iOS UI performance profiling

Question

So far, I have always tested the performance (i.e. "smoothness") of my iOS user interfaces informally, by testing the user interface myself. This is obviously not a very accurate way to profile the performance, so I wondered whether there were some methods / tools that are designed to do this. Are there?

Answer 1

Use the Instruments tool 'Core Animation' to measure graphics (and thus UI) performance. Mostly in the form of frame rate (which is a formal way of measuring smoothness), but you can also configure it to show overlapping and blended views (which your GPU absolutely hates).

Also, there are some great WWDC sessions available for iOS developers on this topic.