older devices
Extended app start critical tests for determining warm/cold app start behavior

📝 Checklist

I added GH Issue ID & Linear ID
I added tests to verify the changes.
No new PII added or SDK only sends newly added PII if sendDefaultPII is enabled.
I updated the docs if needed.
I updated the wizard if needed.
Review from the native team if needed.
No breaking change or entry added to the changelog.
No breaking change for hybrid SDKs or communicated to hybrid SDKs.

🔮 Next steps

github-actions · 2025-12-29T09:31:57Z

Performance metrics 🚀

	Plain	With Sentry	Diff
Startup time	317.49 ms	367.67 ms	50.18 ms
Size	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.80 KiB

Baseline results on branch: main

Startup times

Revision	Plain	With Sentry	Diff
`e59e22a`	368.02 ms	432.00 ms	63.98 ms
`2124a46`	319.19 ms	415.04 ms	95.85 ms
`b3d8889`	420.46 ms	453.71 ms	33.26 ms
`fcec2f2`	357.47 ms	447.32 ms	89.85 ms
`d15471f`	304.55 ms	408.43 ms	103.87 ms
`cf708bd`	434.73 ms	502.96 ms	68.22 ms
`fc5ccaf`	276.52 ms	370.46 ms	93.93 ms
`3d205d0`	352.15 ms	432.53 ms	80.38 ms
`b03edbb`	352.20 ms	423.69 ms	71.49 ms
`a5ab36f`	316.83 ms	394.54 ms	77.71 ms

App size

Revision	Plain	With Sentry	Diff
`e59e22a`	1.58 MiB	2.20 MiB	635.34 KiB
`2124a46`	1.58 MiB	2.12 MiB	551.51 KiB
`b3d8889`	1.58 MiB	2.10 MiB	535.07 KiB
`fcec2f2`	1.58 MiB	2.12 MiB	551.50 KiB
`d15471f`	1.58 MiB	2.13 MiB	559.54 KiB
`cf708bd`	1.58 MiB	2.11 MiB	539.71 KiB
`fc5ccaf`	1.58 MiB	2.13 MiB	557.54 KiB
`3d205d0`	1.58 MiB	2.10 MiB	532.97 KiB
`b03edbb`	1.58 MiB	2.13 MiB	557.32 KiB
`a5ab36f`	1.58 MiB	2.12 MiB	555.26 KiB

Previous results on branch: fix/app-start-warm-detection

Startup times

Revision	Plain	With Sentry	Diff
`376c795`	307.44 ms	356.18 ms	48.74 ms
`eadb118`	318.81 ms	365.04 ms	46.23 ms
`d05ca28`	315.98 ms	357.10 ms	41.12 ms
`12d79b2`	324.79 ms	404.20 ms	79.41 ms
`1911f98`	335.29 ms	451.47 ms	116.18 ms
`cf6c632`	283.92 ms	361.45 ms	77.53 ms
`5a370a1`	359.02 ms	429.56 ms	70.54 ms
`28e7b9d`	311.83 ms	366.94 ms	55.11 ms
`a0d0a05`	303.68 ms	339.38 ms	35.70 ms
`224c2d6`	311.50 ms	361.40 ms	49.90 ms

App size

Revision	Plain	With Sentry	Diff
`376c795`	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.80 KiB
`eadb118`	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.66 KiB
`d05ca28`	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.66 KiB
`12d79b2`	1.58 MiB	2.20 MiB	635.40 KiB
`1911f98`	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.66 KiB
`cf6c632`	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.66 KiB
`5a370a1`	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.79 KiB
`28e7b9d`	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.78 KiB
`a0d0a05`	1.58 MiB	2.13 MiB	559.63 KiB
`224c2d6`	1.58 MiB	2.19 MiB	619.66 KiB

markushi · 2025-12-29T14:53:28Z

@sentry review

sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java

As firstPost doesn't work on Android 34+ devices

markushi · 2026-01-16T10:10:53Z

@sentry review

sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java

sentry-android-integration-tests/sentry-uitest-android-critical/maestro/appStart.yaml

romtsn · 2026-01-19T11:45:15Z

sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java


    // the first activity determines the app start type
    if (activeActivitiesCounter.incrementAndGet() == 1 && !firstDrawDone.get()) {
      final long nowUptimeMs = SystemClock.uptimeMillis();


do we still need this variable given it's just few microseconds apart from activityCreatedUptimeMillis?

romtsn

LGTM, just a couple of comments

- Add support for ApplicationStartInfo API on Android 15+ (API 35) for more accurate cold/warm start detection - Add null safety check for ActivityManager service - Fix detection logic to prevent legacy methods from running when API 35+ already determined start type - Set app start type to WARM when app moves to background (process stays alive) - Add comprehensive test coverage with notification-triggered start scenarios Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

github-actions · 2026-02-03T10:22:38Z

Semver Impact of This PR

🟢 Patch (bug fixes)

📋 Changelog Preview

This is how your changes will appear in the changelog.
Entries from this PR are highlighted with a left border (blockquote style).

