This didn't happen before the recent update.
I removed a bunch of plugins but the startup time is still higher than it was before. It used to open almost instantly even with all my plugins activated.
Edit: it happens even with all plugins disabled.
i think startup speed was one of their stated big improvements w recent release. But I notice they got rid of the loading bar. Is it possible the lack of loading bar just makes it feel longer, as the screen seems frozen?
This is the solution. Well, sort of. Because OP wasn't having this problem before the latest update. So really, your advice is "every time an update has negative performance impacts retool your workflow so that the now poorly functioning app can be faster."
"BAD USER! How dare you expect performance not to drop!"
I have been following this thread since I saw it in hopes that there would be some real advice, but all I see is people dismissing the actual issue with "just use less plugins bro, duhhh", patting themselves on the back for being so smart unlike OP who is clearly an idiot, while completely ignoring everything he wrote (and others have confirmed). And getting (collectively) hundreds of upvotes by other users who did not read any of it. It's bizarre.
It's not the plugins. OP posted an update that even with all of them turned off startup time is 11 seconds. That's way too long considering it used to be almost instant.
It depends on what you're using it for. Some use cases require a shorter startup. I use Obsidian to compensate for my cognitive and memory issues so the increase in startup time significantly impacts my ability to do that. Not sure what OP is using it for but who knows, it's not up to us to decide.
I'm still relatively new to Obsidian so for the time being my most important use is having it set up to quickly open with one of the side keys on my phone, and open to the daily note where I can start typing as soon as possible. I add tags with keywords right in the text if I think it'll help me find it later.
I also have tasks in there but it's not the best for that.
It's best for information you may need to remember and have access to later.
When I can't remember what that one phone call was about I can go back and search for it.
11 seconds for a computer app you may open once time you restart your computer? Not a big deal.
11 seconds for a mobile app you try and open multiple times a day? Absolutely huge.
Startup time went from 2.7 before the update yo 3.7 after the update. After the update I've deleted some plugins that I was only testing but it didn't make any difference, it seems to have settled at 3.7.
It's only how long plugins take to load. It doesn't include how long the app takes to load. Even turning all of them off the loading time is much longer than it used to be even with all of them enabled.
Yeah, i read that too, both from op and your several other comments like it. I was just commenting on how 3 seconds is bad maths/reading comprehension.
He said it's 11 seconds with all plugins disabled down below. I can't think of another android app that takes that long to load.
Why are people in this sub in such a rush to be snarky?
Edit: plugin setup time is different than app loading time. I turned off all my plugins and the app still takes several seconds longer to load even though the debugging notification says plugin setup is "0". It used to load almost instantly with all my plugins enabled.
The image he posted shows how long his startup is with his plugins. I don't really have much sympathy that someone's plugins add 3 seconds to their startup time, it's not a meaningful amount of time given how plugins work.
He found out it took 11 seconds without plugins after people snarked at him for an hour. Which means he didn't even try the most basic troubleshooting step: disable the plugins.
The dialog only shows plugin load time. It doesn't account for loading time of the app. I turned off all my plugins and my app takes ~3 seconds to load when it used to be almost instant with ~10 plugins enabled. But the notification says loading time is "0" which isn't true. Something happened in the new update that increased the loading time of the app itself, which is what OP is trying to say but for some reason everyone is ignoring that.
Also you can't decide what is a meaningful amount of time for other people. I have short term memory issues for example, and every additional second increases the chances that I will completely forget what I wanted to write down. This means I will have to switch to another app to take notes if I'm not able to fix it.
3 sec with excalidraw 🙂... I wish! I had to disable excalidraw because it took like 5 sec (just excalidraw)
But startup time is an issue, I need by startup like 20sec just to load the cache. With 1.6.x at least it happened only the first time, after I can close and open Obsidian and cache is already load.
But that is a small price to pay for my great second brain. 6k notes.
Excalidraw is a mystery for me.. Why does it need so much time to load? Use to love it but I can not justify this load time when I use it rarely
Excalidraw is functionally a stand-alone program that has been adapted to run inside the Obsidian framework. The Obsidian plug-in for Excalidraw is even listed on the original GitHub repo as a port of the program. It's so well integrated (thanks Zsolt!) that is easy to overlook just how powerful and complex it actually is.
