Hi everyone, I am developing a benchmarking tool to measure memory latency (L1/L2/DRAM) on Apple Silicon. I am currently using Xcode Instruments (CPU Counters) to validate my results. In my latest run for a 128 MB buffer with random access, Instruments shows: Latency (cycles): ~259 cycles (derived from LDST_UNIT_OLD_L1D_CACHE_MISS / L1D_CACHE_MISS_LD). Manual Timer Result: ~80 ns. To correlate these two values, I need the exact CPU Frequency (GHz) at the time of the sample. My Questions: Is there a recommended way to programmatically fetch the current frequency of the Performance cores (p-cores) during a benchmark run? Does Apple provide a "nominal" frequency value for M-series chips that we should use for cycle-to-nanosecond conversions? In Instruments, is there a hidden counter or "Average Frequency" metric that I can enable to avoid manual math? Hardware/Software Environment: Tool: Instruments 26.3+ (CPU Counters Template). Chip: A19, iPhone 17 pro. OS: 26.3.

When I try to run dtruss on a command line program (freshclam) I see: $ sudo dtruss -a /usr/local/bin/freshclam 2>&1 | tee ~/tmp/dtruss.out dtrace: system integrity protection is on, some features will not be available dtrace: failed to execute /usr/local/bin/freshclam: DTrace cannot instrument translated processes I did some research and found advice on how to enable dtrace use via running: csrutil enable --without dtrace in a terminal running in macOS recovery mode. When I do that I see a warning saying this is an unsupported configuration and that it will allow unsigned kernel modules to be loaded. This is not what I want, I just want to run dtruss on a program while keeping all the other SIP protections in place. Why can't I just use sudo to grant the privileges for dtrace to work? All of this has me wondering if Apple intends for developers to use dtruss/dtrace in the current macOS?

Hi everyone, I’m developing a cross-platform mobile app (React Native) but I don’t currently own a Mac. What is the most reliable and professional way to: Build the iOS version Test it properly (real device / TestFlight) Upload it to the App Store Are cloud Mac services (like MacinCloud, AWS Mac, etc.) considered stable for production release workflows? Is there any fully supported workflow without direct access to a physical Mac? Would appreciate real-world experience from developers who faced the same situation. Thanks in advance.

what is the diff between INST_ALL and Instructions(FIXED_INSTRUCTIONS)? also CORE_ACTIVE_CYCLE VS Cycles(FIXED_CYCLES)

I am profiling a simple SwiftUI test app on my new iPhone through my new MacBook Pro and everything is version 26.2 (iOS, macOS, Xcode). I run Instruments with the SwiftUI template using all of the default settings and get absolutely zero data after interacting with the app for about 20 seconds. Using the Time Profiler template yields trace data. Trying the SwiftUI template again with the sample Landmarks app has the same issue as my app.

I have been working on battery consumption analysis for my application, and as part of this effort, I wanted to understand how competitor apps behave under similar usage conditions. To do this, I downloaded competitor apps from the App Store and attached them to Instruments via Xcode. I then executed a defined set of manual test scenarios to simulate real user behavior. During these tests, the iPhone was connected to a Mac and charging continuously, which meant that System Power Usage logs were not generated in Instruments. However, I was able to capture detailed metrics such as: Network usage CPU load GPU activity Display and brightness impact Other runtime performance characteristics Since direct battery drain data was unavailable, I used derived analysis (with AI assistance) to estimate approximate power consumption based on the above metrics, assuming real-device (battery-powered) conditions. According to Apple documentation, System Power Usage in Instruments is not directly tied to the device’s battery percentage. Instead, it appears to be computed using contributing factors such as CPU, network, display, and other subsystem activity. This raises a few important questions about data reliability and methodology. Key questions: How reliable are Instruments-based metrics (CPU, network, display, GPU) for estimating real-world battery consumption when the device is charging? Can these metrics be safely used as a comparative baseline between competitor applications, even if absolute battery drain values are unavailable? Is the System Power Usage instrument essentially a derived model based on subsystem activity, and if so, does it remain accurate when the device is not discharging? From Apple’s perspective, is this a valid approach for relative power comparison, provided that: The same device is used OS version is identical Test scenarios are consistent and repeatable Based on these findings, would it be reasonable to proceed with instrumenting our own application, run the same scenarios, and draw conclusions using relative comparisons rather than absolute battery percentages? The intent is not to claim exact battery drain numbers, but to establish a directionally correct and repeatable comparison that can guide performance optimizations in our own application. I would like to understand whether this methodology aligns with Apple’s recommended practices, or if there are limitations or inaccuracies I should be aware of before relying on these results for decision-making.

