Disable Firebase Performance Monitoring


To let your users opt-in or opt-out of using Firebase Performance Monitoring, you might want to configure your app so that you can enable and disable Performance Monitoring. You might also find this capability to be useful during app development and testing.

The following are some options to consider:

  • You can disable the Performance Monitoring SDK when building your app, with the option to re-enable it at runtime.

  • You can build your app with the Performance Monitoring SDK enabled but have the option to disable it at runtime using Firebase Remote Config.

  • You can completely deactivate the Performance Monitoring SDK, with no option to enable it at runtime.

Disable Performance Monitoring during your app build process

One situation where disabling Performance Monitoring during your app build process could be useful is to avoid reporting performance data from a pre-release version of your app during app development and testing.

To disable or deactivate Performance Monitoring, you can add one of two keys to the property list file (Info.plist) for your Apple app:

  • To disable Performance Monitoring, but allow your app to enable it at runtime, set firebase_performance_collection_enabled to false in your app's Info.plist file.

  • To completely deactivate Performance Monitoring, with no option to enable it at runtime, set firebase_performance_collection_deactivated to true in your app's Info.plist file.

Disable your app at runtime using Remote Config

Firebase Remote Config lets you make changes to the behavior and appearance of your app, so it provides an ideal way to let you disable Performance Monitoring in deployed instances of your app.

To disable Performance Monitoring data collection the next time that your Apple app starts, use the example code shown below. For more information about using Remote Config in an Apple app, see Use Firebase Remote Config on Apple platforms.

  1. Ensure that Remote Config is used in your Podfile:

    pod 'Firebase/RemoteConfig'

  2. Add the following to the top of your app's AppDelegate file:

    Swift

    Note: This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. 
    import FirebaseRemoteConfig

    Objective-C

    Note: This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. 
    @import FirebaseRemoteConfig;

  3. In your AppDelegate file, add the following code to the launchOptions statements in the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: instance method:

    Swift

    Note: This product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. 
    remoteConfig = RemoteConfig.remoteConfig()
// You can change the "false" below to "true" to permit more fetches when validating
// your app, but you should change it back to "false" or remove this statement before
// distributing your app in production.
let remoteConfigSettings = RemoteConfigSettings(developerModeEnabled: false)
remoteConfig.configSettings = remoteConfigSettings!
// Load in-app defaults from a plist file that sets perf_disable to false until
// you update values in the Firebase console.
remoteConfig.setDefaultsFromPlistFileName("RemoteConfigDefaults")
// Important! This needs to be applied before FirebaseApp.configure()
if !remoteConfig["perf_disable"].boolValue {
    // The following line disables all automatic (out-of-the-box) monitoring
    Performance.sharedInstance().isInstrumentationEnabled = false
    // The following line disables all custom monitoring
    Performance.sharedInstance().isDataCollectionEnabled = false
}
else {
    Performance.sharedInstance().isInstrumentationEnabled = true
    Performance.sharedInstance().isDataCollectionEnabled = true
}
// Use Firebase library to configure APIs
FirebaseApp.configure()

    Objective-C

    Note: This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. 
    self.remoteConfig = [FIRRemoteConfig remoteConfig];
// You can change the NO below to YES to permit more fetches when validating
// your app, but you should change it back to NO or remove this statement before
// distributing your app in production.
FIRRemoteConfigSettings *remoteConfigSettings =
    [[FIRRemoteConfigSettings alloc] initWithDeveloperModeEnabled:NO];
self.remoteConfig.configSettings = remoteConfigSettings;
// Load in-app defaults from a plist file that sets perf_disable to false until
// you update values in the Firebase console.
[self.remoteConfig setDefaultsFromPlistFileName:@"RemoteConfigDefaults"];
// Important! This needs to be applied before [FIRApp configure]
if (!self.remoteConfig[@"perf_disable"].numberValue.boolValue) {
    // The following line disables all automatic (out-of-the-box) monitoring
    [FIRPerformance sharedInstance].instrumentationEnabled = NO;
    // The following line disables all custom monitoring
    [FIRPerformance sharedInstance].dataCollectionEnabled = NO;
}
else {
    [FIRPerformance sharedInstance].instrumentationEnabled = YES;
    [FIRPerformance sharedInstance].dataCollectionEnabled = YES;
}
// Use Firebase library to configure APIs
[FIRApp configure];

