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iOS SDK Troubleshooting

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Important

Visual Studio App Center is scheduled for retirement on March 31, 2025. While you can continue to use Visual Studio App Center until it is fully retired, there are several recommended alternatives that you may consider migrating to.

Learn more about support timelines and alternatives.

Issues during setup

  1. In the console, look for an Assert log with the message - "App Center SDK configured successfully". The message implies that the SDK is configured successfully.
  2. If you're using Cocoapods to integrate App Center in your iOS app and run into an error with the message - CocoaPods - Unable to find a specification for AppCenter, run pod repo update to update your local Cocoapods repository and then run pod install again.
  3. If you're using CocoaPods to integrate App Center in your iOS app and while project compilation you run into an error with the message - framework not found AppCenter.xcframework then you need to update(reinstall) Cocoapods to the lates version by running [sudo] gem install cocoapods.
  4. If you're integrating the SDK binaries manually, make sure you have modules enabled for your project.

Analytics data doesn't show up in the portal

  1. Make sure you've integrated the SDK modules correctly.

  2. Make sure the correct App Secret is included along with the start:withServices: method call. You can copy the exact start:withServices:-code by opening the app in the portal and navigating to Getting Started page.

  3. If you want to see the logs that are sent to the backend, change the log level to Verbose in your application. The SDK will then print the logs in the Console. Insert the following call before the SDK start:

    [MSACAppCenter setLogLevel:MSACLogLevelVerbose]

    AppCenter.logLevel = .verbose

    Make sure "App Center SDK configured successfully" appears in the logs (at INFO log level), then check if you see HTTPS request logs.

  4. Make sure your device is online.

  5. Sometimes, logs might take a few minutes to surface in the portal. Wait for some time if that's the case.

  6. To check if App Center backend has received your data, go to the Log flow section in Analytics service. Your events should appear once it's been sent.

Crashes don't show up in the portal

  1. Make sure you've integrated the SDK modules correctly.

  2. Make sure the correct app secret is included along with the start:withServices: method call. You can copy the exact start:withServices: code by opening the app in the portal and navigating to Getting Started page.

  3. App Center Crashes will forward the crash log only after the app restarts. Also, the SDK won't forward any crash logs if you're attached to the debugger. Make sure the debugger isn't attached when you crash the app.

  4. If you want to see the logs that are sent to the backend, change the log level to Verbose in your application. The SDK will then print the logs in the Console. Insert the following call before the SDK start:

    [MSACAppCenter setLogLevel:MSACLogLevelVerbose]

    AppCenter.logLevel = .verbose

    Make sure "App Center SDK configured successfully" appears in the logs (at INFO log level), then check if you see HTTPS request logs.

  5. Don't use any other libraries that provide Crash Reporting functionality. You can only have one crash reporting SDK integrated in your app.

  6. Make sure your device is online.

  7. At times, logs might take few minutes to surface in the portal. Wait for some time if that's the case.

  8. Check if the SDK detected the crash on the next app start. You can call the API to check whether the app crashed in the last session and shows an alert. Or you can extend the crash didSucceedSendingErrorReport callback to see if it was successfully sent to the server.

  9. To check if App Center backend received the crash, go to the Log flow section in the Analytics service. Your crashes should appear there, once it's been sent.

The Alert that prompts users for an update doesn't contain strings, but just the keys for them

This means that the AppCenterDistributeResources.bundle wasn't added to the project. Make sure you've dropped the file into your Xcode project, and it appears in your app target's Copy Bundle Resources build phase. It should appear there if you added the file through drag and drop – Xcode does it automatically for you. If the file is missing from the build phase, add it so it gets compiled into your app's bundle.

If you're using Cocoapods, it takes care of the resources automatically. Try reinstalling the pod.

You see messages in the console that indicate that the database couldn't be opened

Starting with version 0.11.0 of the iOS SDK, App Center uses SQLite to persist logs before it sends them to the backend. If you're bundling your application with your own SQLite library instead of using the one provided by the OS, you might see errors like this in the console [AppCenter] ERROR: -[MSACDBStorage executeSelectionQuery:]/147 Failed to open database and won't see any analytics or crash information in the backend. Update the SDK to version 0.13.0 or later.

Distribute and in-app updates are blocking my automated UI tests

If in-app updates are enabled, they'll block your automated UI tests. The update process will try to authenticate against the App Center backend. We recommend to not enable App Center Distribute for your UI test target.

Why the SDK is distributed as a "static library"

The primary design goals for the App Center SDK are to have a minimal impact on the app using App Center, and to have a modular SDK. This would result in the SDK being distributed as several dynamic linked shared libraries.

Historically, iOS didn't support dynamic linked shared libraries, but was added in iOS 8, as explained in this blog post by Landon Fuller.

However, App Center is distributed as a statically linked shared library that's wrapped in a "fat" fake framework. This means that the SDK is linked at compile time and not at launch time for better performance. Loading multiple dynamic linked shared libraries takes time.

Apple recommends optimizing the app launch to take not more than 400 ms in a WWDC session. They specifically recommend static shared libraries over dynamic shared ones to achieve this goal. Distributing the App Center SDK for iOS as a statically linked shared library follows Apple's recommendation to provide the best performance and a minimal impact to the app that includes the SDK.

To learn more about statically linked shared libraries vs. dynamic linked shared libraries, we recommend Apple's general documentation on the topic.

Why are the SDK binaries so large? I'm concerned about my app's size

The AppCenter binaries are distributed as "fat" frameworks that contain slices for all iPhone architectures and for the iPhone simulator. This is why for example AppCenter.framework is 10.5 MB to download.

The compiled size of the SDK binaries will be much smaller than the .framework that you add to your app in Xcode. Also bear in mind that release builds will be smaller than debug builds, too.

To illustrate this, we created an empty Objective-C application with Xcode 9.2, added the App Center binaries to the app, and distributed release builds to an iPhone 7 running iOS 11.3.

We ran the tests without Bitcode enabled and didn't use App Thinning. You can use those techniques to shrink your app's binary size even more.

The numbers below can vary and depend on your build settings, so consider them a rough guide. That said, adding the App Center SDK to your app has a minimal impact on the size of your application binary.

App Center modules used Exported IPA size Installation size
None (blank app) 24 KB 132 KB
App Center Analytics 120 KB 377 KB
App Center Crash 239 KB 705 KB
App Center Distribute 163 KB 528 KB
All App Center modules 314 KB 930 KB

Protect the App Center secret value

The app_secret is an identifier of your app, it's required to know which app the traffic applies to and it can not be used to retrieve or edit existing data. If your app_secret is exposed, the biggest risk is sending bad data to your app, but it won't have an effect on the security of the data.

To retrieve any sensitive data, you'd need to provide an app/user token, which is generated on the client’s side. There's no way to make data on the client's side completely secure.

You can improve your app's security by using an environment variable to inject the app secret into your code. That way, the secret isn't visible in your code.