OpenTelemetry for Mobile Apps: Challenges and Opportunities in Data Mob... Andrew Tunall & Hanson Ho

Summary

The presentation by Andrew and Hansen from Embrace focuses on the unique challenges and opportunities of implementing open telemetry for mobile apps. With 72% of digital transactions occurring on mobile devices, the need for robust observability is clear. However, mobile apps present unique issues such as variable network connectivity, diverse device types, and user-perceived performance. The speakers discuss the limitations of current proprietary systems and the need for a more unified approach, highlighting the importance of community involvement and adaptation of open telemetry to suit the mobile environment.

Takeaways

• 📱 Mobile apps are increasingly important for digital transactions, with 72% happening on mobile devices, emphasizing the need for observability in this space.
• 🔍 Open Telemetry is being adapted for mobile apps, aiming to provide a lingua franca for observability across backend, frontend, and mobile platforms.
• 🚀 Hansen, a former mobile performance engineer at Twitter, highlights the unique challenges of mobile observability, including variable network connectivity and a vast array of device types.
• 🛠 The current state of mobile observability is often limited to proprietary systems, which can be basic and not fully integrated with backend systems.
• 📉 Mobile apps have different performance indicators compared to backend systems, where user-perceived performance is a critical component of service level objectives (SLOs).
• 🔄 The data pipeline for telemetry from mobile devices is fragile, with potential data loss at various stages, impacting the reliability of observability.
• 📊 Open Telemetry (otel) was designed with backend-centric assumptions that do not always apply to mobile, requiring adaptation for effective mobile observability.
• 🔧 There is a need for resilience in mobile telemetry tools, such as buffering data before transmission and handling incomplete data sets from the server.
• 🤖 Mobile developers may not be as familiar with concepts like tracing and context propagation, requiring more accessible APIs for effective instrumentation.
• 📈 Metrics from mobile devices need proper context and baselines for meaningful analysis, as the sheer diversity of devices and runtime environments complicates direct comparisons.
• 💡 The call to action is for more participation and questions from the mobile ecosystem community to help evolve Open Telemetry to better suit mobile app observability needs.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the presentation by Andrew and Hansen from Embrace?

The main topic of the presentation is open telemetry for mobile apps, discussing its importance and the unique challenges faced in mobile observability.

What percentage of digital transactions in the previous year happened on a mobile device according to the script?

72% of digital transactions in the previous year happened on a mobile device.

What are some of the unique challenges that mobile apps face in terms of observability compared to backend systems?

Mobile apps face challenges such as dodgy network connectivity, massive cardinality of device types, different regions, OS versions, app versions, and the need to interact with backend distributed systems.

What is the issue with using proprietary systems for mobile observability and monitoring?

Proprietary systems often provide limited observability features like crash reporting and error tracking, which may not be sufficient for serious app developers who need more comprehensive data.

Why is user-perceived performance an important aspect to consider in mobile app observability?

User-perceived performance is important because it directly impacts the user experience and can lead to churn if users find the app consistently slow or unresponsive.

What does Hansen suggest is a fundamental problem with applying backend-centric observability tools to mobile platforms?

Hansen suggests that the fundamental problem is that these tools make basic assumptions and ask questions that do not align with the unique conditions and requirements of mobile environments.

What is the significance of Open Telemetry (otel) in the observability ecosystem?

Open Telemetry is significant as it serves as a lingua franca for observability, allowing different parts of a system to communicate using the same language and terms.

Why might traditional spans not be suitable for measuring certain types of performance in mobile apps?

Traditional spans may not be suitable because they are designed for backend-centric tracing, and mobile apps require a different approach that considers user sessions, network existence, and other factors that do not fit the span model.

What are some of the assumptions made by the Open Telemetry protocol and APIs that may not hold true on mobile?

Some assumptions include reliable telemetry recording and transmission, the ability to buffer data before sending, and the overhead of recording telemetry not significantly impacting performance.

How does the diversity of mobile developers' skill sets and experience affect the adoption of Open Telemetry?

The diversity can affect adoption because mobile developers may not be familiar with concepts like tracing, threads, and context propagation, which are foundational to Open Telemetry.

What is the proposed solution or improvement for Open Telemetry to better accommodate mobile app observability?

The proposed solution includes more participation from the community, asking questions, and using Open Telemetry in different ways to adapt it to the unique needs of mobile app observability.