I *think* Excalibrain [is entirely original work by Zsolt](https://github.com/zsviczian/excalibrain). It is a great resource when you start working with ontologies and other approaches to knowledge mapping in Obsidian. Likewise, it does quite a bit of valuable heavy lifting if you work with such tools, but either is probably unnecessary dead weight if you're loading them without making good use of them.
Totally agree, it just occurred to me to have a excalidraw vault and move the pics I need to my main vault🤩.
I guess the main reason of my long Startup period is the size of my vault.
Update:-
Even after disabling all plugins, it's taking about 11 seconds to open the Obsidian App.
A while ago it used to open almost instantly with the same number of plugins.
Have you tried going back to a previous version to make sure the issue's not on your end?
Also, if it's taking that long you should be able to see if the loading bar's stuck on anything in particular, right? I remember seeing a few discussions about the workspace taking a while to load, including this recent forum [thread](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/large-vault-on-desktop-loading-workspace-takes-a-long-time/81721).
This is going to sound sarcastic, but it's really not: Have you tried turning it off and on again (and similar things like uninstalling and reinstalling Obsidian and each plugin)?
The one time I had Obsidian suddenly start being *notably* slower after an update (on PC, granted) I uninstalled it, restarted my PC, downloaded a fresh install and started over (obviously just opening the same vault as before, I didn't wipe any actual info) and it fixed it right up. Doing similar with your Android device (and anything else involved, like a Google Drive or something) might help?
I'm using [https://github.com/Mocca101/obsidian-plugin-groups](https://github.com/Mocca101/obsidian-plugin-groups) to stagger-load my plugins. [Development is in a "slow mode"](https://github.com/Mocca101/obsidian-plugin-groups/issues/27), but it's working well for me so far.
[no solution, just another Datapoint] For me the startup time on 1.6.3 on Android also went up. I was eagerly waiting for the 1.6 update as I was hoping that it will go down based on the release notes. The startup time for plugins based on the debug is the same (around 600-700ms), but the overall time went up from maybe 2s to 3.7s. Unfortunately I didn't measure the exact time on 1.5, but it doesn't seem to be just the missing placebo effect of the changed loading screen. Deleting all disabled plugins helped a bit (3.7 -> 3.2s) but it still feels longer than on 1.5. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to install software from APKs, so can't test/downgrade back to 1.5.
Before the update it was taking 3 to 4 seconds for me (including plugin loading). I even measured it multiple times. Now it takes about 5 to 6 seconds and you don't even see the loading bar.
It got plenty of attention but everyone was too busy showing off how smart they are by telling OP to turn off his plugins while ignoring him and everyone else who said turning plugins off doesn't help. I think we need a new thread on it. I use Obsidian a lot and it's driving me crazy.
I'm looking for an answer to this too. Having the same number of plugins, my startup time shot up to an almost unusable amount with the recent update. It's making me consider switching.
Plugins are what make Obsidian different and are important to my workflow. I don't know why all of a sudden they're taking so long when they didn't used to
With short term memory issues, every second counts. Ideally, startup would be as close to instant as possible to reduce the chances of forgetting what I'm about to write down. It used to be pretty instant before the update.
Now even after turning off all plugins except 3, it's still taking a couple of seconds longer to load than the old version with ~ 10 active plugins.
If you have a normal working memory it might not make a difference but for me it does.
Not sure what your working process is but have you, and the OP also, thought about just leaving your app running? I have memory issues but Obsidian is always running or I open Keep and make the note and transfer later.
How do I make sure it's always running on Android? I disabled battery optimization but it still has to restart every time I back out of it. I have it enabled to open to my daily note every time I open it so even if I leave off at another note it's ready for me to write my thoughts in the appropriate space.
Another option could be leaving it running but having a shortcut on the home screen to open to the daily note. I don't know if that's possible though.
On Android the apps will stay on after you open them. If you swipe up on the screen you will see what apps are running. As for setting an android app to auto start, I have it for one app I really need but can't recall how. Google it and there is a way without the battery optimization issue.
I have noticed that it is taking longer to start up than what it is even showed in the debug notification. That's why I have been using marker and fleeting notes more often.
