Add custom monitoring for specific network requests (Apple & Android apps)
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Performance Monitoring collects traces to help you monitor the performance of your app. A
trace is a report of performance data captured between two points in time in
your app.
The
network request traces automatically collected by Performance Monitoring
include most network requests for your app. However, some requests might not be
reported or you might use a different library to make network requests. In these
cases, you can use the Performance Monitoring API to manually instrument
custom network request traces. Custom network request traces are only
supported for Apple and Android apps.
The default metrics for a custom network request trace are the same as those for
the network request traces automatically collected by Performance Monitoring, specifically
response time, response and request payload size, and success rate. Custom
network request traces do not support adding custom metrics.
In your code, you define the beginning and the end of a custom network request
trace using the APIs provided by the Performance Monitoring SDK.
Custom network request traces appear in the Firebase console alongside the
network requests that Performance Monitoring captures automatically
(in the Network requests subtab of the traces table).
Add custom network request traces
Use the Performance Monitoring HTTPMetric API
(Swift
|
Obj-C)
to add custom network request traces to monitor specific network requests.
To manually instrument custom network requests in Performance Monitoring, add code similar
to the following:
Swift
Note: This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets.
Custom network request traces also support adding custom attributes
(Swift |
Obj-C)
but not custom metrics.
Next steps
Set up alerts for network requests that are degrading
the performance of your app. For example, you can configure an email alert for
your team if the response time for a specific URL pattern exceeds a
threshold that you set.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Add custom monitoring for specific network requests (Apple & Android apps)\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\niOS+ Android Flutter \n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nPerformance Monitoring collects *traces* to help you monitor the performance of your app. A\ntrace is a report of performance data captured between two points in time in\nyour app.\n\nThe\n[network request traces automatically collected by Performance Monitoring](/docs/perf-mon/network-traces)\ninclude most network requests for your app. However, some requests might not be\nreported or you might use a different library to make network requests. In these\ncases, you can use the Performance Monitoring API to manually instrument\n***custom network request traces***. Custom network request traces are only\nsupported for Apple and Android apps.\n\nThe default metrics for a custom network request trace are the same as those for\nthe network request traces automatically collected by Performance Monitoring, specifically\nresponse time, response and request payload size, and success rate. Custom\nnetwork request traces do not support adding custom metrics.\n\nIn your code, you define the beginning and the end of a custom network request\ntrace using the APIs provided by the Performance Monitoring SDK.\n\nCustom network request traces appear in the Firebase console alongside the\nnetwork requests that Performance Monitoring captures automatically\n(in the *Network requests* subtab of the traces table).\n\nAdd custom network request traces\n---------------------------------\n\nUse the Performance Monitoring HTTPMetric API\n([Swift](/docs/reference/swift/firebaseperformance/api/reference/Classes/HTTPMetric)\n\\|\n[Obj-C](/docs/reference/ios/firebaseperformance/api/reference/Classes/FIRHTTPMetric))\nto add custom network request traces to monitor specific network requests.\n\nTo manually instrument custom network requests in Performance Monitoring, add code similar\nto the following: \n\n### Swift\n\n\n**Note:** This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. \n\n guard let metric = HTTPMetric(url: \"https://www.google.com\", httpMethod: .get) else { return }\n\n metric.start()\n guard let url = URL(string: \"https://www.google.com\") else { return }\n let request: URLRequest = URLRequest(url:url)\n let session = URLSession(configuration: .default)\n let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request) { (urlData, response, error) in\n if let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse {\n metric.responseCode = httpResponse.statusCode\n }\n metric.stop()\n }\n dataTask.resume()\n\n### Objective-C\n\n\n**Note:** This Firebase product is not available on macOS, Mac Catalyst, watchOS targets. \n\n @property (nonatomic) FIRHTTPMetric *metric;\n\n - (void)beginManualNetworkInstrumentation {\n self.metric =\n [[FIRHttpMetric alloc] initWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@\"https://www.google.com\"]\n HTTPMethod:FIRHTTPMethodGET];\n\n [self.metric start];\n\n NSURLRequest *request =\n [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@\"https://www.google.com\"]];\n NSURLConnection *connection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request\n delegate:self];\n [connection resume];\n }\n\n - (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection\n didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *) response {\n NSHTTPURLResponse* httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse*)response\n self.metric.responseCode = httpResponse.statusCode;\n [self.metric stop];\n }\n\nCustom network request traces also support adding custom attributes\n([Swift](/docs/reference/swift/firebaseperformance/api/reference/Protocols/PerformanceAttributable#setvalue_:forattribute:) \\|\n[Obj-C](/docs/reference/ios/firebaseperformance/api/reference/Protocols/FIRPerformanceAttributable#-setvalue:forattribute:))\nbut not custom metrics.\n\nNext steps\n----------\n\n- [Set up alerts](/docs/perf-mon/alerts) for network requests that are degrading the performance of your app. For example, you can configure an email alert for your team if the *response time* for a specific URL pattern exceeds a threshold that you set."]]