Hi,
My name is Hani Nemati, and I work at Microsoft, where we support several macOS applications such as Microsoft Edge and Teams. I’m also the primary contributor to Microsoft Performance Tools for Apple (https://github.com/microsoft/Microsoft-Performance-Tools-Apple), an open-source project aimed at improving trace analysis across platforms.
We are exploring ways to enhance our performance tracing capabilities on macOS and are particularly interested in the ability to attach PMU (Performance Monitoring Unit) counters to context switch events during trace collection. For reference, this capability is supported on Linux via LTTng using the add-context option (https://lttng.org/man/1/lttng-add-context/v2.13), and on Windows through Windows Performance Recorder (WPR), which allows PMU counters to be added at the start and end of context switches, enabling delta computation.
Would it be possible to introduce similar support in Instruments for macOS?
I’d appreciate any guidance or suggestions you might have on this request.
Thank you,
Hani Nemati
Email: hanemati@microsoft
Instruments
RSS for tagInstruments is a performance-analysis and testing tool for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, and macOS apps.
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We have 2 iPhones (16 pro - iOS 18.2, 16 regular - iOS 18.5 ) in single app mode and sometimes we need to shut them down manually. After holding Power and VolumeUp, shutdown screen appears as usual, but the slider isn't responding to touch, as well as the whole screen. After force restart using volume buttons, this issue disappears, but reappears after next phone restart.
If we disable single app mode -the issue is gone and touch screen works every time on shutdown screen. Both iPhones share the same behavior.
Is there any other way to reliably shut down the iPhone locally without using MDM or a way to fix this issue?
I'm unable to capture Bluetooth logs via PacketLogger from my iPhone 11 (iOS 18.2) and iPad Pro (iPadOS 17.5.1) with Mac mini M2 macOS 15.2 (24C101).
I've installed Bluetooth profile on both devices, restarted multiple times connected to the computer, it shows device as online, however PacketLogger captures nothing at all.
For test I've installed profile on macOS and PacketLogger captures everything as it should. I saw some posts here from earlier this year, that people were having similar problems with PacketLogger. Please suggest a solution or confirm that it is a known bug.
Topic:
Developer Tools & Services
SubTopic:
Instruments
Hey,
In the UI of the Instruments app, I can change the recording mode to immediate. Is that possible when using xctrace? It seems to use deferred as a default.
I've tried to create a template, set the recording mode to immediate, and use that template for recording. However, that doesn't seem to work. At least the exported TOC of the .trace will have the following summary:
<summary>
<start-date>2025-01-11T13:00:11.365+01:00</start-date>
<end-date>2025-01-11T13:00:30.525+01:00</end-date>
<duration>19.160279</duration>
<end-reason>Target app exited</end-reason>
<instruments-version>16.0 (16A242d)</instruments-version>
<template-name>core_animation_fps</template-name>
<recording-mode>Deferred</recording-mode>
<time-limit>12 hours</time-limit>
</summary>
This issue might be related to: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/735948
Thanks a lot!
Hi,
When I run the new Processor Trace instrument on a simple C or C++ console app, it hangs in "Analyzing - Transferring data" upon finishing the measurement.
When I run it without any other instrument, I get the error:
Failed to stop recording session: Data Providers emitted errors: CPUTrace
Any ideas what I could try, or how to get a more verbose log of this failure?
Best, Ronny
P.S.: I'm using a Macbook Pro M4 Pro 14". MacOs Version 15.4 Beta (24E5228e)
As stated in the title.
I am running the following code.
Each time I perform an API call, I create a new instance of URLSession and use a background-configured session to allow background API calls.
`
Code being executed:
import Foundation
// Model definitions
struct RandomUserResponse: Codable {
let results: [RandomUser]
}
struct RandomUser: Codable {
let name: Name
let email: String
}
struct Name: Codable {
let first: String
let last: String
}
// Fetcher class
class RandomUserFetcher: NSObject, URLSessionDataDelegate {
private var receivedData = Data()
private var completion: ((RandomUser?) -> Void)?
private var session: URLSession!
func fetchRandomUserInBackground(completion: @escaping (RandomUser?) -> Void) {
self.completion = completion
let configuration = URLSessionConfiguration.background(withIdentifier: "com.example.randomuser.bg")
session = URLSession(configuration: configuration, delegate: self, delegateQueue: nil)
let url = URL(string: "https://randomuser.me/api/" )!
let task = session.dataTask(with: url)
task.resume()
}
// Data received
func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, dataTask: URLSessionDataTask, didReceive data: Data) {
receivedData.append(data)
}
// Completion
func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, task: URLSessionTask, didCompleteWithError error: Error?) {
defer { self.session.finishTasksAndInvalidate() }
guard error == nil else {
print("Error: \(error!)")
completion?(nil)
return
}
do {
let response = try JSONDecoder().decode(RandomUserResponse.self, from: receivedData)
completion?(response.results.first)
} catch {
print("Decoding error: \(error)")
completion?(nil)
}
}
}`
Called in viewDidLoad, etc.:
let fetcher = RandomUserFetcher()
fetcher.fetchRandomUserInBackground { user in
if let user = user {
print("Name: \(user.name.first) \(user.name.last), Email: \(user.email)")
} else {
print("Failed to fetch random user.")
