How to Optimize iOS App Size with the Open‑Source APPAnalyze Tool

Background

APPAnalyze is a script tool for analyzing iOS .ipa packages. It automatically scans for package‑size issues and generates data for inspection, helping developers efficiently optimize bundle size. The team has used it internally for a long time.

Implementation

The tool scans binary libraries without requiring source code. The overall workflow is illustrated below.

Note: The component‑based scanning mode is currently internal‑only.

Usage Guide

Installation

No installation is required. Download the executable APPAnalyzeCommand from the GitHub releases page.

Download link: https://github.com/helele90/APPAnalyze/releases

Command‑Line Options

$ /Users/Test/APPAnalyzeCommand --help

OPTIONS:

--version <version>     Current version 1.0.0

--output <output>       Output directory (required)

--config <config>       Path to configuration JSON (optional)

--ipa <ipa>             Path to .ipa.app file (required)

-h, --help              Show help information.

Execution

Run the command with the --ipa and --output arguments to generate size data and issue reports. Use a Debug build rather than an App Store package.

Tip: If you encounter “permission denied”, run sudo chmod -R 777 /path/to/APPAnalyzeCommand .

/Users/Test/APPAnalyzeCommand --ipa ipas/JDAPP/JDAPP.app --output ipas/JDAP

Generated Artifacts

The output folder contains the following files:

app_size.html – shows size per framework; open in a browser.

framework_size.html – detailed size per individual framework (do not open directly).

package_size.json – raw JSON size data.

app_issues.html – number of size‑related issues per framework.

framework_issues.html – detailed issue data per framework (do not open directly).

issues.json – JSON list of all detected issues.

These files can be used to build custom dashboards or compare different app versions.

Scanning Rules Overview

APPAnalyze provides a rich set of rules, each with detection criteria and suggested fixes. Key rule categories include:

Unused Objective‑C classes and Swift classes.

Unused Objective‑C protocols.

Duplicate resources and files (MD5 match).

Large resources (default >20 KB).

Unused ImageSet/DataSet assets.

Dynamic ObjC class calls via NSClassFromString.

Incorrect ObjC property memory attributes.

Conflicting or duplicate Category methods.

Unimplemented required ObjC protocol methods.

Each rule lists scanning patterns and optional remediation steps such as removing unused code, consolidating resources, or correcting property declarations.

Quality and Comparison

After a year of internal use, the tool has helped fix dozens of component size issues with a low false‑positive rate. Compared with similar open‑source tools, APPAnalyze offers better extensibility, full size‑data generation, and higher scan accuracy.

Open‑Source Plan

The project will be open‑sourced once internal restructuring is complete. Open‑sourcing will enable teams to extend the scanner, add custom rules, and generate additional data formats.

Future Roadmap

Support for component‑based projects and custom scanning pipelines.

Improved Swift analysis, including unused properties and methods.

Additional configurable rules and output formats.

Related Links

GitHub repository: https://github.com/helele90/APPAnalyze