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Tinder cuts app cold starts by 47% with new R8 Configuration Analyzer
Tinder's large Android app codebase faced significant optimization challenges, with approximately 70% unoptimized and numerous dex files. Keep rules, enabled by R8, were inadvertently blocking optimization without clear identification of offenders. To address slow startup times and perceived ANR errors, Tinder adopted the R8 Configuration Analyzer. This tool helped them pinpoint and remove unintentional optimization blockers, leading to immediate improvements. Specifically, Tinder reduced app cold starts by 47%, decreased download size by nearly 29%, and lowered user-perceived ANRs by 28%. The Configuration Analyzer identifies areas for refinement by tracking shrinking, optimization, and obfuscation scores. It reveals broad, redundant, or obsolete keep rules, including those from external libraries. Tinder discovered a particularly wide, unscoped keep rule in an in-house library was preventing significant optimization. Refining this rule unlocked substantial performance gains, increasing R8 scores from 28% to 50%. These improvements reduced DEX files, which positively impacted user engagement, especially on resource-constrained devices. Tinder has since integrated optimization monitoring into their CI/CD pipeline to prevent future regressions.