High CPU usage diplaying banner ads, but app is idle

[Kenfoo]

Hi

I notice that once I've called adView.loadAds(), my app starts consuming 30%-80% CPU, even when my app is idle.

This happens when I use Google Play Services 4.1.32 (as I'm trying to support API level 8 still).

Problem is still there even when I upgraded to 5.0.89.

I tried calling adView.pause(), adView.destroy(), but CPU usage is still high.

Anybody knows a workaround or fix? Thanks.

My code:

MyActivity.java

package com.example.kenneth.testapp1;

import android.os.Bundle;

import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;

import android.view.Menu;

import android.view.MenuItem;

import android.widget.FrameLayout;

import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdRequest;

import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdSize;

import com.google.android.gms.ads.AdView;

public class MyActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    private AdView adView;

    @Override

    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        setContentView(R.layout.activity_my);

        // Load Ad

        adView = new AdView(this);

        adView.setAdUnitId("ca-xxxxxxxx");

        adView.setAdSize(AdSize.SMART_BANNER);

        adView.loadAd(new AdRequest.Builder().build());

        FrameLayout fl = (FrameLayout)findViewById(R.id.frame);

        fl.addView(adView);

    }

    @Override

    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.

        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.my, menu);

        return true;

    }

    @Override

    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {

        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will

        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long

        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.

        int id = item.getItemId();

        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {

            return true;

        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);

    }

}

activity_my.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"

    android:layout_width="match_parent"

    android:layout_height="match_parent"

    android:orientation="vertical"

    tools:context=".MyActivity">

    <TextView

        android:text="@string/hello_world"

        android:layout_width="match_parent"

        android:layout_height="match_parent"

        android:layout_weight="1"/>

    <FrameLayout

        android:id="@+id/frame"

        android:layout_width="match_parent"

        android:layout_height="50dp"

        android:layout_gravity="bottom" android:background="@android:color/darker_gray"></FrameLayout>

</LinearLayout>

build.gradle:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {

    compileSdkVersion 20

    buildToolsVersion "20.0.0"

    defaultConfig {

        applicationId "com.example.kenneth.testapp1"

        minSdkVersion 9

        targetSdkVersion 20

        versionCode 1

        versionName "1.0"

    }

    buildTypes {

        release {

            runProguard false

            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'

        }

    }

}

dependencies {

    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])

    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:20.0.0'

//    compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:4.1.32'

    compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:5.0.89'

}

Monitored CPU use using

adb shell top -m 10

[Amy Quispe (AdMob SDK Team)]

Hi Kenfoo,

I'll look into this. Thanks for reporting.

Amy Quispe

[Amy Quispe (AdMob SDK Team)]

Hi Kenfoo,

Can you try using pauseTimers() on the webview?

Amy Quispe

[Kenfoo]

Ok, I managed to do it. There is no positive effect.

If I call webView.pauseTimers() right after calling adView.loadAds(), the ad does not show up, and CPU goes to 0%.

But when I call webView.pauseTimers() after my AdListener.onAdLoaded() is called, ad shows and CPU usage is still high. 

I'm attaching the whole Android Studio project in this post for reference.

[Kenfoo]

Hi...any updates? Did my code help pinpoint the cause?

Thanks!

[Amy Quispe (AdMob SDK Team)]

Hi Kenfoo,

Just to follow up - we are currently trying to fix this issue on the SDK side.

Amy Quispe

[myErTha Studios]

Hi Amy, just wondering if these has been any updates to this? I never noticed the high CPU utilization till I received a complaint from one of our users. Thanks!

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

There isn't an update yet but the SDK team is looking into it.

Thanks,
Eric

[kforner]

Any ETA on this?

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

Good question - requesting an update....

[Eric Leichtenschlag]

So to be transparent: the scope of this bug has changed to a creative issue with how css animations are working. So it won't need an SDK fix. The engine that's rendering the creatives is going under a bigger overhaul, one that skirts this issue. This overhaul is looking like it won't launch before the holidays, unfortunately, so the ETA I've been told is January.

[kforner]

Any word on the "overhaul" of the engine?

[Massimo Di Cosimo]

Any update on how we can properly handle this?
Thank you.
Max

[Eric Leichtenschlag (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

The new rendering engine is currently running at low percentage experiments, which makes it hard for you to test. However, there were also some changes made in Google Play services 6.7 that reduce CPU usage if adView.pause() / adView.destroy() are used when the app is paused/destroyed.

[Brian Coverstone]

My observations indicate that changes made over the past year have not reduced the CPU usage.

I've also received a number of complaints from employees that there are an increasing number of sites that load slowly (i.e. they load, pause, then they can be viewed/scrolled).  I have discovered this pause is google loading ads.  When I block these services the sites that employ googleadservices load around 70% faster.

As a test, I took a laptop and opened a browser to a page with an ad from googleadservices and let it set, the CPU ran near 100% on one core and the battery died after two hours.  On that same laptop, I opened a browser to a blank page and the CPU sat around 1% with the battery lasting over eight hours.

As the admin, I have blocked googleadservices using wildcard DNS entries and custom scripts companywide.  I do not want to have to do this, but I am left with no choice.  I now receive complaints that google shopping doesn't work properly.  I may be able to script around that, but in the meantime, this is a serious issue.  I imagine I am not the only one.

[Vu Chau (Mobile Ads SDK Team)]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for getting in touch! However, I must note that your feedback is with regards to web ads, rather than mobile ads that this forum supports.  While the performance of mobile ads has improved over time, if you do run into any performance issues, please let us know. 

For performance concerns related to other ad platforms, please reach out to their respective support forum/alias.

Vu Chau

Mobile Ads SDK Team