New Features ✨

(distribution) Add install_groups support by runningcode in #5062
(spotlight) Extract SpotlightIntegration to separate module by romtsn in #5064

Bug Fixes 🐛

(android) Improve app start type detection with main thread timing by markushi in #4999

Establish native exception mechanisms by supervacuus in #5052

Internal Changes 🔧

Deps

Bump github/codeql-action from 4.31.11 to 4.32.0 by dependabot in #5067
Bump gradle/actions from 5.0.0 to 5.0.1 by dependabot in #5068
Bump getsentry/craft from 2.20.0 to 2.20.1 by dependabot in #5069
Bump urllib3 from 2.6.0 to 2.6.3 in the pip group across 1 directory by dependabot in #5003
Update Native SDK to v0.12.4 by github-actions in #5061
Bump getsentry/github-workflows/.github/workflows/updater.yml from 2 to 3 by dependabot in #4884
Bump actions/cache from 4 to 5 by dependabot in #4997
Bump github/codeql-action from 4.31.10 to 4.31.11 by dependabot in #5057
Bump getsentry/craft from 2.19.0 to 2.20.0 by dependabot in #5058

Other

(android) Update targetSdk to API 36 (Android 16) by markushi in #5016
(ci) Write permission for statuses in changelog preview by supervacuus in #5053
(samples) Convert main screen to Jetpack Compose by markushi in #5017

Other

No longer fork Sentry Scopes for reactor-kafka consumer poll Runnable by adinauer in #5080
Collect database transaction spans (BEGIN, COMMIT, ROLLBACK) by adinauer in #5072

_{🤖 This preview updates automatically when you update the PR.}

sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java

...ntry-uitest-android-critical/src/main/java/io/sentry/uitest/android/critical/MainActivity.kt

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sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java

…entry-java into fix/app-start-warm-detection

romtsn · 2026-02-06T11:36:24Z

CHANGELOG.md


 ## Unreleased

+### Fixes


we already have the fixes section down here, could you move it?

that's actually the third one already lol :D

CHANGELOG.md

romtsn · 2026-02-06T12:08:59Z

sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java

+
+    if (activityManager != null && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.VANILLA_ICE_CREAM) {
+      final List<ApplicationStartInfo> historicalProcessStartReasons =
+          activityManager.getHistoricalProcessStartReasons(1);


so does this return the current (in-progress) app start?

Yes, we also double check later to ensure it's the current app launch:

if (info.getStartupState() == ApplicationStartInfo.STARTUP_STATE_STARTED) {

sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java

Add custom SentryShadowActivityManager to mock ApplicationStartInfo for testing cold/warm start detection on Android 15 (API 35). Tests verify the new getHistoricalProcessStartReasons() code path and fallback behavior when the list is empty or invalid. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

markushi added 2 commits December 29, 2025 10:14

fix(android): Improve app start type detection with main thread timing

e7047cb

Update CHANGELOG.md

4164619

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markushi added 6 commits January 15, 2026 10:24

Reduce number of foreground checks and add maestro tests

70879c1

Merge branch 'main' into fix/app-start-warm-detection

1547b1f

Merge branch 'main' into fix/app-start-warm-detection

acf7e58

Merge branch 'main' into fix/app-start-warm-detection

b0722d3

Update Changelog

7034d95

Switch to MessageQueue.IdleHandler

ef2b3bf

As firstPost doesn't work on Android 34+ devices

markushi marked this pull request as ready for review January 16, 2026 11:02

markushi requested review from adinauer, lcian and romtsn as code owners January 16, 2026 11:02

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romtsn approved these changes Jan 19, 2026

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markushi and others added 2 commits February 3, 2026 10:16

Merge branch 'main' into fix/app-start-warm-detection

15eeb49

Trying to fix notification drawer open

46daaf3

markushi requested a review from romtsn February 3, 2026 10:38

cursor bot reviewed Feb 3, 2026

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markushi added 2 commits February 3, 2026 13:53

include maestro debug logs

2e01fc9

Enable adb screenrecord

e4c4fbd

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capture maestro errors

81e7e51

markushi added 3 commits February 3, 2026 15:36

fix empty screenrecordings

7cc431f

send sigint to screenrecord to gracefully finish recording

d8d7ba7

fix typo

87e6e30

sentry bot reviewed Feb 3, 2026

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markushi added 4 commits February 4, 2026 13:04

use google_apis in order to have a launcher for notification access

cf8083e

enable more debugging

f1c7451

Use adb emu screenrecord instead of adb shell screenrecord

adad43c

switch to mac-os

d2678dd

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markushi added 5 commits February 5, 2026 09:04

Ensure paths exist

c948a88

bump maestro version

6f21404

Improve swipe

1688287

Use ubuntu everywhere, disable maestro debug logs

ea305a2

slow swipe

4d1e949

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markushi added 6 commits February 5, 2026 14:09

Merge branch 'main' into fix/app-start-warm-detection

b4641eb

retry swiping

d7d4236

Merge branch 'fix/app-start-warm-detection' of github.com:getsentry/s…

75ca4b9

…entry-java into fix/app-start-warm-detection

try different swipe params

e181878

Increase emulator memory

744f5b0

Update Changelog

fec2342

romtsn reviewed Feb 6, 2026

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markushi and others added 4 commits February 6, 2026 13:27

Merge branch 'main' into fix/app-start-warm-detection

f6787f3

Fix Changelog

7af3e59

Format code

8e4ecca

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📜 Description

📝 Checklist

🔮 Next steps

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Performance metrics 🚀

Baseline results on branch: main

Startup times

App size

Previous results on branch: fix/app-start-warm-detection

Startup times

App size

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markushi commented Dec 29, 2025

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Semver Impact of This PR

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