▸Example mParticle call (the "before")
import mParticle_Apple_SDK
let options = MParticleOptions(key: "YOUR_KEY", secret: "YOUR_SECRET")
options.identifyRequest = MPIdentityApiRequest.withEmptyUser()
options.identifyRequest?.email = email
options.identifyRequest?.customerId = userId
MParticle.sharedInstance().start(with: options)
let event = MPEvent(name: "Paywall Purchase", type: .transaction)
event?.customAttributes = ["value": price, "currency": "USD"]
MParticle.sharedInstance().logEvent(event!)
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 mParticle cleanly
-
1
Remove the mParticle SDK from your build (
mParticle-Apple-SDK/mparticle-android-sdk/react-native-mparticle/mparticle_flutter_sdk) -
2
Remove
MParticle.start()andMParticle.logEvent(...)call sites -
3
Critically: review your mParticle output forwarders and decide which downstream destinations you still need data flowing to (most don't — Respectlytics is direct)
-
4
Delete
Identity.identify()andmodify()calls — those drive the identity merge graph -
5
Delete the mParticle workspace's mobile input once events have stopped flowing
⇋mParticle vs Respectlytics — faster cold start
| mParticle | 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.