Get started with Performance Monitoring for Android

Before you begin

If you haven't already, add Firebase to your Android project.

Step 1: Add the Performance Monitoring SDK to your app

After you've added the Performance Monitoring SDK, Firebase automatically starts collecting data for your app's screen rendering and data related to your app's lifecycle (like app start time). To enable Firebase to monitor network requests, you must also add the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin (next step).

  1. In your module (app-level) Gradle file (usually <project>/<app-module>/build.gradle.kts or <project>/<app-module>/build.gradle), add the dependency for the Performance Monitoring library for Android. We recommend using the Firebase Android BoM to control library versioning. 

    dependencies {
    // Import the BoM for the Firebase platform
    implementation(platform("com.google.firebase:firebase-bom:33.6.0"))

    // Add the dependency for the Performance Monitoring library
    // When using the BoM, you don't specify versions in Firebase library dependencies
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-perf")
}

    By using the Firebase Android BoM, your app will always use compatible versions of Firebase Android libraries.

    (Alternative)  Add Firebase library dependencies without using the BoM

    If you choose not to use the Firebase BoM, you must specify each Firebase library version in its dependency line.

    Note that if you use multiple Firebase libraries in your app, we strongly recommend using the BoM to manage library versions, which ensures that all versions are compatible. 

    dependencies {
    // Add the dependency for the Performance Monitoring library
    // When NOT using the BoM, you must specify versions in Firebase library dependencies
    implementation("com.google.firebase:firebase-perf:21.0.2")
}
         Looking for a Kotlin-specific library module? Starting in October 2023 (Firebase BoM 32.5.0), both Kotlin and Java developers can depend on the main library module (for details, see the FAQ about this initiative).

  2. Recompile your app.

Step 2: Add the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin to your app

After you've added the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin, Firebase automatically starts collecting data for HTTP/S network requests. The plugin also enables you to instrument custom code traces using @AddTrace annotation.

  1. In your root-level (project-level) Gradle file (<project>/build.gradle.kts or <project>/build.gradle), add the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin:

    Kotlin 

    plugins {
    // To benefit from the latest Performance Monitoring plugin features,
    // update your Android Gradle plugin dependency to at least v3.4.0
    id("com.android.application") version "7.3.0" apply false

    // Make sure that you have the Google services Gradle plugin dependency
    id("com.google.gms.google-services") version "4.4.2" apply false

    // Add the dependency for the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin
    id("com.google.firebase.firebase-perf") version "1.4.2" apply false
}

    Groovy 

    plugins {
    // To benefit from the latest Performance Monitoring plugin features,
    // update your Android Gradle plugin dependency to at least v3.4.0
    id 'com.android.application' version '7.3.0' apply false

    // Make sure that you have the Google services Gradle plugin dependency
    id 'com.google.gms.google-services' version '4.4.2' apply false

    // Add the dependency for the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin
    id 'com.google.firebase.firebase-perf' version '1.4.2' apply false
}

  2. In your module (app-level) Gradle file (usually <project>/<app-module>/build.gradle.kts or <project>/<app-module>/build.gradle), add the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin:

    Kotlin 

    plugins {
    id("com.android.application")

    // Make sure that you have the Google services Gradle plugin
    id("com.google.gms.google-services")

    // Add the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin
    id("com.google.firebase.firebase-perf")
    ...
}

    Groovy 

    plugins {
    id 'com.android.application'

    // Make sure that you have the Google services Gradle plugin
    id 'com.google.gms.google-services'

    // Add the Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin
    id 'com.google.firebase.firebase-perf'
    ...
}

  3. Recompile your app.

Step 3: Generate performance events for initial data display

Firebase starts processing the events when you successfully add the SDK to your app. If you're still developing locally, interact with your app to generate events for initial data collection and processing.

  1. Generate events by switching your app between background and foreground several times, interacting with your app by navigating across screens, and/or triggering network requests.

  2. Go to the Performance dashboard of the Firebase console. You should see your initial data display within a few minutes.

    If you don't see a display of your initial data, review the troubleshooting tips.

Step 4: (Optional) View log messages for performance events

  1. Enable debug logging for Performance Monitoring at build time by adding a <meta-data> element to your app's AndroidManifest.xml file, like so:

    <application>
    <meta-data
      android:name="firebase_performance_logcat_enabled"
      android:value="true" />
</application>

  2. Check your log messages for any error messages.

  3. Performance Monitoring tags its log messages with FirebasePerformance. Using logcat filtering, you can specifically view duration trace and HTTP/S network request logging by running the following command:

    adb logcat -s FirebasePerformance

  4. Check for the following types of logs which indicate that Performance Monitoring is logging performance events:

    • Logging trace metric: TRACE_NAME, FIREBASE_PERFORMANCE_CONSOLE_URL
    • Logging network request trace: URL

  5. Click on the URL to view your data in the Firebase console. It may take a few moments for the data to update in the dashboard.

If your app isn't logging performance events, review the troubleshooting tips.

Step 5: (Optional) Add custom monitoring for specific code

To monitor performance data associated with specific code in your app, you can instrument custom code traces.

With a custom code trace, you can measure how long it takes your app to complete a specific task or set of tasks, such as loading a set of images or querying your database. The default metric for a custom code trace is its duration, but you can also add custom metrics, such as cache hits and memory warnings.

In your code, you define the beginning and the end of a custom code trace (and add any desired custom metrics) using the API provided by the Performance Monitoring SDK. For Android apps, you can also monitor the duration of specific methods using @AddTrace annotation.

Visit Add monitoring for specific code to learn more about these features and how to add them to your app.

Step 6: Deploy your app then review results

After you've validated Performance Monitoring using one or more test devices, you can deploy the updated version of your app to your users.

You can monitor performance data in the Performance dashboard of the Firebase console.

Known issues

  • The Performance Monitoring Gradle plugin v1.1.0 can cause a mismatch in Guava dependencies, resulting in the following error:

    Error:Execution failed for task ':app:packageInstantRunResourcesDebug'.
> com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors.directExecutor()Ljava/util/concurrent/Executor;

    If you see this error, you can either:

    • Upgrade the Performance Monitoring plugin to v1.1.1 or later (the most recent is v1.4.2).

    • Replace the Performance Monitoring plugin dependency line in your root-level (project-level) Gradle file (<project>/build.gradle.kts or <project>/build.gradle), as follows:

      Kotlin 

      buildscript {
  // ...

  dependencies {
    // ...

    // Replace the standard Performance Monitoring plugin dependency line, as follows:
    classpath("com.google.firebase:perf-plugin:1.1.0") {
        exclude(group = "com.google.guava", module = "guava-jdk5")
    }
  }
}

      Groovy 

      buildscript {
  // ...

  dependencies {
    // ...

    // Replace the standard Performance Monitoring plugin dependency line, as follows:
    classpath('com.google.firebase:perf-plugin:1.1.0') {
        exclude group: 'com.google.guava', module: 'guava-jdk5'
    }
  }
}

  • Performance Monitoring reports the total payload size for HTTP network requests based on the value set in the HTTP content-length header. This value might not always be accurate.

  • Performance Monitoring only supports the main process in multi-process Android apps.

Next steps