Mobile Assessment: App Health, Compliance & Remediation

Mobile assessment evaluates an existing mobile application across six dimensions: runtime health, dependency security, platform compliance, code quality, user experience metrics, and remediation planning. This skill produces a comprehensive AS-IS assessment that identifies risks, quantifies technical debt, and prioritizes fixes.

Principio Rector

Una app sin métricas de vitales es una app volando a ciegas. Crash-free rate, ANR rate, cold start, y app size no son "nice-to-have" — son los signos vitales que determinan si la app sobrevive en los stores. Store compliance es non-negotiable: un rechazo de App Store puede costar semanas de revenue.

Filosofía de Assessment Mobile

1. Store compliance is non-negotiable. Privacy manifests, target API levels, data safety declarations. Un gap de compliance es un riesgo de rechazo que bloquea releases.
2. Crash-free rate drives retention. Cada crash es un usuario que potencialmente no vuelve. El umbral de Google Play (>1.09%) afecta visibilidad en el store.
3. Dependency health predicts maintenance cost. Librerías abandonadas, CVEs sin parchar, y SDK bloat son deuda que se paga con intereses. Auditar dependencias es prevención.
4. Measure before you optimize. Sin baseline no hay mejora verificable. Instrumentar primero, optimizar después.

Inputs

The user provides an app name as $ARGUMENTS. Parse $1 as the app name used throughout all output artifacts.

Parameters:

• {MODO}: piloto-auto (default) | desatendido | supervisado | paso-a-paso
  • piloto-auto: Auto para health profiling y dependency audit, HITL para severity classification y remediation priorities.
  • desatendido: Cero interrupciones. Assessment completo automáticamente. Supuestos documentados.
  • supervisado: Autónomo con checkpoint en compliance findings y remediation roadmap.
  • paso-a-paso: Confirma cada health metric, dependency finding, compliance check, y remediation item.
• {FORMATO}: markdown (default) | html | dual
• {VARIANTE}: ejecutiva (~40% — S1 health profile + S3 compliance + S6 remediation) | técnica (full 6 sections, default)

Before generating assessment, detect the mobile project context:

!find . -name "pubspec.yaml" -o -name "package.json" -o -name "*.xcodeproj" -type d -o -name "build.gradle*" -o -name "Podfile" -o -name "*.swift" -o -name "*.kt" | head -20

If reference materials exist, load them:

Read ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/mobile-assessment-benchmarks.md

When to Use

• Evaluating an existing mobile app before a major release or refactor
• Auditing dependency health and security vulnerabilities
• Checking compliance with App Store and Google Play policies
• Measuring app performance against industry benchmarks
• Assessing code quality and architectural fitness
• Building a prioritized remediation roadmap for mobile tech debt

When NOT to Use

• Designing new mobile architecture from scratch --> use mobile-architecture skill
• General software architecture assessment --> use software-architecture skill
• Current-state analysis for non-mobile systems --> use asis-analysis skill
• Quality engineering practices and test strategy --> use quality-engineering skill

Delivery Structure: 6 Sections

S1: App Health Profile

Google Play Vitals Thresholds (enforced, affect store visibility):

• Play checks daily using a 28-day rolling average. Exceeding thresholds reduces search ranking and may show warnings on listing.
• "Slow sessions" metric (2025): measures frame smoothness for games. <25% of frames at target = slow session.

Crash Rate Benchmarks:

ANR / Hang Rate:

• ANR target: <0.47% (Google Play threshold). Best-in-class: <0.10%.
• Main thread blocking causes: network calls, heavy computation, disk I/O, lock contention.
• StrictMode: zero violations in production.
• iOS hang rate: main thread unresponsive >250ms. Use MetricKit MXHangDiagnostic for reporting.

Cold Start Benchmarks:

• Measure: reportFullyDrawn() (Android), os_signpost / MetricKit (iOS).
• Breakdown analysis: runtime init, DI setup, network fetch, layout rendering.
• Optimization: lazy init, baseline profiles (Android), Impeller (Flutter), TurboModules (RN).

App Size Budget:

• Size contributors: assets, native libraries, dependencies, debug symbols.
• Optimization: ProGuard/R8 (Android), App Thinning/bitcode (iOS), asset compression, on-demand resources.
• Track size per release. Alert on >5% growth between versions.

