are other users having worse ARC performance in the latest build? My experience is that the last quite stable ARC build was 1.65.354 in April 2025. Since then the performance has been getting worse.
Running Android 15, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the current ARC build is laggy (scrolling in the app nowhere near 120fps even though GPU and CPU usage is very high), clicking and navigating stutters; playback is breaking up and outright stopping; my previously mentioned issue with gesture navigation here in the forums is still present (no matter how often I clear the app cache); dure to the high CPU and GPU usage the phone is always hot which makes the downloads stop; ARC looses background play notification (no live notification of what music is playing, no interaction with headphone buttons for song skips, pauses and resuming playback). At least for me, it’s downright unusable in the last build.
The april build works much better but drains a lot of battery, though at least it plays music back and is pretty smooth in using it.
Wondering what other people experience and if you have found any fixes for issues you may be having. Is there a bug tracker for ARC?
A short follow up: I fired up the GPU Watch tool that comes with my Samsung, it measures FPS of the display and CPU and GPU usage.
Some findings: August 2025 build close to using 70% CPU and 70-80% GPU when the now playing screen is displayed. Display stays locked at 120fps. This makes the phone get really hot and battery drains quickly.
I tried different, older versions starting from February 2025. The one that was the least taxing on the CPU and GPU was the May 2025 release, yet this one still has GPU usage of over 40% on the now playing screen, CPU at or near 50%.
Compared to the tidal app, CPU usage is 20%, GPU under 5%. And the display FPS can drop to 24 fps on the now playing screen.
Interestingly, the roon remote app for Android is the most resource efficient, according to my rudimentary testing. For now, until ARC is better optimized, I may just use it on the go as well. Means losing Downloads and Android Auto and bit perfect playback due to no USB driver for DAC support but I’ll have battery to spare and not burn my hand on the phone.
If the ARC team would like some data, let me know. I want to keep using ARC but in it’s current state that’s asking a lot.
I suppose this should go to Support or Feedback because Roon staff doesn’t regularly monitor user discussions here under the Roon Software Discussion category.
The regular Roon app can only be used on the LAN though (or outside the LAN with much VPN trickery maybe)
@Adam_Pekar It is the same on my iPhone 13 Pro. The phone gets hot like crazy and the battery drain is exceptional. I don’t have something similar with any other app. It like unusable.
OK, maybe lucky It’s not a supported configuration anyways, and I suppose RAAT may not cope well with variable cell bandwidth and latency, but perhaps if you have good coverage.
Managed to take some screen recordings yesterday of ARC, Tidal and Roon Remote comparing CPU and GPU usage. All apps updated, S24 Ultra, Android 15.
The fact that ARC uses up to 80% GPU ont he now playing screen, which is mostly static image, except the progress bar, I wonder what it’s using the GPU for. You can see Tidals usage in low digits and also Roon Remote.
@vadim I wanted to ask if there’s been progress on the performance, battery drain and high resource usage of ARC on Android 16? I saw some mention of it in the last ARC release notes but according to my Samsung S24 Ultra, ARC still hogs CPU and GPU massively. The screen also doesn’t drop refresh rate down, as it does in other apps of there are no or little moving elements. Below a screenshot of the current numbers: GPU usage at over 80…
It’s not a supported configuration anyways, and I suppose RAAT may not cope well with variable cell bandwidth and latency, but perhaps if you have good coverage.