Skip to content

[No QA] fix: move AppStartTime recording from MainApplication to MainActivity#86468

Open
war-in wants to merge 2 commits intoExpensify:mainfrom
software-mansion-labs:war-in/fix-manual-app-statrup-metric
Open

[No QA] fix: move AppStartTime recording from MainApplication to MainActivity#86468
war-in wants to merge 2 commits intoExpensify:mainfrom
software-mansion-labs:war-in/fix-manual-app-statrup-metric

Conversation

@war-in
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

@war-in war-in commented Mar 26, 2026

Explanation of Change

On Android, when the app is closed and quickly reopened, the system reuses the still-alive process. Since MainApplication.onCreate() only runs once per process — not on each app reopen — the startup timestamp stored in SharedPreferences becomes stale, causing the ManualAppStartup Sentry span duration to grow with each close+reopen cycle.

This PR moves the System.currentTimeMillis() recording from MainApplication.onCreate() to MainActivity.onCreate(). The Activity is recreated on every app open (even with process reuse), so the timestamp is always fresh.

Fixed Issues

$ #86474
PROPOSAL:

Tests

  1. Build and run the standalone Android app
  2. Open the app and observe the ManualAppStartup span duration in Sentry debug logs
  3. Close the app (swipe away or press back)
  4. Quickly reopen the app
  5. Verify the ManualAppStartup duration is similar to step 2 (not growing)
  6. Repeat close+reopen several times — duration should stay consistent

Offline tests

QA Steps

PR Author Checklist

  • I linked the correct issue in the ### Fixed Issues section above
  • I wrote clear testing steps that cover the changes made in this PR
    • I added steps for local testing in the Tests section
    • I added steps for the expected offline behavior in the Offline steps section
    • I added steps for Staging and/or Production testing in the QA steps section
    • I added steps to cover failure scenarios (i.e. verify an input displays the correct error message if the entered data is not correct)
    • I turned off my network connection and tested it while offline to ensure it matches the expected behavior (i.e. verify the default avatar icon is displayed if app is offline)
    • I tested this PR with a High Traffic account against the staging or production API to ensure there are no regressions (e.g. long loading states that impact usability).
  • I included screenshots or videos for tests on all platforms
  • I ran the tests on all platforms & verified they passed on:
    • Android: Native
    • Android: mWeb Chrome
    • iOS: Native
    • iOS: mWeb Safari
    • MacOS: Chrome / Safari
  • I verified there are no console errors (if there's a console error not related to the PR, report it or open an issue for it to be fixed)
  • I followed proper code patterns (see Reviewing the code)
    • I verified that any callback methods that were added or modified are named for what the method does and never what callback they handle (i.e. toggleReport and not onIconClick)
    • I verified that comments were added to code that is not self explanatory
    • I verified that any new or modified comments were clear, correct English, and explained "why" the code was doing something instead of only explaining "what" the code was doing.
    • I verified any copy / text shown in the product is localized by adding it to src/languages/* files and using the translation method
      • If any non-english text was added/modified, I used JaimeGPT to get English > Spanish translation. I then posted it in #expensify-open-source and it was approved by an internal Expensify engineer. Link to Slack message:
    • I verified all numbers, amounts, dates and phone numbers shown in the product are using the localization methods
    • I verified any copy / text that was added to the app is grammatically correct in English. It adheres to proper capitalization guidelines (note: only the first word of header/labels should be capitalized), and is either coming verbatim from figma or has been approved by marketing (in order to get marketing approval, ask the Bug Zero team member to add the Waiting for copy label to the issue)
    • I verified proper file naming conventions were followed for any new files or renamed files. All non-platform specific files are named after what they export and are not named "index.js". All platform-specific files are named for the platform the code supports as outlined in the README.
    • I verified the JSDocs style guidelines (in STYLE.md) were followed
  • If a new code pattern is added I verified it was agreed to be used by multiple Expensify engineers
  • I followed the guidelines as stated in the Review Guidelines
  • I tested other components that can be impacted by my changes (i.e. if the PR modifies a shared library or component like Avatar, I verified the components using Avatar are working as expected)
  • I verified all code is DRY (the PR doesn't include any logic written more than once, with the exception of tests)
  • I verified any variables that can be defined as constants (ie. in CONST.ts or at the top of the file that uses the constant) are defined as such
  • I verified that if a function's arguments changed that all usages have also been updated correctly
  • If any new file was added I verified that:
    • The file has a description of what it does and/or why is needed at the top of the file if the code is not self explanatory
  • If a new CSS style is added I verified that:
    • A similar style doesn't already exist
    • The style can't be created with an existing StyleUtils function (i.e. StyleUtils.getBackgroundAndBorderStyle(theme.componentBG))
  • If new assets were added or existing ones were modified, I verified that:
    • The assets are optimized and compressed (for SVG files, run npm run compress-svg)
    • The assets load correctly across all supported platforms.
  • If the PR modifies code that runs when editing or sending messages, I tested and verified there is no unexpected behavior for all supported markdown - URLs, single line code, code blocks, quotes, headings, bold, strikethrough, and italic.
  • If the PR modifies a generic component, I tested and verified that those changes do not break usages of that component in the rest of the App (i.e. if a shared library or component like Avatar is modified, I verified that Avatar is working as expected in all cases)
  • If the PR modifies a component related to any of the existing Storybook stories, I tested and verified all stories for that component are still working as expected.
  • If the PR modifies a component or page that can be accessed by a direct deeplink, I verified that the code functions as expected when the deeplink is used - from a logged in and logged out account.
  • If the PR modifies the UI (e.g. new buttons, new UI components, changing the padding/spacing/sizing, moving components, etc) or modifies the form input styles:
    • I verified that all the inputs inside a form are aligned with each other.
    • I added Design label and/or tagged @Expensify/design so the design team can review the changes.
  • If a new page is added, I verified it's using the ScrollView component to make it scrollable when more elements are added to the page.
  • I added unit tests for any new feature or bug fix in this PR to help automatically prevent regressions in this user flow.
  • If the main branch was merged into this PR after a review, I tested again and verified the outcome was still expected according to the Test steps.