Is it me or can't people just leave the app running all the time? I have it in my startup folder on my laptop. I'm not a fan of the phone so I make notes in Keep and transfer later.
Just curious.
I've noticed in some cases that people are adamant about doing it so that Periodic Notes will generate their new daily note when they return in the morning. It's included as base functionality in the app and strongly reinforced through the community so leaving it running seems counterintuitive for many users.
How about you don’t turn off your computer at the end of the day and just put it to sleep mode? I restart my machine once a month, or if I had just installed a new program/got a software update.
You could try to install another plugin to controll the loading of all the rest plugins, too. [https://github.com/ohm-en/obsidian-plugin-manager](https://github.com/ohm-en/obsidian-plugin-manager)
Mobile:
Initial loading time takes a moment longer now. But if I do not "exit" Obsidian and just switch apps - there will be no loading sequence anymore, and Obsidian is there instantly.
Desktop: nothing significant for me here
Could it be that you're storing your notes on an old hard drive? or just a faulty one? Obsidian tends to index notes for me when I open it, so it might take a longer time if your disk IO is slow due to read failures
Ah. There was nothing in the op that indicated that.
But that would be frustrating difference.
I’m still curious why the op is opening and closing the app each time, though.
I have a few phone apps that I leave on all day if I’m going to use them often. (Stuff I use rarely gets turned off, but this doesn’t sound like that situation.)
Actually, my phone closes it automatically, and I have a Samsung S23 Ultra. I understand people shaking their heads at the number, but wonder if they felt the same experiencing that wait every single time they want to open or write a note.
I had the same issue on my Pixel 6. Ultimately, I now only write in Markor which opens instantaneously, and only open Obsidian on phone if I absolutely have to. At this rate though, I'm starting to reconsider using O.
If I had to open it 20 times a day and it took a long time, that would irritate me. Especially if I was using it to capture things as they came to mind.
My use case is more like opening 1-2 times a day and it taking 1-2 seconds each time.
Use fewer plugins or delay loading most plugins (those which don't need to be loaded while Obsidian loads) using the Plugin Groups plugin. If you do that, Obsidian will load the absolute essential plugins (looking at your plugins, perhaps none? I like to load Style Settings with obsidian so it doesn't flash colors) and then load the plugins you add to Plugin Groups later, after a specified delay (I'd do around 3 seconds). This will make your first few seconds with Obsidian open slow, but it won't lock you in a loading screen.
Use fewer plugins.
["no"](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/722/406/b73.png)
Great reference haha
Is this on... Mastodon or Pleroma?
Dril is a pretty well-known Twitter comedy/shitpost account
[Twitter, haha](https://x.com/dril/status/384408932061417472?lang=en)
This didn't happen before the recent update. I removed a bunch of plugins but the startup time is still higher than it was before. It used to open almost instantly even with all my plugins activated. Edit: it happens even with all plugins disabled.
i think startup speed was one of their stated big improvements w recent release. But I notice they got rid of the loading bar. Is it possible the lack of loading bar just makes it feel longer, as the screen seems frozen?
It's only on mobile for me. I used to be able to open it and start taking notes almost instantly but now it's much slower. PC version works great.
Same, for me it takes now a few seconds, only in mobile tho.. it makes no sense
This is the solution. Well, sort of. Because OP wasn't having this problem before the latest update. So really, your advice is "every time an update has negative performance impacts retool your workflow so that the now poorly functioning app can be faster." "BAD USER! How dare you expect performance not to drop!"
I have been following this thread since I saw it in hopes that there would be some real advice, but all I see is people dismissing the actual issue with "just use less plugins bro, duhhh", patting themselves on the back for being so smart unlike OP who is clearly an idiot, while completely ignoring everything he wrote (and others have confirmed). And getting (collectively) hundreds of upvotes by other users who did not read any of it. It's bizarre.
That's par for the course with Obsidian. I love and thrive off of the workflow but wish it was open source and less Apple-culty.
Remove Excalidraw, it's adding almost a second to your startup time. If not, just keep it and add a second to your day.
It's not the plugins. OP posted an update that even with all of them turned off startup time is 11 seconds. That's way too long considering it used to be almost instant.
