(Big, complicated?) PowerApp working in Studio, not working/loading/installing in Players

[SaWu]

Please be so kind as to read the full post before responding.
Thank you for your consideration.

I have one PowerApp which works fine in the PowerApps Studio, but not at all when trying it with the WebPlayer or Android Player.
The PowerApp is pretty big and complicated with easily 100 DataCards and a few 100 control elements.
In the Studio, it takes a while to load but, it loads properly, works properly, and shows no errors.

In the WebPlayer I only get the nondescript error:
The app didn't start correctly. Try refreshing your browser.

In PowerApps for Windows I get the similar nondescript:
Didn't install
This App didn't open. Make sure you're signed in and that you have Internet access

In PowerApps for Android I get:
This app isn't opening correctly
This app didn't install correctly. Please try again.


Some session IDs where it's not working:
0b4fd27b-4bcf-4b1b-aa8b-e9c2cf8e0fa5 (WebPlayer in Chrome 71.0.3578.98 (64bit), Windows 10)
16891040-0af7-40dd-8bdd-e3ff47c1f837 (WebPlayer in Firefox 65.0 (64bit), Windows 10)
b1fda8b1-fcb6-4f0e-900a-992ec858a82a (PowerApps App, Windows 10)
2f6386e6-580f-4f3d-a5ed-79fdc0acc35d (PowerApps 3.19012.19, Android 8.1.0)

My questions:

1. How is it even possible that the PowerApp works without issues (albeit slowly) and without visible errors in the PowerApps Studio, and not in any of the PowerApps Players available (to me)?
2. Is there a limit on the number of controls the PowerApps Player(s) support?
3. Checking the past versions of my PowerApp, I have narrowed down the last saved version that works in the Player and the first saved version (one day of development later, a few weeks ago) that works. I can't remember the differences though. Is there some kind of diff tool to compare those two version?

[v-xida-msft]

Hi @SaWu,

Do you mean that your app works well within PowerApps Studio Editor rather than WebPlayer and your Mobile device?

For your first question, currently, I could not reproduce your issue on my side. You could consider take a try reduce the amount of controls within your app, then re-publish your app, run your app in Web Player/Mobile device again, check if the issue is solved.

I think this issue may be related to the amount of controls added in your app. The more controls you add, the more generation time your PowerApps app needs.

In addition, please make sure you have enough RAM to run your app. Please close other processes within your computer and your Mobile device, check if the issue is solved.

For your second question, currently, there is no exact limit in the amount of controls added within a PowerApps app. The recommandation is that do not add more than 500 controls to the same app. Please check the following article for more details:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/performance-tips

For your third question, currently, there is no available diff tool to compare different versions of an app in PowerApps currently.

Best regards,

[NigelP]

Hi @SaWu

The technical requirements for PowerApps are here :- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/limits-and-config 

Regards

Nigel

[SaWu]

Thanks @v-xida-msft,

Yes, I mean that my PowerApp works well and without errors in PowerApps Studio.
It does not work at all in the WebPlayer, the PowerApps for Windows App, or PowerApps on Android.

Yes, this particular PowerApp is really big and complicated with easily 700+ controls.
Just for a test, I have copied the PowerApp and removed 30 data cards containing around 300 controls.
The smaller copy works everywhere again.

1. Any chance the limit on number of controls will drop at some point?
   It seems very odd to me though, that 500 is, quoting you, a recommendation, but in fact, a certain number of controls does not yield bad performance, it simply doesn't work at all.
2. The studio seems to handle the bigger number of controls well anyway.
   Any chance to see that better handling go into the players at some point or at least show a warning when the (known?) limit of the players is reached?

[SaWu]

@NigelP

Where on that page does it say anything about limits in the number of controls?

[NigelP]

Hi @SaWu

It does not - that is my point - The title inclues the word "Limits" but there are no words on Limits other than "Request Limits".  I would have expected some words about maximum number of Screens, Controls, Collections (although the latter might be tricky - it will depend upon the lentgh of a record in each collection) and variables.

But they are not there, nor any guidance.  A PowerApp might work on a Laptop, but might not work on a mobile (cell) phone because the amount of avaiable memry is less.

Regards

Nigel

[Xiaoxia]

Hi @SaWu

We are actively looking into the issue you are facing, however cannot yet track down to the root cause with the sessionIds you provided. Can you give us permission to access your app for further investigation? You can reply to me xiaoxhua@microsoft.com with your permission or locally saved app.

Thanks,

Xiaoxia

[seadude]

Hi @SaWu,

One of the biggest paradigm shifts for reducing the number of controls in your app (aka: Improving Performance) is to use Variables (or Tables, or Collections) and Galleries.

I would 100% recommend reading Mehdi's performance blog post and focus on the last section where he mentions this method.

There is also quite an in-depth forum post here in the community on the subject. Incorporating this can significantly reduce the number of controls in your app thus increasing performance.

Good luck!

[SaWu]

Dear @Xiaoxia,
I sent you an email about this issue with more details on the PowerApp in question and with permission.
But, I have not yet seen any reaction yet.
Did the email arrive?
Any news?
Tanks a lot,
    Sa.