The system doesn’t have to repeat the initialization so it has much less overhead.

This makes it a lot faster than a cold start because the app’s activity is already present in memory. In a hot start, all the system has to do is bring your app’s activity to the foreground. Cold starts are usually the main focus when it comes to minimizing app launch time due to them taking the longest.Ī hot start refers to when your app’s process is already running in the background. Since there is no existing process up and running this is the slowest type of launch. Cold starts occur when you are launching the app for the first time since booting, or if the app was killed. This means that the app’s process has not been created by the system until then. Measuring your various app launch times will require an application performance monitoring tool in order to track your performance statistics.Ī cold start refers to an app’s starting from scratch. But there are different types of app launches, so we’ll explore how they differ in the next section. This, however, is talking about apps launching from scratch, also known as a cold start. Ideally, you should be targeting an app launch time of 1.5-2 seconds. According to another study, 49% of users expect apps to start in 2 seconds or less. Based on an analysis of the top 100 apps, 39 apps start in under or around 2 seconds, and 73 in under 3 seconds. Your app is fighting for your users’ time and money and needs to make a good impression from the gate.Īpp launch speed is very indicative of the overall quality of your app and tracking it will help assess the responsiveness of your app. And according to a different report, 80% would give a poorly performing app three chances or less before uninstalling it.

One report says that 21% of users now abandon an app after one use. How fast your app launches can set very important first impressions with your users and go a long way to retain them.

Users don’t like to wait and they especially don’t like slow apps. Speed is an essential part of app performance. Impact of mobile app launch time on performance With the abundance of high-quality apps out there, users have become very sensitive to app launch time and have very high expectations. If your app is slow to launch, users will be frustrated before they even get to experience your app. With millions of mobile apps on the various app stores, standing out amongst the best takes a lot more than a good idea.

App startup time