Fret Mobile Real Device Debug

Fret mobile real-device debug (Android + iOS)

When to use

• You need real-device evidence for a mobile contract/ADR (gfx backend selection, insets, IME, lifecycle).
• Android Emulator is unstable or misleading (e.g. Vulkan/gfxstream crashes, missing required downlevel flags).
• You are validating “hard-to-change” mobile surfaces (IME composing + cursor rect, keyboard occlusion, safe-area).

Quick start

Android (real device recommended):

• adb devices -l
• tools/mobile/run.sh android --app ui-gallery -d <serial> --diag --no-logcat

iOS (simulator recommended on macOS for fast iteration):

• tools/mobile/run.sh ios --app ui-gallery --sim

Workflow

1. Pick the smallest runnable target

• Prefer ui-gallery first (it exercises text/overlays/insets early).
• Android wrapper entrypoint: tools/mobile/run.sh

2. Verify the emulator vs real-device decision

Practical default:

• If you are validating Vulkan-first posture and downlevel requirements, use a real Android device.
• If you want a fast “mobile-ish” UI loop on macOS, prefer iOS Simulator (Metal is the first-class path).

Notes:

• Android Emulator can expose Vulkan features but still be unstable for real-world wgpu usage (driver/translation layers differ from physical devices).
• On macOS hosts, Android Emulator Vulkan is often mediated by Metal-based translation layers; treat it as a convenience tool, not a correctness/perf baseline.
• Host OS matters (macOS → Metal-based virtualization; Windows → typically DX12-based virtualization). Treat this as “worth trying”, not as a correctness baseline: always accept/reject workstreams using bundle evidence captured on at least one real device.

3. Understand Fret’s current Vulkan constraints (what we require)

Fret currently requires:

• DownlevelFlags::VERTEX_STORAGE (renderer uses storage buffers in vertex shaders).
• Backend defaults: Android → Vulkan, iOS → Metal (unless overridden).

If the selected backend cannot satisfy required downlevel flags, the current posture is to fail fast rather than silently degrade (unless you explicitly opt into fallback in debug builds).

4. Run the app with diagnostics enabled

Android (GameActivity wrapper):

• tools/mobile/run.sh android --app ui-gallery -d <serial> --diag --no-logcat
• Optional override:
  • --backend vk (force Vulkan)
  • --backend gl (force GL; expected to fail on many emulators due to missing VERTEX_STORAGE)

iOS:

• tools/mobile/run.sh ios --app ui-gallery --sim
• For real devices, use tools/mobile/run.sh ios --app ui-gallery --device <udid> --team <team-id>

Tip (iOS Simulator diagnostics location):

• Prefer setting an explicit diagnostics directory so filesystem transport is reliably writable:
  • container=$(xcrun simctl get_app_container <udid> dev.fret.ui-gallery data)
  • diag_dir="${container}/tmp/fret-diag"
  • SIMCTL_CHILD_FRET_DIAG=1 SIMCTL_CHILD_FRET_DIAG_DIR="${diag_dir}" xcrun simctl launch --terminate-running-process <udid> dev.fret.ui-gallery

Tip (iOS Simulator screenshots for diag scripts):

• Enable screenshot capture in diagnostics:
  • SIMCTL_CHILD_FRET_DIAG_SCREENSHOTS=1 (alongside FRET_DIAG/FRET_DIAG_DIR)
• Screenshots are written under:
  • ${diag_dir}/screenshots/<bundle_dir_name>/*.png

Tip (diag scripts trigger stamp):

• script.touch uses edge detection and treats the first observed value as a baseline.
  • If you reuse a diagnostics directory, bump the stamp twice to ensure the script runs:
    • python3 - <<'PY' "${diag_dir}"\nimport sys, time, pathlib\np = pathlib.Path(sys.argv[1]) / \"script.touch\"\np.write_text(f\"{int(time.time()*1000)}\\n\")\ntime.sleep(1.0)\np.write_text(f\"{int(time.time()*1000)}\\n\")\nPY

5. Capture a diagnostics bundle (Android filesystem transport)

The Android wrapper sets FRET_DIAG_DIR to files/fret-diag by default (inside app storage).

To trigger a dump, bump the trigger stamp (value must change):

• adb -s <serial> shell "run-as dev.fret.ui_gallery sh -c 'echo 1 > files/fret-diag/trigger.touch'"
• adb -s <serial> shell "run-as dev.fret.ui_gallery sh -c 'echo 2 > files/fret-diag/trigger.touch'"

Then resolve and pull bundle.json:

• ts="$(adb -s <serial> shell run-as dev.fret.ui_gallery cat files/fret-diag/latest.txt | tr -d '\r')"
• adb -s <serial> exec-out run-as dev.fret.ui_gallery cat "files/fret-diag/${ts}/bundle.json" > "target/fret-diag-mobile/${ts}.bundle.json"

If latest.txt never appears, check:

• The app is actually rendering frames (if wgpu init fails, the frame loop may stop, and triggers won’t be polled).
• The app didn’t crash (check logcat for Fatal signal / wgpu init errors).

6. Extract Vulkan/driver evidence (what to archive)

From the captured bundle:

• jq '.windows[0].snapshots[-1].wgpu_adapter | {selected_backend, adapter_name, driver, driver_info, downlevel_flags, is_webgpu_compliant, init_attempts}' target/fret-diag-mobile/<ts>.bundle.json

Archive the JSON snippet under the relevant workstream milestone document.

Evidence anchors

• Backend defaults + downlevel requirements: crates/fret-render-wgpu/src/lib.rs
• Android intent extras → env injection: apps/fret-ui-gallery-mobile/android/app/src/main/java/dev/fret/ui_gallery/MainActivity.java
• Android runner wrapper (build/install/start): tools/mobile/android_game_activity_run.sh
• Mobile run entrypoint: tools/mobile/run.sh
• Workstream smoke recipe (example evidence format): docs/workstreams/mobile-gfx-backend-v1/m3-real-device-smoke-oppo-plg110.md
• Android Emulator Vulkan notes: docs/workstreams/mobile-gfx-backend-v1/android-emulator-vulkan-notes.md

Examples

• Example: capture real-device evidence for a bug
  • User says: "It only reproduces on Android—can we capture diagnostics?"
  • Actions: run the smallest mobile target, reproduce, export/capture bundles, and archive the evidence.
  • Result: shareable artifacts for triage and ADRs.

Common pitfalls

• adb: device offline: toggle USB/Wireless debugging and retry; avoid multi-device installs by passing -d <serial>.
• Emulator “supports Vulkan” but crashes after selecting Vulkan adapter: treat as emulator/driver instability; validate on real device.
• Forcing --backend gl: often fails required DownlevelFlags::VERTEX_STORAGE (expected with current contract).
• Trigger file exists but no bundle appears: the app may not be polling triggers (no frames due to wgpu init failure).

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: the device is not detected.
  • Fix: verify platform tooling (adb/xcode) and that the app is built for the target device/arch.
• Symptom: perf numbers change drastically between devices.
  • Fix: treat devices as separate baselines; gate within a device class when possible.

Related skills

• fret-diag-workflow (scripted repros + gates + bundles)
• fret-framework-maintainer-guide (ADR/evidence discipline for hard-to-change contracts)