---
title: "Profiling"
description: "Learn how to enable profiling in your app."
url: https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling/
---

# Set Up Apple Profiling | Sentry for Apple

With [profiling](https://docs.sentry.io/product/explore/profiling.md), Sentry tracks your software's performance by sampling your program's call stack in a variety of environments. This feature collects function-level information about your code and enables you to fine-tune your program's performance. [Sentry's profiler](https://sentry.io/for/profiling/) captures function calls and their exact locations, aggregates them, and shows you the most common code paths of your program. This highlights areas you could optimize to help increase both the performance of your code and increase user satisfaction, as well as drive down costs.

## [Enable UI Profiling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#enable-ui-profiling)

UI Profiling was introduced in SDK version [8.49.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/8.49.0). All prior profiling APIs were removed in version [9.0.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/9.0.0).

To configure profiling, assign a closure to `SentryOptions.configureProfiling`, setting the desired options on the object passed in as parameter:

```swift
import Sentry

SentrySDK.start { options in
    options.dsn = "___PUBLIC_DSN___"
    options.configureProfiling = {
        $0.sessionSampleRate = 1
    }
}
```

By default, `sessionSampleRate` is `0`, so you'll need to set it to a higher value to receive profile data. `sessionSampleRate` is evaluated once per user session and applies to any attempt to start a profile until the next user session starts. See [user session documentation](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/configuration/releases.md#sessions) for more information on user sessions.

See the subsections below to learn about the various ways the profiler can be started and stopped.

### [Manual Lifecycle](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#manual-lifecycle)

By default, the profiler can only be started and stopped manually with calls to `SentrySDK.startProfiler` and `SentrySDK.stopProfiler`. All code that executes on all threads in between those calls will be recorded. The snippets above demonstrate configuring manual profiling mode.

For example, if you wanted to profile everything that happens after starting a network request, and then update a table view with the contents of the response, you could do it like this (assuming you've already started the Sentry SDK with the options shown above):

```swift
import Sentry

struct MyModel: Codable {
    // fields...
}
var model: MyModel?
var tableView: UITableView!

@IBAction func updateTable() {
    SentrySDK.startProfiler()
    URLSession.shared.dataTask(with: URLRequest(url: URL(string: "https://my.domain.tld/endpoint")!)) { data, response, error in
        self.model = try! JSONDecoder().decode(MyModel.self, from: data!)
        DispatchQueue.main.async {
            self.tableView.performBatchUpdates {
                // update table view with model
            } completion: { finished in
                SentrySDK.stopProfiler()
            }
        }
    }
}
```

This would capture every stacktrace on every thread involved with performing the network request, decoding the response and rebuilding the cells in the table view.

### [Trace Lifecycle](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#trace-lifecycle)

The profiler can be configured to start when a new root span is started where none already exist, and stopped when there are no root spans remaining. For this mode, you must set the `SentryProfileOptions.lifecycle` property to `SentryProfileLifecycleTrace` and ensure some traces will be sampled:

```swift
import Sentry

SentrySDK.start { options in
    options.dsn = "___PUBLIC_DSN___"
    options.tracesSampleRate = 1
    options.configureProfiling = {
        $0.sessionSampleRate = 1
        $0.lifecycle = .trace
    }
}
```

The `sessionSampleRate` for profiles is *relative* to the `tracesSampleRate`: if `tracesSampleRate` and `sessionSampleRate` are both `0.5`, then on average 25% of attempts to start the profiler will result in actual data collection.

Check out the [tracing setup documentation](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/tracing.md) for more detailed information on how to configure sampling for Sentry Tracing.

### [App Starts](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#app-starts)

If configured with manual lifecycle, a profile starts on the next app launch, and continues until you call `SentrySDK.stopProfiler`.

If configured with trace lifecycle, app start profiles are attached to a special performance transaction operation called `app.launch` and displayed in the product as `launch`. It is stopped either when `SentrySDK.startWithOptions` is called, or, if [Time to Initial Display (TTID)](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/tracing/instrumentation/automatic-instrumentation.md#time-to-initial-display)/[Time to Full Display (TTFD)](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/tracing/instrumentation/automatic-instrumentation.md#time-to-full-display) tracking is enabled, when the SDK determines that TTID/TTFD has been reached.

The SDK must have been started with a call to `SentrySDK.startWithOptions` in order to stop a running launch profiler. If a launch profile is started but the SDK is not, the profiler will run for the duration of the user session. Ensure proper configuration if you selectively start the Sentry SDK along with launch profiling, so that you never set a launch profile to start on a launch where you might decide not to start the Sentry SDK.