}
}
In Instruments' Network instrument, I focus on my app's process, use 'Command + 3', and switch to 'List: URLSessionTasks'.
Even though didCompleteWithError is called and the API call fully completes, the Duration keeps increasing, and the Success column remains '-' (neither 'Yes' nor 'No').
For non-background URLSessions, the session shows up as 'unnamed session', but for background URLSessions, it appears as 'unnamed background session 1 (XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXX)'.
Does this mean the session is not actually being completed?
I've checked Debug Memory Graph and confirmed there is no NSURLSession memory leak, but is it possible that the app is somehow still retaining session information internally?
I also suspect that Instruments may not be able to fully track background URLSession tasks.
I was reading through this documentation about instruments command line tool https://help.apple.com/instruments/mac/current/#/devb14ffaa5 and how it can be launched from the command line. However, unlike what the documentation states, there's no such instruments command anywhere on my macos M1 (OS version 15.6). That command gives:
$> instruments
zsh: command not found: instruments
I do have XCode installed which has the Instruments.App (GUI app) but not the command line utility:
$> ls Xcode.app/Contents/Applications/
... Instruments.app
Is that linked documentation up-to-date (it does say "latest" in the URL)? Is there some other way to install this command line utility?
Instruments CPU Profiler failed to start the profilable app (get-task-allow is set to true) with error "No PMI Record Found". Device is iPhone 13 Pro currently running iOS 17.0.3. Tried to profile in instruments shipped with Xcode 14.3.1, Xcode 15.0.1 and Xcode 15.1 Beta, same issue across. If it helps, I was able to successfully profile on iPhone X running iOS f16.7 using Xcode 14.2 instruments.
I'm having an issue with my swiftui macOS application where it is continually consuming more memory over time and after a couple of hours will grind to a halt. I've watched a few videos now on how to use Xcode Memory Graph and Instruments to identify the source of a leak (I assume it is a leak). These videos all provide very obvious issues as examples but mine seems more elusive and I don't know how to identify which part of my code is the cause of the issue.
After running instruments I see the following but the leaked objects are not always consistent:
Xcode Memory Graph shows NSSet as the culprit which is shown under CoreFoundation (not my App). I really am a beginner here and because it's not showing me somewhere in my app that I can go and investigate I'm really stuck.
Hi,
I’m encountering an issue while using xctrace & instruments to profile an application on macOS. Specifically, when trying to record a trace using the CPU Profiler template, I get the following errors:
Failed to start the recording: configureHardwareCounters: Failed set kpc configuration: Operation not permitted.
Unexpected failure: Couriers have returned unexpectedly.
macOS Version: 15.3.1
Chip: Apple M4 Pro
Xcode Version: Xcode 16.2
Hi, I need help to get Instruments running to profile my application. I tried to profile my main app (Qt-5.15-Framework, c++, Intel-arch only) from Xcode. My app starts and Instruments runs time profiler or Leaks for about 15 seconds and the quits. No crash, no message nothing.
This has been happening for a while on my Mac Studio M1 Max running macOS 14.7.6 and Xcode 15.4 IDE with a toolchain from Xcode 14.3 for the qmake (qt) project. However, this also happens if i set up a new vanilla Swift UI project from scratch wihtout any Qt stuff.
In addition to the Mac Studio I also have Mac Book Pro M4 running macOS 15.5 and Xcode 16.4. On that machine I get the same results, no matter if I try Instruments on my qt project or a vanilla SwiftUI project.
Also it does not make a difference if I change the toolchain with:
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_143.app
or
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode_164.app.
Same results in either case.
I also tried switching to Debug build in the editing the scheme for profiling, but got no better results.
I also tried to lauch Instruments from Xcode using the Open Developer Tool menu entry, but got no better results.
When I start Instruments first, run my program in Xcode and attach to it, I get the same results.
Do you have any advice what to check for or to setup, maybe in signing or such? I am probably missing something basic.
Thanks in advance
I am trying to perform swiftUI instrumentation on my ios app. whenever i hit the rocord button, the app launches on target device and closes with the error:
Failed to start the recording: Failed starting ktrace session.
How do i resolve this please?
Trying to examine performance issues in Xcode Instruments using the Animation Hitches instrument in Xcode 16.0 beta 6 (16A5230g).
When connected to my iPhone 15 Pro Max and I try to start a run with my app, it has an error “Failed to split user provided arguments: working directory doesn't exist” with timestamp “(Before Run Started)”. When running the app on an iOS simulator, the instrument runs fine—but I want to profile on a real device.
Instruments > Settings, Recording Location set to Default and that directory does exist.
According to the documentation for Processor Trace, it should be available on the iPhone 16 or later.
