▸Example Mixpanel call (the "before")
import Mixpanel
let mixpanel = Mixpanel.mainInstance()
// Identifies the user — distinct_id becomes joinable to email forever:
mixpanel.identify(distinctId: userId)
mixpanel.people.set(properties: [
"$email": email,
"$name": fullName,
"plan": "pro",
])
mixpanel.track(event: "Paywall Purchase", properties: ["value": price])Heavy analytics SDKs do work at app launch — reading identifiers, initialising queues, network dispatch — that compounds visibly on lower-end devices. Respectlytics's SDK adds typically under 30ms to cold start, vs 100-300ms for Firebase Analytics's full initialisation chain.
☑Remove Mixpanel cleanly
-
1
Remove
pod 'Mixpanel'fromPodfile -
2
Remove
implementation 'com.mixpanel.android:mixpanel-android:...'frombuild.gradle.kts -
3
Remove
mixpanel-react-nativefrompackage.jsonormixpanel_flutter:frompubspec.yaml -
4
Delete any
Mixpanel.mainInstance().people.set(...)oridentify()calls — those are the people-profile entry points -
5
Replace
mixpanel.track(...)call sites withRespectlytics.track("event_name") -
6
Delete the Mixpanel project (or revoke the project token) in the Mixpanel admin once you've confirmed no more events arrive
-
7
If you used Mixpanel-driven cohort exports for marketing, plan the cutover to whatever replaces those flows
⇋Mixpanel vs Respectlytics — faster cold start
| Mixpanel | Respectlytics | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cold-start contribution (p50) | — see tool note above | < 30ms |
| Initialisation work on launch | Reads IDFA/AAID, opens SQLite, spins up threads | Allocates ring buffer (RAM-only) |
| Number of background threads spawned | — typically 2-4 | 1 |
| Synchronous I/O on init | — typical (SQLite open) | None |
❓Frequently asked questions
How do I measure cold start before / after?
iOS: Xcode Organizer's Launch Time metric (aggregate from real users) or Instruments → App Launch template (synthetic). Android: adb shell am start -W <package>/.<activity> or Play Console's Vitals → Startup time. Measure before removing the old SDK, after, and compare on the same device class.
Does Respectlytics block the main thread on init?
No. Respectlytics.configure(appKey:) is synchronous but does only in-memory work (allocates the ring buffer). The network flush runs on a background dispatch queue / coroutine.
What's typical magnitude of improvement?
On a mid-range Android device, removing Firebase Analytics + AppsFlyer typically saves 100-300ms off cold start, depending on Google Play Services init state. On iOS the delta is usually 50-150ms. Effect is more pronounced on cold-start (uncached) than warm-start launches.
Does cold-start improvement actually affect business metrics?
Yes — first-session abandonment correlates with launch latency in published benchmarks. A 100ms improvement on the slowest deciles of your device distribution can show a measurable first-day retention lift.