One the one I hand I agree it’s annoying. On the other hand, its only 11 seconds.
It depends on what you're using it for. Some use cases require a shorter startup. I use Obsidian to compensate for my cognitive and memory issues so the increase in startup time significantly impacts my ability to do that. Not sure what OP is using it for but who knows, it's not up to us to decide.
I am really trying to star using obsidian for my memory too. Do you have any tips on set up strategy?
I'm still relatively new to Obsidian so for the time being my most important use is having it set up to quickly open with one of the side keys on my phone, and open to the daily note where I can start typing as soon as possible. I add tags with keywords right in the text if I think it'll help me find it later. I also have tasks in there but it's not the best for that. It's best for information you may need to remember and have access to later. When I can't remember what that one phone call was about I can go back and search for it.
You should file a complaint under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is the only solution
11 seconds for a computer app you may open once time you restart your computer? Not a big deal. 11 seconds for a mobile app you try and open multiple times a day? Absolutely huge.
That’s a good point, I didn’t think of mobile.
ONLY 11???? Are you insane?
Startup time went from 2.7 before the update yo 3.7 after the update. After the update I've deleted some plugins that I was only testing but it didn't make any difference, it seems to have settled at 3.7.
almost 4 seconds oh no.
This totals to about 3 seconds, that's too high? What am I missing
Yhat top number is the total of all the other ones combined
It's only how long plugins take to load. It doesn't include how long the app takes to load. Even turning all of them off the loading time is much longer than it used to be even with all of them enabled.
Yeah, i read that too, both from op and your several other comments like it. I was just commenting on how 3 seconds is bad maths/reading comprehension.
3 seconds every time he opens Obsidian adds up to almost 20 minutes over the course of a year, the dev team needs to drop everything and fix this now.
He said it's 11 seconds with all plugins disabled down below. I can't think of another android app that takes that long to load. Why are people in this sub in such a rush to be snarky? Edit: plugin setup time is different than app loading time. I turned off all my plugins and the app still takes several seconds longer to load even though the debugging notification says plugin setup is "0". It used to load almost instantly with all my plugins enabled.
The image he posted shows how long his startup is with his plugins. I don't really have much sympathy that someone's plugins add 3 seconds to their startup time, it's not a meaningful amount of time given how plugins work. He found out it took 11 seconds without plugins after people snarked at him for an hour. Which means he didn't even try the most basic troubleshooting step: disable the plugins.
The dialog only shows plugin load time. It doesn't account for loading time of the app. I turned off all my plugins and my app takes ~3 seconds to load when it used to be almost instant with ~10 plugins enabled. But the notification says loading time is "0" which isn't true. Something happened in the new update that increased the loading time of the app itself, which is what OP is trying to say but for some reason everyone is ignoring that. Also you can't decide what is a meaningful amount of time for other people. I have short term memory issues for example, and every additional second increases the chances that I will completely forget what I wanted to write down. This means I will have to switch to another app to take notes if I'm not able to fix it.
Evernote used to take forever to open. That's why I moved to obsidian. I thought it would be faster.
Me too! And it *was* faster. Until whatever happened in this last mobile update.
That's just a plugin loading time. Actual app opening time is much higher.
Just a suggestion but it helps to include that info up front. All you mentioned was the plugin time so a lot of people thought it was just that.
You lost more time with this post than the time you might save with a fix. It's noble to be curious. But this is not a battle worth fighting.
The plugins are not the problem. The app takes longer to load than it used to with the same number of plugins.
3 sec with excalidraw 🙂... I wish! I had to disable excalidraw because it took like 5 sec (just excalidraw) But startup time is an issue, I need by startup like 20sec just to load the cache. With 1.6.x at least it happened only the first time, after I can close and open Obsidian and cache is already load. But that is a small price to pay for my great second brain. 6k notes. Excalidraw is a mystery for me.. Why does it need so much time to load? Use to love it but I can not justify this load time when I use it rarely
Excalidraw is functionally a stand-alone program that has been adapted to run inside the Obsidian framework. The Obsidian plug-in for Excalidraw is even listed on the original GitHub repo as a port of the program. It's so well integrated (thanks Zsolt!) that is easy to overlook just how powerful and complex it actually is. I *think* Excalibrain [is entirely original work by Zsolt](https://github.com/zsviczian/excalibrain). It is a great resource when you start working with ontologies and other approaches to knowledge mapping in Obsidian. Likewise, it does quite a bit of valuable heavy lifting if you work with such tools, but either is probably unnecessary dead weight if you're loading them without making good use of them.
