This month we have a mix of new features, many of them focused on making NimbleDroid’s UI more enjoyable to work with.
Saving App Test Credentials
We’ve always allowed users to include app test credentials with the upload of their APKs, but we’ve improved on this by allowing users to save credentials for an app and use them by default. Saved credentials will apply by default for Gradle uploads, and will appear as a UI option when manually uploading.
Trending Data for Method Count, APK Size, Issues
One of our users asked for the ability to see trending for method count and APK size trending information, which we thought was a great idea. We’ve added spark lines for this data, as well as for speed and memory issues.
Better Usability for Call Stack and Timeline Information
NimbleDroid makes it easy to dive deep into the detail of what is going on with your app’s performance. Our method call stack shows details about what each method is calling and how long each call takes, and our timeline shows information on thread timing and waiting. We’ve streamlined our implementation of these views to increase in-browser performance, and we’ve also added the ability to view in full screen
More Powerful Management of Data
It’s been great to see usage of the product increase since we launched last year. One of the consequences has been the amount of data our users have accumulated has been steadily growing, and customers have let us know they want more control in the UI. To help manage the growing volume of data in an account, we’ve added the ability to name Scenarios, disable Scenarios, and archive uploaded versions.
A named Scenario will display the text name the user has given it instead of the default list of steps which we usually show.
Disabling a Scenario hides past instances of that Scenario in the interface, and prevents future uploads from profiling that Scenario. A disabled Scenario can always be re-enabled in the Setup tab of an app page.
Finally, archiving an upload will hide the results from that version as if were never uploaded. You can always un-archive an upload via the new Uploads view.
Serial profiling for apps with user account limits
Occasionally a customer’s app will implement strict server-side restrictions that only one device can be logged in with a user account at a time. Because we profile Scenarios in parallel to reduce latency, this can cause issues. We’ve added an advanced setting to force an app to profile in serial so there are no credential collisions, available on the app Setup view. Note that this feature will greatly slow your results latency, so only enable it if you don’t have an alternative.
A Better Welcome for New Users
As word about NimbleDroid has spread, we’ve watched the number of new users signing up every week accelerate rapidly. Because of this, we decided to design a welcome experience for new users to get them familiar with our features and set up as quickly as possible. New users now see a 4-step Get Started wizard which takes them through test app credentials setup, APK upload, team sharing an Slack integration, and CI integration with our Gradle plugin.
More Scenarios for our Play Store Profiles
Up until now, users viewing public apps in the Play Store section could only see Cold Startup measurements. We’re happy to have enabled our automatic Scenario crawler for Play apps as well now, so new profiles in the Play Store will show more than just Cold Startup.