Every time `SentrySDK.startWithOptions` is called with app start profiling configured, a separate sample decision is generated with `sessionSampleRate` and stored until the next app launch (as well as `tracesSampleRate` if trace profile lifecycle is configured). The same sample decision will apply for the remainder of the profile session following that subsequent launch.

## [Transaction-based Profiling (removed in 9.0.0)](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#transaction-based-profiling-removed-in-900)

Transaction-based profiling configuration, explained below, was originally introduced in SDK version [8.12.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/8.12.0) and was removed in version [9.0.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/9.0.0). Use [UI Profiling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#enable-ui-profiling) instead, which was introduced in version [8.49.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/8.49.0).

Transaction-based Profiling depends on Sentry’s Tracing product being enabled beforehand. Check out the [tracing setup documentation](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/tracing.md) for detailed information on how to configure sampling.

Configure the sampling rates for traces and profiles to ensure they are nonzero so that some are recorded. The `profilesSampleRate` setting is *relative* to the `tracesSampleRate` setting.

```swift
import Sentry

SentrySDK.start { options in
    options.dsn = "___PUBLIC_DSN___"
    options.tracesSampleRate = 1.0 // tracing must be enabled for profiling
    options.profilesSampleRate = 1.0 // see also `profilesSampler` if you need custom sampling logic
}
```

## [Launch Profiling (removed in 9.0.0)](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#launch-profiling-removed-in-900)

Launch profiling configuration, explained below, was originally introduced in SDK version [8.21.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/8.21.0) and was removed in version [9.0.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/9.0.0). Use [UI Profiling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#enable-ui-profiling) instead, which was released in version [8.49.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/8.49.0).

Normally, a profile can only be taken during a trace span after the SDK has been initialized. Now, you can configure the SDK to automatically profile certain app launches.

To set up launch profiling, use the `enableAppLaunchProfiling` option and configure the sample rates for traces and profiles with `SentrySDK.startWithOptions` to determine if the subsequent app launch should be automatically profiled. This allows you to gather information on what is going on in your app even before `main` is called, making it easier to diagnose issues with slow app launches.

If you use `SentryOptions.tracesSampler` or `SentryOptions.profilesSampler`, it will be invoked after you call `SentrySDK.startWithOptions`, with `SentryTransactionContext.forNextAppLaunch` set to `true` indicating that it's evaluating a launch profile sampling decision. If instead you simply set `SentryOptions.tracesSampleRate` and `SentryOptions.profilesSampleRate`, those numerical rates will be used directly.

Currently, launch profiles are attached to a special performance transaction operation called `app.launch` and displayed in the product simply as `launch`.

```swift
import Sentry

SentrySDK.start { options in
    options.dsn = "___PUBLIC_DSN___"
    options.tracesSampleRate = 1.0 // tracing must be enabled for profiling
    options.profilesSampleRate = 1.0 // see also `profilesSampler` if you need custom sampling logic
    options.enableAppLaunchProfiling = true
}
```

## [Continuous Profiling Beta (removed in 9.0.0)](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#continuous-profiling-beta-removed-in-900)

Continuous Profiling Beta, explained below, was originally introduced in SDK version [8.36.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/8.36.0) and was removed in version [9.0.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/9.0.0). Use [UI Profiling](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling.md#enable-ui-profiling) instead, which was released in version [8.49.0](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cocoa/releases/tag/8.49.0).

The current profiling implementation stops the profiler automatically after 30 seconds (unless you manually stop it earlier). Naturally, this limitation makes it difficult to get full coverage of your app's execution. We now offer an experimental continuous mode, where profiling data is periodically uploaded while running, with no limit to how long the profiler may run.

Previously, profiles only ran in tandem with performance transactions that were started either automatically or manually with `SentrySDK.startTransaction`. Now, you can start and stop the profiler directly with `SentrySDK.startProfiler` and `SentrySDK.stopProfiler`. You can also start a profile at app launch by setting `SentryOptions.enableAppLaunchProfiling = true` in your call to `SentrySDK.startWithOptions`.

Continuous profiling mode is enabled by default, requiring no changes to `SentryOptions` when you start the SDK to opt in. If you had previously set `SentryOptions.profilesSampleRate` or `SentryOptions.profilesSampler` to use transaction-based profiling, then remove those lines of code from your configuration.

These new APIs do not offer any sampling functionality—every call to start the profiler will start it, and the same goes for launch profiles if you've configured that. If you are interested in reducing the amount of profiles that run, you must take care to do it at the call sites.

Continuous profiling has implications for your org's billing structure. This feature is only available for subscription plans that enrolled after June 5, 2024.

## Pages in this section

- [Troubleshooting](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/apple/profiling/troubleshooting.md)