Slow startup (all Affinity apps)

[Bryan Rieger]

1 hour ago, Dan C said:

We may investigate an option in the future to provide separate installation files on macOS for each hardware type, from the Affinity Store directly - though we do not have any direct plans for this currently and unfortunately it would not change the behaviour experienced when using the mac App Store version.

Please reconsider providing architecture specific builds for macOS Intel and Apple Silicon directly from Affinity. I know that doesn't help with the App Store Universal builds issue, but at least you could help those customers who have purchased directly from you. Oh, and an added benefit would be showing some respect to users with smaller hard-drives by not shipping GBs of libs they don't need.

Simply saying 'sorry for the inconvenience, but we're not going to bother to at least fix it where we can' just further demonstrates Serif's contempt for its users. 

[Dan C]

I'm sorry to hear you feel this way - just to verify I am not part of the development team and as I understand it there are more variables to consider than simply providing 2 separate download links on the Affinity Store - but I will be sure to pass your feedback through to the team, as we continue to monitor this going forward.

[tariq]

14 minutes ago, Dan C said:

I'm sorry to hear you feel this way - just to verify I am not part of the development team and as I understand it there are more variables to consider than simply providing 2 separate download links on the Affinity Store - but I will be sure to pass your feedback through to the team, as we continue to monitor this going forward.

 

Hi Dan

 

How does Adobe avoid this?  They have large application file sizes too. Mathematica. Cubase. .. none of them are small?

Also yes - do publish architecture specific binaries for those that want them - give people a choice, nothing is going to stop them using the Apple App Store.

Also please revisit the decision around the embedded user-profile stuff - it isn' needed, it is bloatware, it adds complexity and technical and security risk, and users are 100% happy to work with their profiles on the web.

 

[walt.farrell]

10 minutes ago, tariq said:

Also please revisit the decision around the embedded user-profile stuff - it isn' needed, it is bloatware, it adds complexity and technical and security risk, and users are 100% happy to work with their profiles on the web.

If you're suggesting the removal of the Account function within the applications, I like it. It's much simpler than manually downloading and installing Affinity Store content, at least for users who have a significant amount of that content.

[Bryan Rieger]

3 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If you're suggesting the removal of the Account function within the applications, I like it. It's much simpler than manually downloading and installing Affinity Store content, at least for users who have a significant amount of that content.

If you're suggesting keeping the Account function within the applications, I never use it. It's much simpler to manually download and install content from iCloud, at least for users who have a significant amount of third-party content not available from Serif.

[Patrick Connor]

6 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If you're suggesting the removal of the Account function

and

1 minute ago, rgba said:

If you're suggesting keeping the Account function within the applications...

It is also not relevant to this discussion despite earlier speculation about the web interface being part of the cause. Serif offer this function and some people use/need it.

The registration of universal licenses needs the same library/functionality and V2 cannot function correctly without it so the existence or otherwise of content download feature is irrelevant to this discussion. Please do not side-track this thread, thank you

[Dan C]

53 minutes ago, tariq said:

How does Adobe avoid this?  They have large application file sizes too. Mathematica. Cubase. .. none of them are small?

As above, I'm not personally a developer (for Affinity, or otherwise) and therefore I'm not aware of how other applications are complied or shipped on macOS - so I'm sorry but I can't definitively answer this.

[GripsholmLion]

On 11/19/2022 at 11:18 PM, Ian69 said:

I had very long start-ups on my intel-based MacBook Pro and iMac - around 30 seconds - with previous Affinity apps purchased though the Mac App Store. I’ve just upgraded to the version 2.0 apps, and have used this as an opportunity to switch to downloading directly from Serif. Huge difference - two bounces, then a two second pause, and they’re open. Finally working how they should be 😄

That is my experience, too. Although 30 secs would have been quite acceptable...

After reading [wading?] through much of this thread in January, I opted to buy directly. Whether the difference is entirely the result of that or partly some performance improvements as well, I can't say, but I have experienced a reduction in the region of 45 seconds in all cases.

[af_user]

So we are 3 years into this issue now. Any hope for a solution in the sight?

Just pulled Designer 2 from the App Store. It is taking like ~25s or so to start. This is on Mac Studio M2 Ultra with 24 cores & 64GB of RAM. Any other App Store app I try no matter how big and heavy is blazing fast. I seriously doubt the issue can be squarely pinned on Apple alone with this one ...

[Stuke]

Yeah, I'm a big, BIG fan of Affinity, their buy-it-once model (and happy to do the bundle purchase); but, for years I put up with this 30-60 second launch delay.  I read your explanation about providing a universal binary because of Mx and Intel chips; but, I also have to ask how Adobe and the others mentioned above do this and still have quicker startup times.

When I use your Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps so frequently, but have to deal with the slow launch (almost every new day so I doubt Apple is updating YARA/etc. daily without my knowledge), I'm growing tired...very tired of this.

PLEASE...huddle the team and focus on your customer's experience (aka UX).  Come up with a solution!

[Oufti]

Have you tried, in the Finder, to move your app out of its folder then back in? Seems it could help in some situations.

 https://eclecticlight.co/2020/01/27/what-could-possibly-go-wrong-on-an-app-first-run/

[Hofnaar]

We are with V2.2 now and it is still the same shit. Slowing down randomly, hanging and lagging... it is terrible!
I deactivated Open CL, I deactivated Retina, I made the undo limit smaller... nothing helped on Windows 10 and 11.

Is it maybe, because the app always try to call the affinity servers in the background?

