Screen Lifecycle Instrumentation

Generates: Spans

Automatically tracks Activity and Fragment lifecycle events, including app startup.

How It Works

Pulse Android SDK automatically instruments Activity and Fragment lifecycle callbacks to track:

• App startup (cold, warm, hot)
• Activity state transitions (Created, Resumed, Paused, Stopped, Destroyed)
• Fragment state transitions (Created, Resumed, Paused, Stopped, Destroyed)
• Screen sessions (time spent on each screen)

Configuration

Screen lifecycle instrumentation is enabled by default when using the Android agent. You can configure it during SDK initialization:

PulseSDK.INSTANCE.initialize(
    application = this,
    endpointBaseUrl = "https://your-backend.com",
) {
    activity {
        enabled(true)  // Enabled by default
    }
    fragment {
        enabled(true)  // Enabled by default (disable if not using fragments)
    }
}

What Gets Tracked

App Startup

• Span Name: AppStart
• pulse.type: app_start (for cold starts only)

Activity Lifecycle

• Span Names: Created, Resumed, Paused, Stopped, Destroyed, Restarted
• pulse.type: screen_load (for Created spans)

Fragment Lifecycle

• Span Names: Created, Restored, Resumed, Paused, Stopped, Destroyed, ViewDestroyed, Detached
• pulse.type: screen_load (for Created spans)

Screen Sessions

• Span Name: ActivitySession or FragmentSession
• pulse.type: screen_session
• Description: Tracks the time a user spends on a screen

Generated Telemetry

Type: Span
Span Name: Varies by lifecycle event (e.g., Created, Resumed, AppStart)
Span Kind: INTERNAL
pulse.type: app_start, screen_load, or screen_session (depending on span type)

Attributes

Lifecycle-Specific Attributes

Attribute	Description	Example	Always Present
pulse.type	Instrumentation type	"app_start", "screen_load", "screen_session"	✅ Yes
start.type	App start type	"cold", "warm", "hot"	⚠️ Only in AppStart spans
activity.name	Activity class name	"com.example.MainActivity"	⚠️ Only in Activity spans
fragment.name	Fragment class name	"com.example.UserFragment"	⚠️ Only in Fragment spans
screen.name	Screen name	"MainActivity"	✅ Yes (Activity/Fragment spans)
last.screen.name	Previous screen name	"HomeActivity"	⚠️ Only in Resumed spans
session.id	Session identifier	"f40364c92b85ec0c19c35a65be42b97f"	✅ Yes

Note: All screen lifecycle spans include global attributes (service, device, OS, session, network carrier, etc.) in the resources object. See Global Attributes for complete list.

Sample Payload: App Startup (Cold Start)

{
  "name": "AppStart",
  "kind": "INTERNAL",
  "startTimeUnixNano": "1701000200000000000",
  "endTimeUnixNano": "1701000200125000000",
  "duration": "125ms",
  "attributes": {
    "pulse.type": "app_start",
    "start.type": "cold",
    "session.id": "f40364c92b85ec0c19c35a65be42b97f"
  },
  "resources": {
    "android.os.api_level": "36",
    "app.build_id": "1",
    "app.build_name": "1.0_1",
    "device.manufacturer": "Google",
    "device.model.identifier": "sdk_gphone64_arm64",
    "device.model.name": "sdk_gphone64_arm64",
    "os.description": "BE2A.250530.026.D1",
    "os.name": "Android",
    "os.type": "linux",
    "os.version": "16",
    "rum.sdk.version": "0.16.0-alpha-SNAPSHOT",
    "service.name": "PulseReactNativeOtelExample",
    "service.version": "1.0_1",
    "telemetry.sdk.language": "java",
    "telemetry.sdk.name": "opentelemetry",
    "telemetry.sdk.version": "1.54.1"
  }
}

Sample Payload: Activity Created (Screen Load)