Memory Footprint:

• Baseline: app at rest after initial load. Target: <150MB.
• Peak: during heaviest screen/operation. Target: <250MB (mainstream), <150MB (emerging market).
• Memory leaks: objects retained after screen dismissal. LeakCanary (Android), Instruments (iOS).
• OOM crash rate: must be near zero.

Tools: Firebase Crashlytics, Sentry, Embrace (mobile-focused with session replay), Bugsnag.

S2: Dependency & Security Audit

Dependency Inventory:

• Total count (direct + transitive)
• Outdated: major versions behind, security patches missing
• Abandoned: no updates in >12 months, no maintainer activity
• Duplicate: multiple libraries serving same purpose

CVE Analysis:

• Scan all dependencies for known vulnerabilities (CVSS scoring)
• Severity: Critical (CVSS 9.0+), High (7.0-8.9), Medium (4.0-6.9), Low (<4.0)
• Exploitability: network-accessible vs. local only
• Remediation: update available, patch available, no fix (replace library)
• Tools: Snyk, OWASP Dependency-Check, npm audit, pub outdated, ./gradlew dependencyCheckAnalyze

License Compliance:

• Inventory: MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL, LGPL, BSD, proprietary
• Copyleft risk: GPL in proprietary app = license conflict
• Attribution: MIT/Apache require notice in app or docs
• Proprietary SDK terms: data collection clauses, usage restrictions

SDK Bloat Assessment:

• Size contribution per SDK (method count, binary size)
• SDK overlap: multiple analytics SDKs, multiple crash reporters
• Unused SDKs: integrated but no longer called (dead code)
• Privacy impact: SDKs collecting user data (ATT, GDPR implications)

S3: Platform Compliance

Apple App Store Compliance:

• App Review Guidelines: IAP for digital goods, subscription rules, external link entitlement
• Privacy nutrition labels: must match actual data collection
• ATT (App Tracking Transparency): prompt required before any tracking
• Minimum deployment target: current iOS version - 2
• Used entitlements only (unused entitlements cause rejection)

iOS Privacy Manifest (PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy) -- MANDATORY:

Every app and third-party SDK must include PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy declaring:

Audit checklist:

• PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy exists in app bundle and every third-party framework
• All Required Reason API usages declared with valid reason codes
• Data collection categories match App Store privacy nutrition labels
• Tracking domains listed; ATT prompt shown before any tracking network call
• SDKs on Apple's "commonly used" list include manifest + code signature
• Non-compliance: App Store rejection. Retroactive enforcement on updates.

Google Play Compliance:

• Data Safety section: accurate, matches actual collection
• Target API level: annual requirement (API 35 for 2025, check current year)
• Permissions: requested at point of use with rationale string
• Families/COPPA policy if targeting children
• Background location: requires justification and review

Accessibility (WCAG Mobile):

• Screen reader labels on all interactive elements
• Touch targets: 44x44pt (iOS), 48x48dp (Android)
• Color contrast: 4.5:1 normal text, 3:1 large text
• Dynamic type: text scales without clipping
• Reduced motion: respect system setting
• Focus order: logical navigation for assistive technology

S4: Code Quality & Architecture Fit

Tech Debt Inventory:

• TODO/FIXME/HACK count and age
• Deprecated API usage (list with migration path)
• Code duplication percentage (target: <5%)
• Cyclomatic complexity per function (target: <15)
• Dead code identification

Test Coverage:

• Unit tests: target >70% business logic
• Widget/UI tests: critical flows covered
• Integration tests: end-to-end happy path + error paths
• Screenshot tests: visual regression detection
• Flaky test rate: target <2%

Flashlight (formerly Lighthouse for Mobile) -- Android CI Performance:

• Automated performance scoring in CI/E2E pipeline
• Measures: cold start time, frame rate per screen, CPU usage, memory per screen, app size
• Supports: native Android, React Native, Flutter
• Integration: fail PR if performance score drops below threshold
• Use for: automated regression detection on every PR -- prevents slow performance creep
• Setup: add to CI pipeline alongside unit tests; define score thresholds per metric