[DEMinSoCAL]

3 hours ago, Hofnaar said:

We are with V2.2 now and it is still the same shit. Slowing down randomly, hanging and lagging... it is terrible!
I deactivated Open CL, I deactivated Retina, I made the undo limit smaller... nothing helped on Windows 10 and 11.

Is it maybe, because the app always try to call the affinity servers in the background?

You might want to post this as it's own topic to get a better response because this thread is about STARTUP delays when launching Affinity apps, not slowness when USING the apps.

[Hoby]

This has been a problem for SO many years and I feel like Affinity are the only apps that are launching this slowly. It effected v1 and now v2 of the apps. It might not seem like a huge problem but it repetitively makes me hesitant to launch an Affinity app unless I need to. And if I'm in a hurry, it makes me want to use something else.

[Oufti]

21 minutes ago, Hoby said:

I feel like Affinity are the only apps that are launching this slowly. It effected v1 and now v2 of the apps. It might not seem like a huge problem but it repetitively makes me hesitant to launch an Affinity app unless I need to. And if I'm in a hurry, it makes me want to use something else.

FWIW, I find this also but when I have to launch Adobe Acrobat Reader…

I have never thought of Affinity's softwares as being specially slow, but indeed for a quick note, I prefer to use Text Edit than Pages or Publisher… 

[Bryan Rieger]

This is still so painful when it happens. Everything was fine yesterday, and this morning it all ground to a halt again.

I tried all of the usual tricks (the copy/paste hokey-pokey, restart, etc), but all of the Affinity v2 (purchased directly from Serif) apps (and ONLY the Affinity apps) are still taking 30+ seconds to launch on macOS Ventura 13.6 (M1Pro/32GB).

Serif, your apps are the ONLY apps this happens with. Stop blaming everyone else.

Please. Fix. Your. @*#!. This has been going on for YEARS!

[DEMinSoCAL]

8 minutes ago, Bryan Rieger said:

This is still so painful when it happens. Everything was fine yesterday, and this morning it all ground to a halt again.

I tried all of the usual tricks (the copy/paste hokey-pokey, restart, etc), but all of the Affinity apps (and ONLY the Affinity apps) are still taking 30+ seconds to launch on macOS Ventura 13.6 (M1Pro/32GB).

Serif, your apps are the ONLY apps this happens with. Stop blaming everyone else.

Please. Fix. Your. @*#!. This has been going on for YEARS!

You didn't state -- V1 or V2 apps?

[Bryan Rieger]

Just now, DEMinSoCAL said:

You didn't state -- V1 or V2 apps?

Sorry v2. Latest versions publicly available (not the betas).

[tariq]

Just to say this slow-startup is STILL happening in 2023, with Affinity 2.2.1 macOS App Store version

23 seconds on an M2 Max with 32 GB RAM and 1TB SSD

It is bad design to include "web components" in the app, better to keep the app focused on design, and let users go to the website for web stuff like profile and downloads.

[Dan C]

29 minutes ago, tariq said:

It is bad design to include "web components" in the app, better to keep the app focused on design, and let users go to the website for web stuff like profile and downloads.

'Web components' are not the cause of this issue - we believe this first begun when the app was provided as a Universal Install for both 'M' (M1/M2/M3) and Intel based macs in one package.

Please see my previous post regarding this:

[Bryan Rieger]

Just for the record, there are other, (much) larger universal apps (Ableton, Adobe, Unity, etc) that don’t have this problem at all. The Affinity apps are the only apps that I’ve experienced this problem with.

[Hoby]

It's utterly absurd that this is still a problem—and yet it is.

This startup delay is literally driving Affinity customers to use the competition when the rest of the app is perfectly fine.

I can't think of a bug more needlessly problematic for retaining customers.

[Hofnaar]

Dear Affinity, I come to a point, whre I am really pissed off now... Since V2 it is slow slow slow on start up, by open fonts, by copy and paste something within the documents.... My time is my money and I cannot work properly right now! What is the F*** problem with V2 Apps??? In V1 all was fine!!!

I have this problem on all my 3 windows 10 and 11 notebook and PC systems...

[Ericcc]

I am using Affinity Photo on Windows, and TBH, and I am still using v1 because of the sluggishness, even at work where I have access to v2.
Early on I was looking to use v2 for its RAW enhancements, but it was so slow I have given up on it and switched entirely to another RAW developer.

For the rest of photo and image processing, I found I am usually starting v1, not because it's better, but because it's faster and still "good enough" most of the time.

But this is really a pity... I'm writing this because after updating to 2.3, that pain point still hasn't been addressed.

[Runtrical Falstaff]

To illustrate how this continues to be a problem at the end of 2023 and that Serif apps are an anomaly despite similar characteristics to other apps. Please fix this problem with your Affinity suite. Other developers have solved this.

Comparison of launch times for various Universal build apps after a restart on an M1 Mac running Sonoma 14.1.2:

1) iMovie version 10.4
Application package size: 4.99 GB - 6 seconds to open

2) MS outlook version 16.79.3
Application package size: 2.3 GB - 6 seconds to open

3) MS Word version 16.79.2
Application package size: 2.3 GB - 5 seconds to open

4) Affinity Photo version 2.3.0
Application package size: 2.94 GB - 27 seconds to open

5) Affinity Designer version 2.3.0
Application package size: 2.84 GB - 27 seconds to open

Edited December 11, 2023 by Runtrical Falstaff
Modify a redundancy.