  4. In ViewController.m, or another implementation file used by your app, add the following code to fetch and activate Remote Config values:

    Swift

    Note: This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. 
    //RemoteConfig fetch and activation in your app, shortly after startup
remoteConfig.fetch(withExpirationDuration: TimeInterval(30.0)) { (status, error) -> Void in
  if status == .success {
    print("Config fetched!")
    self.remoteConfig.activateFetched()
  } else {
    print("Config not fetched")
    print("Error \(error!.localizedDescription)")
  }
}

    Objective-C

    Note: This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. 
    //RemoteConfig fetch and activation in your app, shortly after startup
[self.remoteConfig fetchWithExpirationDuration:30.0 completionHandler:^(FIRRemoteConfigFetchStatus status, NSError *error) {
  if (status == FIRRemoteConfigFetchStatusSuccess) {
    NSLog(@"Config fetched!");
    [self.remoteConfig activateFetched];
  } else {
    NSLog(@"Config not fetched");
    NSLog(@"Error %@", error.localizedDescription);
  }
}];

  5. To disable Performance Monitoring in the Firebase console, create a perf_disable parameter in your app's project, then set its value to true.

    If you set the value of perf_disable to false, Performance Monitoring remains enabled.

Disable automatic or custom data collection separately

You can make some changes to the code shown above and in the Firebase console to let you disable all automatic (out-of-the-box) monitoring separately from custom monitoring.

  1. Add the following code to the launchOptions statements in the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: instance method (instead of what's shown above for the same instance method):

    Swift

    Note: This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. 
    remoteConfig = FIRRemoteConfig.remoteConfig()
let remoteConfigSettings = FIRRemoteConfigSettings(developerModeEnabled: true)
remoteConfig.configSettings = remoteConfigSettings!
// Important! This needs to be applied before FirebaseApp.configure()
if remoteConfig["perf_disable_auto"].boolValue {
    // The following line disables all automatic (out-of-the-box) monitoring
    Performance.sharedInstance().isInstrumentationEnabled = false
}
else {
    Performance.sharedInstance().isInstrumentationEnabled = true
}
if remoteConfig["perf_disable_manual"].boolValue {
    // The following line disables all custom monitoring
    Performance.sharedInstance().isDataCollectionEnabled = false
}
else {
    Performance.sharedInstance().isDataCollectionEnabled = true
}
// Use Firebase library to configure APIs
FirebaseApp.configure()

    Objective-C

    Note: This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. 
    self.remoteConfig = [FIRRemoteConfig remoteConfig];
FIRRemoteConfigSettings *remoteConfigSettings =
    [[FIRRemoteConfigSettings alloc] initWithDeveloperModeEnabled:YES];
self.remoteConfig.configSettings = remoteConfigSettings;
// Important! This needs to be applied before [FirebaseApp configure]
if (self.remoteConfig[@"perf_disable_auto"].numberValue.boolValue) {
    // The following line disables all automatic (out-of-the-box) monitoring
    [FIRPerformance sharedInstance].instrumentationEnabled = NO;
}
else {
    [FIRPerformance sharedInstance].instrumentationEnabled = YES;
}
if (self.remoteConfig[@"perf_disable_manual"].numberValue.boolValue) {
    // The following line disables all custom monitoring
    [FIRPerformance sharedInstance].dataCollectionEnabled = NO;
}
else {
    [FIRPerformance sharedInstance].dataCollectionEnabled = YES;
}
// Use Firebase library to configure APIs
[FirebaseApp configure];

  2. Complete the following in the Firebase console:

    • To disable all automatic (out-of-the-box) monitoring, create a perf_disable_auto parameter in your app's project, then set its value to true.
    • To disable all custom monitoring, create a perf_disable_manual parameter in your app's project, then set its value to true.