Modularity Score:

• Module count and independence
• Dependency direction enforcement (feature -> core -> foundation, never reverse)
• Zero circular dependencies
• Build parallelism potential (target: <3 min incremental)

Build Health:

• Clean build time, incremental build time
• CI pipeline duration (commit to artifact): target <15 min
• Cache hit rate (Gradle build cache, CocoaPods cache)
• Build failure frequency: target <5%

S5: User Experience Metrics

Load Time Metrics:

• Time to Interactive (TTI): app responds to input
• Time to First Meaningful Paint (FMP): primary content visible
• Screen transition: <300ms target
• Data loading: skeleton/shimmer, content within 1-2s

Interaction Latency:

• Tap response: visual feedback within 100ms
• Scroll: 60fps sustained, no jank (dropped frames <1%)
• Input latency: keyboard input reflected immediately
• Gesture responsiveness: swipe, pinch, drag feel immediate

Offline Behavior: Graceful degradation, cached content available, queued actions sync when online, clear network status indication.

Deep Link Coverage: Universal Links / App Links configured, all shareable content has deep links, full navigation context restored, deferred deep links for new installs.

Push Notification Health: Token registration rate, delivery rate, open rate, opt-in rate, silent push reliability.

S6: Remediation Roadmap

Finding Severity Classification:

Quick Wins (1-3 days each):

• Update dependencies with Critical CVEs
• Add missing accessibility labels
• Remove unused SDKs (reduces size + privacy risk)
• Fix ANR-causing main thread blocking
• Add missing PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy declarations
• Enable ProGuard/R8 if not already active

Strategic Fixes (1-4 weeks each):

• Modularize monolithic app structure
• Implement offline-first sync
• Migrate deprecated APIs
• Add test coverage for critical flows
• Optimize cold start (lazy init, baseline profiles)
• Integrate Flashlight in CI for performance regression detection

Migration Paths (1-3 months each):

• Cross-platform migration, architecture overhaul (MVC to MVVM/Clean), backend redesign (REST to GraphQL/BFF), accessibility remediation, CI/CD modernization

Prioritization Formula:

• Priority Score = (Impact * Risk) / Effort
• Impact = severity weight (Critical=4, High=3, Medium=2, Low=1) * affected user percentage
• Top 10 items form the immediate action plan

Progress Tracking: Quarterly full assessment, monthly spot-checks. Track: severity distribution trend, crash-free rate, ANR rate, app store rating, app size.

Trade-off Matrix

Assumptions

• App is in production with real user data available (crash reports, analytics)
• Source code is accessible for static analysis
• App store console access for vitals and compliance data
• Performance profiling tools can be run on representative devices
• Team available to provide context on known issues

Limits

• Does not design new architecture (use mobile-architecture skill)
• Does not implement fixes, only identifies and prioritizes them
• Automated analysis supplements but does not replace manual code review
• Device-specific issues require testing on actual hardware

Edge Cases

No Analytics/Crash Reporting: Install Crashlytics + basic analytics as prerequisite. Establish baseline from assessment date. Manual testing substitutes for production metrics.

Legacy App with No Tests: Start with critical path characterization tests only. Capture current behavior before refactoring.

Emerging Markets: App size <15MB ideal. Benchmark on low-end devices (2GB RAM). Network: 3G, high latency.

Multiple Release Tracks: Assess each variant independently. Feature flags may hide issues across tracks.

White-Label / Multi-Tenant: Assess each tenant config independently. Compliance varies by jurisdiction.

Validation Gate

Before finalizing delivery, verify:

• Crash rate and ANR rate measured against Google Play vitals thresholds
• App size measured against budget table (initial <30MB, with resources <150MB)
• Cold start measured against benchmark table (<2s good, >3s unacceptable)
• All dependencies audited for CVEs and license compliance
• iOS PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy audit checklist completed
• Google Play Data Safety and target API compliance verified
• Accessibility audit covers screen reader, contrast, touch targets, dynamic type
• Code quality metrics quantified (coverage, complexity, duplication)
• Flashlight or equivalent CI performance tool evaluated/recommended
• Every finding classified by severity with effort estimate
• Remediation roadmap prioritized with quick wins and strategic items separated

