App Lifecycle

Generates: Events (Log Records)

Automatically emits a log event each time the app transitions between foreground, background, and created states. Enabled by default — no configuration required.

Events

Event	ios.app.state	When
device.app.lifecycle	"created"	App process started (first launch or after system kill)
device.app.lifecycle	"foreground"	App moved to foreground (returned from background, or after "created")
device.app.lifecycle	"background"	App moved to background (home button, switch to another app)

Generated Telemetry

Type: Log Record (Event)
Event name: device.app.lifecycle

Attributes

Attribute	Values	Always Present
ios.app.state	"created", "foreground", "background"	✅ Yes
session.id	Current session identifier	✅ Yes

Sample Payload

{
  "event_name": "device.app.lifecycle",
  "attributes": {
    "ios.app.state": "background",
    "session.id": "f40364c92b85ec0c19c35a65be42b97f"
  }
}

Disabling

config.appLifecycle { $0.enabled(false) }

Relationship to Sessions

App lifecycle events are what the Sessions instrumentation uses to detect background inactivity. A session expires when the app stays in "background" beyond the configured backgroundInactivityTimeout. Do not disable app lifecycle if you rely on session tracking.