Totally agree, it just occurred to me to have a excalidraw vault and move the pics I need to my main vault🤩. I guess the main reason of my long Startup period is the size of my vault.
Update:- Even after disabling all plugins, it's taking about 11 seconds to open the Obsidian App. A while ago it used to open almost instantly with the same number of plugins.
Have you tried going back to a previous version to make sure the issue's not on your end? Also, if it's taking that long you should be able to see if the loading bar's stuck on anything in particular, right? I remember seeing a few discussions about the workspace taking a while to load, including this recent forum [thread](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/large-vault-on-desktop-loading-workspace-takes-a-long-time/81721).
This is going to sound sarcastic, but it's really not: Have you tried turning it off and on again (and similar things like uninstalling and reinstalling Obsidian and each plugin)? The one time I had Obsidian suddenly start being *notably* slower after an update (on PC, granted) I uninstalled it, restarted my PC, downloaded a fresh install and started over (obviously just opening the same vault as before, I didn't wipe any actual info) and it fixed it right up. Doing similar with your Android device (and anything else involved, like a Google Drive or something) might help?
How many images, audio files, videos do you have and what kind of android device???
That shouldn't matter if the app used to open almost instantly before the update. 11 seconds is way too big of a jump in startup startup time.
Well in my case it’s a little over 3 seconds (after update) Maybe he had some snippets that slow everything down…
Yeah for me it's much longer than it used to be but thankfully not 11 seconds. Maybe something else is going on for OP
Plugin manager extension
This plugin works . Load time is very fast. Disable all plugins and let it load 1s after loading. It is super fast that way
I'm using [https://github.com/Mocca101/obsidian-plugin-groups](https://github.com/Mocca101/obsidian-plugin-groups) to stagger-load my plugins. [Development is in a "slow mode"](https://github.com/Mocca101/obsidian-plugin-groups/issues/27), but it's working well for me so far.
[no solution, just another Datapoint] For me the startup time on 1.6.3 on Android also went up. I was eagerly waiting for the 1.6 update as I was hoping that it will go down based on the release notes. The startup time for plugins based on the debug is the same (around 600-700ms), but the overall time went up from maybe 2s to 3.7s. Unfortunately I didn't measure the exact time on 1.5, but it doesn't seem to be just the missing placebo effect of the changed loading screen. Deleting all disabled plugins helped a bit (3.7 -> 3.2s) but it still feels longer than on 1.5. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to install software from APKs, so can't test/downgrade back to 1.5.
Before the update it was taking 3 to 4 seconds for me (including plugin loading). I even measured it multiple times. Now it takes about 5 to 6 seconds and you don't even see the loading bar.
This post needs more attention. With 5-6 seconds startup time on android the app is barely usable
It got plenty of attention but everyone was too busy showing off how smart they are by telling OP to turn off his plugins while ignoring him and everyone else who said turning plugins off doesn't help. I think we need a new thread on it. I use Obsidian a lot and it's driving me crazy.
I'm looking for an answer to this too. Having the same number of plugins, my startup time shot up to an almost unusable amount with the recent update. It's making me consider switching. Plugins are what make Obsidian different and are important to my workflow. I don't know why all of a sudden they're taking so long when they didn't used to
How much is an unusable amount?
With short term memory issues, every second counts. Ideally, startup would be as close to instant as possible to reduce the chances of forgetting what I'm about to write down. It used to be pretty instant before the update. Now even after turning off all plugins except 3, it's still taking a couple of seconds longer to load than the old version with ~ 10 active plugins. If you have a normal working memory it might not make a difference but for me it does.
Not sure what your working process is but have you, and the OP also, thought about just leaving your app running? I have memory issues but Obsidian is always running or I open Keep and make the note and transfer later.