Going off of the Optimize CPU performance with Instruments WWDC session, the toggle for it should be under Developer > Performance, but I don’t see this option anywhere on my iPhone 17. I can’t run a Processor Trace in Instruments without this feature turned on, because it claims my iPhone’s CPU is unsupported.
Has anyone else managed to enable Processor Trace on the A19 chips?
Hiya folks! I'm David and I work on rust-analyzer, which is a language server for Rust similar to sourcekit-lsp. I'm using the new Instruments profiling tooling functionality in Xcode 16.3 and Xcode 26 (Processor Trace and CPU Counters) to profile our trait solver/type checker. While I've been able to use the new CPU Counters instrument successfully (the CPU Bottleneck feature is incredible! Props to the team!), I've been unable to make use of the Processor Trace instrument.
Instruments gives me the error message "Processor Trace cannot profile this process without proper permissions". The diagnostic suggests adding the com.apple.security-get-task-allow entitlement to the code I'm trying to profile, or ensure that the build setting CODE_SIGN_INJECT_BASE_ENTITLEMENTS = YES is enabled in Xcode.
Unfortunately, I don't know how I can add that entitlement to a self-signed binary produced by Cargo and I'm not using Xcode for somewhat obvious reasons.
Here's some information about my setup:
Instruments Version 26.0 (17A5241e)
I'm on an 14" MacBook Pro with M4 Pro. It's running macOS Version 26.0 Beta (25A5295e).
I've enabled the "Processor Trace" feature in "Developer Tools" and even added the Instruments application to "Developer Tools".
As a last-ditch effort before posting this, I disabled SIP on my Mac. Didn't help.
To reproduce my issue:
Get Rust via https://rustup.rs/.
Clone rust-analyzer: git clone https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-analyzer.git.
cd rust-analyzer
Run cargo test --package hir-ty --lib --profile=dev-rel -- tests::incremental::add_struct_invalidates_trait_solve --exact --show-output. By default, this command will output a bunch of build progress with the output containing something like Running unittests src/lib.rs (target/dev-rel/deps/hir_ty-f1dbf1b1d36575fe).
I take the absolute path of that hir_ty-$SOME-HASH string (in my case, it looks like /Users/dbarsky/Developer/rust-analyzer/target/dev-rel/deps/hir_ty-f1dbf1b1d36575fe) and add it to the "Launch" profile. To the arguments section, I add --exact tests::incremental::add_struct_invalidates_trait_solve.
I then try to record/profile via Instruments, but then I get the error message I shared above.
Below is output of codesign -dvvv:
❯ codesign -dvvv target/dev-rel/deps/hir_ty-f1dbf1b1d36575fe
Executable=/Users/dbarsky/Developer/rust-analyzer/target/dev-rel/deps/hir_ty-f1dbf1b1d36575fe
Identifier=hir_ty-f1dbf1b1d36575fe
Format=Mach-O thin (arm64)
CodeDirectory v=20400 size=140368 flags=0x20002(adhoc,linker-signed) hashes=4383+0 location=embedded
Hash type=sha256 size=32
CandidateCDHash sha256=99e96c8622c7e20518617c66a7d4144dc0daef28
CandidateCDHashFull sha256=99e96c8622c7e20518617c66a7d4144dc0daef28f22fac013c28a784571ce1df
Hash choices=sha256
CMSDigest=99e96c8622c7e20518617c66a7d4144dc0daef28f22fac013c28a784571ce1df
CMSDigestType=2
CDHash=99e96c8622c7e20518617c66a7d4144dc0daef28
Signature=adhoc
Info.plist=not bound
TeamIdentifier=not set
Sealed Resources=none
Internal requirements=none
Any tips would be welcome! Additionally—and perhaps somewhat naively—I think I'd expect the Processor Trace instrument to just work with an adhoc-signed binary, as lldb and friends largely do—I'm not sure that such a high barrier for CPU perf counters is warranted, especially on an adhoc-signed binary.
I'm currently exploring Instruments for profiling and tracing on macOS 15.6.1. I know there is the "network connections" instrument which records TCP/UDP information, however it seems to not include the "lo0" (loopback) interface.
Is there a way to configure it so that localhost traffic is included in the recording? as the application I'm tracing uses that and I want that information to be included in traces.
The documentation for network-interface-detection schema makes no mention of how it detects interfaces.
Thanks in advance.
When trying to profile any process with the Instruments CPU Profiler I get this message:
(Before run started) No allocated PMI record.
Not sure what to do here. I tried other instruments like time profile and that works fine so not sure what to do here... Didn't find any people having similar issues when googling so I'm hoping someone here can help me out.
Im using a m1 max 14 inch macbook pro with macOS 12.3 and instruments 13.0 (13A1030d)
When creating an icon using icon composer, I cant upload a build to testflight/App Store connect.
Running on device from Xcode works fine, but as soon as I archive and upload to App Store Connect, I get an error saying the icon contains an alpha channel