Knowledge Graph

graph TD
    subgraph Core
        MA[Mobile Assessment]
    end

    subgraph Inputs
        I1[App Binary / Source Code] --> MA
        I2[Crash Reports & Analytics] --> MA
        I3[Store Console Data] --> MA
        I4[Dependency Manifest] --> MA
    end

    subgraph Outputs
        MA --> O1[App Health Profile]
        MA --> O2[Dependency & Security Audit]
        MA --> O3[Platform Compliance Report]
        MA --> O4[Code Quality Metrics]
        MA --> O5[UX Performance Data]
        MA --> O6[Remediation Roadmap]
    end

    subgraph Related Skills
        RS1[mobile-platform-assessment] -.-> MA
        RS2[quality-engineering] -.-> MA
        RS3[testing-strategy] -.-> MA
        RS4[security-architecture] -.-> MA
        RS5[observability] -.-> MA
    end

Output Templates

Formato MD (default):

# Mobile Assessment: {app_name}
## S1: App Health Profile
### Crash Rate | ANR Rate | Cold Start | App Size | Memory
(tablas con benchmarks y estado actual)

## S2: Dependency & Security Audit
### Inventario | CVEs | Licencias | SDK Bloat
(tabla de dependencias con severidad CVSS)

## S3: Platform Compliance
### Apple App Store | Google Play | Accessibility
(checklists con estado por item)

## S4: Code Quality & Architecture Fit
### Tech Debt | Test Coverage | Modularity | Build Health

## S5: User Experience Metrics
### Load Time | Interaction Latency | Offline | Deep Links

## S6: Remediation Roadmap
### Quick Wins | Strategic Fixes | Migration Paths
(tabla priorizada: severity * impact / effort)

Formato HTML (bajo demanda):

• Filename: A-01_Mobile_Assessment_{app_name}_{WIP}.html
• Estructura: HTML self-contained branded (Design System MetodologIA v5). Light-First Technical. Incluye dashboard visual de health metrics con semaforos de vitales, heatmap de cobertura de tests, y roadmap interactivo de remediacion con filtros por severidad. WCAG AA, responsive, print-ready.

Formato DOCX (bajo demanda):

• Filename: {fase}_Mobile_Assessment_{cliente}_{WIP}.docx
• Generado via python-docx con MetodologIA Design System v5. Portada con logo y metadatos, TOC automatico, headers/footers con nombre del skill y numeracion, tablas zebra, titulos Poppins navy, cuerpo Montserrat, acentos gold.

Formato XLSX (bajo demanda):

• Filename: {fase}_Mobile_Assessment_{cliente}_{WIP}.xlsx
• Generado via openpyxl con MetodologIA Design System v5. Headers navy con texto blanco Poppins, formato condicional por severidad (Critical/High/Medium/Low), auto-filtros en todas las columnas, valores calculados sin formulas. Hojas: App Health Metrics, Dependency Audit, Compliance Checklist, Remediation Roadmap.

Formato PPTX (bajo demanda):

• Filename: {fase}_Mobile_Assessment_{cliente}_{WIP}.pptx
• Generado via python-pptx con MetodologIA Design System v5. Slide master navy gradient, titulos Poppins, cuerpo Montserrat, acentos gold. Max 20 slides variante ejecutiva / 30 variante tecnica. Speaker notes con referencias de evidencia [DOC]/[INFERENCIA]/[SUPUESTO].

Evaluacion

Umbral minimo: 7/10 en cada dimension. Composite ponderado >= 7.0 para considerar el output aceptable.

Output Format Protocol

Default output is Markdown with embedded Mermaid diagrams. HTML generation requires explicit {FORMATO}=html parameter.

Output Artifact

Primary: A-01_Mobile_Assessment.html -- Executive summary, health dashboard (with benchmark tables), dependency audit, compliance checklist, code quality metrics, UX performance data, prioritized remediation roadmap.

Secondary: CVE report, accessibility audit spreadsheet, performance profiling captures, build time analysis, dependency license inventory, PrivacyInfo.xcprivacy audit report.

Autor: Javier Montaño | Última actualización: 12 de marzo de 2026