Screenshots/Videos

Android: Native
Android: mWeb Chrome
iOS: Native
iOS: mWeb Safari
MacOS: Chrome / Safari

@github-actions
Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

⚠️ This PR is possibly changing native code and/or updating libraries, it may cause problems with HybridApp. Please check if any patch updates are required in the HybridApp repo and run an AdHoc build to verify that HybridApp will not break. Ask Contributor Plus for help if you are not sure how to handle this. ⚠️

@war-in war-in marked this pull request as ready for review March 27, 2026 08:58
@war-in war-in requested review from a team as code owners March 27, 2026 08:58
@melvin-bot melvin-bot bot requested a review from mananjadhav March 27, 2026 08:58
@melvin-bot
Copy link
Copy Markdown

melvin-bot bot commented Mar 27, 2026

@mananjadhav Please copy/paste the Reviewer Checklist from here into a new comment on this PR and complete it. If you have the K2 extension, you can simply click: [this button]

@melvin-bot melvin-bot bot requested review from heyjennahay and removed request for a team March 27, 2026 08:58
@war-in war-in changed the title fix: move AppStartTime recording from MainApplication to MainActivity [No QA] fix: move AppStartTime recording from MainApplication to MainActivity Mar 27, 2026
Copy link
Copy Markdown

@chatgpt-codex-connector chatgpt-codex-connector bot left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

💡 Codex Review

Here are some automated review suggestions for this pull request.

Reviewed commit: eecf5af8dd

ℹ️ About Codex in GitHub

Codex has been enabled to automatically review pull requests in this repo. Reviews are triggered when you

  • Open a pull request for review
  • Mark a draft as ready
  • Comment "@codex review".

If Codex has suggestions, it will comment; otherwise it will react with 👍.

When you sign up for Codex through ChatGPT, Codex can also answer questions or update the PR, like "@codex address that feedback".

Comment on lines +43 to +46
getSharedPreferences(APP_START_TIME_PREFERENCES, MODE_PRIVATE)
.edit()
.putLong(APP_START_TIME_PREFERENCES, System.currentTimeMillis())
.apply()
Copy link
Copy Markdown

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

P2 Badge Preserve app-start timestamp for headless JS launches

Writing AppStartTime only in MainActivity.onCreate() drops the update path for Android headless/background JS startups, which are documented in src/setup/index.ts (telemetry runs even when no Activity exists). In that path, AppStartTimeNitroModule.appStartTime can now come from a previous foreground session, so when ManualAppStartup is started from telemetry during early startup states (where app state may be undefined/active), durations can be inflated by long idle gaps and skew production startup metrics.

Useful? React with 👍 / 👎.

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

In that path, AppStartTimeNitroModule.appStartTime can now come from a previous foreground session, so when ManualAppStartup is started from telemetry during early startup states

What flow would this be? Push notifications? I'm not sure what this problem is.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

2 participants