{
  "name": "Created",
  "kind": "INTERNAL",
  "startTimeUnixNano": "1701000300000000000",
  "endTimeUnixNano": "1701000300010000000",
  "duration": "1ms",
  "attributes": {
    "pulse.type": "screen_load",
    "activity.name": "com.example.MainActivity",
    "screen.name": "MainActivity",
    "session.id": "f40364c92b85ec0c19c35a65be42b97f"
  },
  "resources": {
    "android.os.api_level": "36",
    "app.build_id": "1",
    "app.build_name": "1.0_1",
    "device.manufacturer": "Google",
    "device.model.identifier": "sdk_gphone64_arm64",
    "device.model.name": "sdk_gphone64_arm64",
    "os.description": "BE2A.250530.026.D1",
    "os.name": "Android",
    "os.type": "linux",
    "os.version": "16",
    "rum.sdk.version": "0.16.0-alpha-SNAPSHOT",
    "service.name": "PulseReactNativeOtelExample",
    "service.version": "1.0_1",
    "telemetry.sdk.language": "java",
    "telemetry.sdk.name": "opentelemetry",
    "telemetry.sdk.version": "1.54.1"
  }
}

Sample Payload: Activity Resumed (Screen Transition)

{
  "name": "Resumed",
  "kind": "INTERNAL",
  "startTimeUnixNano": "1701000400000000000",
  "endTimeUnixNano": "1701000400005000000",
  "duration": "0.5ms",
  "attributes": {
    "activity.name": "com.example.ProfileActivity",
    "screen.name": "ProfileActivity",
    "last.screen.name": "MainActivity",
    "session.id": "f40364c92b85ec0c19c35a65be42b97f"
  },
  "events": [
    {
      "name": "activityPreResumed",
      "timeUnixNano": "1701000400001000000"
    },
    {
      "name": "activityResumed",
      "timeUnixNano": "1701000400002000000"
    },
    {
      "name": "activityPostResumed",
      "timeUnixNano": "1701000400003000000"
    }
  ],
  "resources": {
    "android.os.api_level": "36",
    "app.build_id": "1",
    "app.build_name": "1.0_1",
    "device.manufacturer": "Google",
    "device.model.identifier": "sdk_gphone64_arm64",
    "device.model.name": "sdk_gphone64_arm64",
    "os.description": "BE2A.250530.026.D1",
    "os.name": "Android",
    "os.type": "linux",
    "os.version": "16",
    "rum.sdk.version": "0.16.0-alpha-SNAPSHOT",
    "service.name": "PulseReactNativeOtelExample",
    "service.version": "1.0_1",
    "telemetry.sdk.language": "java",
    "telemetry.sdk.name": "opentelemetry",
    "telemetry.sdk.version": "1.54.1"
  }
}

Sample Payload: Screen Session

{
  "name": "ActivitySession",
  "kind": "INTERNAL",
  "startTimeUnixNano": "1701000500000000000",
  "endTimeUnixNano": "1701000500300000000",
  "duration": "3s",
  "attributes": {
    "pulse.type": "screen_session",
    "activity.name": "com.example.MainActivity",
    "screen.name": "MainActivity",
    "session.id": "f40364c92b85ec0c19c35a65be42b97f"
  },
  "resources": {
    "android.os.api_level": "36",
    "app.build_id": "1",
    "app.build_name": "1.0_1",
    "device.manufacturer": "Google",
    "device.model.identifier": "sdk_gphone64_arm64",
    "device.model.name": "sdk_gphone64_arm64",
    "os.description": "BE2A.250530.026.D1",
    "os.name": "Android",
    "os.type": "linux",
    "os.version": "16",
    "rum.sdk.version": "0.16.0-alpha-SNAPSHOT",
    "service.name": "PulseReactNativeOtelExample",
    "service.version": "1.0_1",
    "telemetry.sdk.language": "java",
    "telemetry.sdk.name": "opentelemetry",
    "telemetry.sdk.version": "1.54.1"
  }
} 

Lifecycle Events

Lifecycle spans include detailed events for state transitions:

Activity Events:

• activityPreCreated, activityCreated, activityPostCreated
• activityPreStarted, activityStarted, activityPostStarted
• activityPreResumed, activityResumed, activityPostResumed
• activityPrePaused, activityPaused, activityPostPaused
• activityPreStopped, activityStopped, activityPostStopped
• activityPreDestroyed, activityDestroyed, activityPostDestroyed

Fragment Events:

• fragmentPreAttached, fragmentAttached
• fragmentPreCreated, fragmentCreated, fragmentViewCreated
• fragmentStarted, fragmentResumed, fragmentPaused, fragmentStopped
• fragmentViewDestroyed, fragmentDestroyed, fragmentDetached

Note: Disable fragment instrumentation if your app doesn't use fragments to reduce overhead. You can configure this in the Configuration section above.