In this episode Chet, Romain and Tor chat with Shai Barack about how the Android platform team studies performance and understands system health - and what is system health anyway? We talk about measuring performance, deciding trade-offs, and our favorite tools such as Perfetto, Compiler Explorer, and Android Studio's Memory Profiler.
Chapters:
Intro (00:00)
System health (0:27)
Efforts to make apps more efficient (3:35)
Telemetry data (5:59)
Trade offs between long battery life and good performance (8:21)
Scheduling groups (10:38)
Static drain (13:32)
Collaborating with App developers vs operating system (19:10)
High refresh rates (23:26)
Reach vs engagement (32:02)
What tools does your team use to optimize performance? (34:10)
Godbolt.org (37:09)
Demystifying (39:39)
The best tools are multi-player (43:52)
R8 or R-Not? (45:42)
Optimizing for feature sets (48:05)
Tools, not Rules (50:08)
What are the tools I should be aware of as an app developer looking to upscale performance? (54:36)
Allocation tracker (55:37)
Open source tools (57:08)
Useful resources for devs to understand various tools (59:04)
Final thoughts (1:06:19)
Links:
-
Compiler Explorer → https://goo.gle/3Zbq6DV
-
Perfetto → https://goo.gle/3OtD3UK and https://goo.gle/3B3S3p5
-
Tools, not Rules → https://goo.gle/416CyY7
Shai:
Romain: @romainguy, threads.net/@romainguy, romainguy@androiddev.social
Tor: threads.net/@tor.norbye and tornorbye@androiddev.social
Chet: @chethaase, threads.net/@chet.haase, and chethaase@androiddev.social
Catch videos on YouTube → https://goo.gle/adb-podcast
Subscribe to Android Developers → https://goo.gle/AndroidDevs
Popular Podcasts
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.
iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the XXV Winter Olympics We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Milan Cortina Winter Olympics so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.