How Baidu Cut iOS App Size by Removing Unused Methods with LLVM Libtooling

Baidu reduced the iOS app package by over 350 MB by discarding dead code, replacing unreliable Mach‑O analysis with a source‑level AST approach built on LLVM libtooling and the Swift compiler, and implementing a multi‑layer static‑analysis pipeline that extracts, transforms, stores, and filters method usage data.

ASTLLVMapp size optimization

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How Baidu Cut iOS App Size by Removing Unused Methods with LLVM Libtooling

Baidu App Technology

Aug 29, 2023 · Mobile Development

iOS App Package Size Optimization: A Technical Approach

To accurately trim iOS app binaries, the article discards low‑precision Mach‑O/LinkMap methods and instead builds a custom compilation pipeline using libtooling and the Swift compiler to analyze full abstract syntax trees, enabling reliable detection of unused methods across complex language features and inheritance hierarchies.

ASTPackage Sizecode analysis

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iOS App Package Size Optimization: A Technical Approach