This is a screenshot from the Swift Task track in Xcode. I made these tasks with public actor ResourceManager { func foo() { for observer in observers { Task(name: "ResourceManager notify observers") { await notification(observer) } } } } I am confused why each of the task is showing as a separate task in the task lifetime summary. Is there a way to queue the trace in Instruments into the fact that these are indeed the same task?

Instruments is crashing when the swiftui instrument is stopped (the session is finished) and the transfer begins from device to device: Crashed Thread: 11 Dispatch queue: com.apple.swiftuitracingsupport.reading Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL) Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000 Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 4 Illegal instruction: 4 Terminating Process: exc handler [1633] I've tried removing derived data, reinstalling xcode, updating xcode (I originally thought this might be the issue -- I needed to update to 26.2 from the 26 RC -- the update didn't fix crash or change the crash report), and restarting both devices. I'm running Instruments/Xcode 26.2 on a MacBook Pro 15" (2018) running Mac OS 15.7.2 (24G325) with an iPhone 16 Pro Max running 26.2. Hoping someone else might have seen this or could help me troubleshoot. I find the swiftui instrument be helpful and like to use it :) I can post a complete crash report as well.

Hi everyone, I’m currently integrating AlarmKit into an app and would like to offer users the same selection of built-in iOS alarm sounds that the native Clock app provides. So far, I haven’t found any API in AlarmKit (or elsewhere in the SDK) that exposes the system’s default alarm tones. Before implementing a custom sound library, I wanted to check: Is there any way to access or present the iOS system alarm sounds when creating alarms with AlarmKit? Or are developers limited to custom audio files that we provide ourselves? If anyone has experience with AlarmKit or knows whether this is technically possible (or explicitly restricted), I’d really appreciate your insights. Thanks!

Hello, I'm no macOS 26.1 I'm running through the example shown in the WWDC video "Optimizing CPU Performance with Instruments." After right-clicking a test, clicking "Profile...", and trying to run a processor trace I get the error in the subject. I have processor trace enabled on the CPU via system settings. I confirmed this by disabling it and re-enabling it and noting the error that appears when this is disabled is different from the one I'm now getting. This did previously work but I haven't tried since macOS 26 is released. Is there something new I need to be doing to my Xcode project settings in order for this to be working?

Hello, I am trying to investigate my apps memory usage using the instruments tool. Whenever I attach instruments my app crashes, when I have it connected to xcode as well I can see that the crash occurs in liboainject: ___lldb_unamed_symbol117 with SIGBUS. Here's what the stack looks like. Is this a known issue? Are there any workarounds or things I can do to figure out what is causing the crash?

I'm working on a custom instrument that displays intervals from os_signpost data. I'd like to color the intervals in the graph based on data from an accompanying aggregate. For example, color the interval red if its duration is greater than 3 standard deviations from the mean. Is this possible?

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?

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?

Hello Apple team, I am using xctrace to record an Allocations trace on iOS. For example: xctrace record --template "Allocations" --launch com.example.myapp --time-limit 30s --output alloc.trace After recording, I can export the results in Allocations List format (flat list of allocations) using: xcrun xctrace export --input ./alloc.trace --xpath '/trace-toc/run/tracks/track[@name="Allocations"]/details/detail[@name="Allocations List"]' --output ./alloc.xml This works fine and produces an XML output. However, what I really need is to export the data in Call Tree format (as shown in Instruments GUI). I checked xctrace export --help, but it seems that the Allocations template only supports the List view for export, not the Call Tree breakdown. My question is: 👉 Is there a way to export an Allocations trace in XML with Call Tree details using xctrace? 👉 If not, is there an API or recommended workflow to automate this instead of exporting manually from Instruments GUI? Thanks in advance for your help!

I tried using Create ML of Xcode 26.0 beta 7 to generate a model using the "Word Tagging" template, and I received the error: Training progress unavailable - Unexpected error. Using Create ML of XCode 16.4 with the same documentation, I was able to build the model and use it in a test app. I'd like to understand why Create ML of Xcode 26 no longer works.

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?

According to the ARM documentation for the CPU models available in Apple Silicon, the CoreSight implementation includes an Embedded Trace Macrocell which can perform a complete "Instruction Trace" (https://developer.arm.com/documentation/102119/0200/What-is-trace-). Although other operating systems such as Linux make this easy, we have not been able to find any tools or even a system-level API for accessing this feature of the ETM. In the "Instruments" window of Xcode 16+, there is a "Processor Trace" instrument, but this performs sampling and is totally unrelated to the Instruction Trace we need for debugging and analysis purposes. Because it produces a complete, contiguous sequence of branch instructions, the Instruction Trace is essential for identifying precise execution behaviors that are otherwise invisible to the developer. On other platforms, an alternative is debugger scripting, but we have found far too many bugs and reliability issues with the macOS implementation of lldb. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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.

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?