Replace mParticle: faster cold start

▸Example mParticle call (the "before")

swift Respectlytics

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() and MParticle.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() and modify() 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.

⇢Related migration guides

Replace mParticle to speed up cold start