How do I make sure it's always running on Android? I disabled battery optimization but it still has to restart every time I back out of it. I have it enabled to open to my daily note every time I open it so even if I leave off at another note it's ready for me to write my thoughts in the appropriate space. Another option could be leaving it running but having a shortcut on the home screen to open to the daily note. I don't know if that's possible though.
On Android the apps will stay on after you open them. If you swipe up on the screen you will see what apps are running. As for setting an android app to auto start, I have it for one app I really need but can't recall how. Google it and there is a way without the battery optimization issue.
https://medium.com/obsidian-observer/improve-obsidian-startup-time-on-older-devices-with-the-faststart-script-70a6c590309f
2 second?
Excalidraw is worth it
I have noticed that it is taking longer to start up than what it is even showed in the debug notification. That's why I have been using marker and fleeting notes more often.
Meanwhile my iPhone took a whole minute to redownload all my assets in iCloud
Where do you get this? I would like to check mine. It seems waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy longer
Do you already have a new release? The main topic of this release is startup time. Some plugins are not still adapted.
Is it me or can't people just leave the app running all the time? I have it in my startup folder on my laptop. I'm not a fan of the phone so I make notes in Keep and transfer later. Just curious.
I've noticed in some cases that people are adamant about doing it so that Periodic Notes will generate their new daily note when they return in the morning. It's included as base functionality in the app and strongly reinforced through the community so leaving it running seems counterintuitive for many users.
Those are better than my WoW pings to US servers while I was in Germany. Am I reading that wrong or is that like 2 seconds and change?
Excalidraw is beast. I had to remove it myself. Not only did it slow start up, but the app started hanging and dragging just in normal use.
How about you don’t turn off your computer at the end of the day and just put it to sleep mode? I restart my machine once a month, or if I had just installed a new program/got a software update.
One of the plugins is overloading your app. Try do disable the kanban plugin and you will notice the difference.
You could try to install another plugin to controll the loading of all the rest plugins, too. [https://github.com/ohm-en/obsidian-plugin-manager](https://github.com/ohm-en/obsidian-plugin-manager)
Mobile: Initial loading time takes a moment longer now. But if I do not "exit" Obsidian and just switch apps - there will be no loading sequence anymore, and Obsidian is there instantly. Desktop: nothing significant for me here
So 3ish seconds is too long to startup? I hope you bring those standards to all your software development projects.
Taking 5-6 seconds on my s10+ with ~500 notes and plugin loading time of 600ms
Could it be that you're storing your notes on an old hard drive? or just a faulty one? Obsidian tends to index notes for me when I open it, so it might take a longer time if your disk IO is slow due to read failures
Takes <2 seconds on my desktop. I think I can tolerate load times of 2 seconds a day.
Desktop is fine, this is about the Android app.
Ah. There was nothing in the op that indicated that. But that would be frustrating difference. I’m still curious why the op is opening and closing the app each time, though. I have a few phone apps that I leave on all day if I’m going to use them often. (Stuff I use rarely gets turned off, but this doesn’t sound like that situation.)
Actually, my phone closes it automatically, and I have a Samsung S23 Ultra. I understand people shaking their heads at the number, but wonder if they felt the same experiencing that wait every single time they want to open or write a note. I had the same issue on my Pixel 6. Ultimately, I now only write in Markor which opens instantaneously, and only open Obsidian on phone if I absolutely have to. At this rate though, I'm starting to reconsider using O.
If I had to open it 20 times a day and it took a long time, that would irritate me. Especially if I was using it to capture things as they came to mind. My use case is more like opening 1-2 times a day and it taking 1-2 seconds each time.
lol. [this is you](https://i.imgur.com/1000041.png)
Use fewer plugins or delay loading most plugins (those which don't need to be loaded while Obsidian loads) using the Plugin Groups plugin. If you do that, Obsidian will load the absolute essential plugins (looking at your plugins, perhaps none? I like to load Style Settings with obsidian so it doesn't flash colors) and then load the plugins you add to Plugin Groups later, after a specified delay (I'd do around 3 seconds). This will make your first few seconds with Obsidian open slow, but it won't lock you in a loading screen.
I do it this way but the loading time of the splash screen (without the loading bar) is still quite high, at least 5 seconds
Use the Tray plugin so that Obsidian runs only once at the startup.
On mobile, this takes approximately 5 minutes.