performance-audit

SwiftUI Performance Audit

Overview

Audit SwiftUI view performance from instrumentation and baselining to root-cause analysis and concrete remediation steps.

Workflow Decision Tree

1. If user provides code: Start with Code-First Review
2. If user only describes symptoms: Ask for minimal code/context, then Code-First Review
3. If code review is inconclusive: Guide user to profile with Instruments

1. Code-First Review

Collect

• Target view/feature code
• Data flow: state, environment, observable models
• Symptoms and reproduction steps

Focus On

• View invalidation storms from broad state changes
• Unstable identity in lists (id churn, UUID() per render)
• Heavy work in body (formatting, sorting, image decoding)
• Layout thrash (deep stacks, GeometryReader, preference chains)
• Large images without downsampling
• Over-animated hierarchies (implicit animations on large trees)

Provide

• Likely root causes with code references
• Suggested fixes and refactors
• Minimal repro or instrumentation suggestion if needed

2. Guide User to Profile

If code review is inconclusive, explain how to collect data:

1. Use SwiftUI template in Instruments (Release build)
2. Reproduce the exact interaction (scroll, navigation, animation)
3. Capture SwiftUI timeline and Time Profiler
4. Export or screenshot relevant lanes and call tree

Ask for:

• Trace export or screenshots
• Device/OS/build configuration

3. Common Code Smells (and Fixes)

Expensive formatters in body

Bad:

var body: some View {
    let formatter = NumberFormatter()  // Slow allocation every render
    Text(formatter.string(from: value))
}

Good:

final class Formatters {
    static let number = NumberFormatter()
}

var body: some View {
    Text(Formatters.number.string(from: value))
}

Computed properties with heavy work

Bad:

var filtered: [Item] {
    items.filter { $0.isEnabled }  // Runs every body eval
}