React-native-fs: Read/write extremely slow on IOS

[alainib]

I'm writing a 5mo json in a file with utf8 encoding.

1. it's very slow on IOS

it take +-50ms with android
it take +-6000ms with ios iphone 5

reading the file take
250ms with android
13000ms with ios.

1. i get empty return when using base64 option on Ios only

2. my code :

     var RNFS = require('react-native-fs');
     const rootPath = RNFS.DocumentDirectoryPath; //= (os == "android") ? RNFS.DocumentDirectoryPath :RNFS.MainBundlePath
   
     export function writeFile(filename, content) {
       var path = rootPath + '/' + filename;
       return RNFS.writeFile(path, content, 'base64').then(() => {
         console.log('FILE WRITTEN!');
         return true;
       }).catch((err) => {
         console.log(err.message);
         return false;
       });
     }
   
     export async function readFile(filename) {
       var path = rootPath + '/' + filename;
       var content = await RNFS.readFile(path, 'base64');
       console.log("content before return", content );
       return content;
     }
   

   and how i made the calls

     async readFile() {
       const content = await tools.readFile("en-test.js");
       console.log("content", content);
     }
   
   
     async writeFile() {
       const res = await tools.writeFile(
         "en-test.js",
         'Lorem ipsum dolor sit ametLorem ipsum dolor sit ametLorem ipsum dolor sit ametLorem ipsum dolor'  
        );
       console.log("res", res);
     }
   

I need to keep utf8, any advice ?

[itinance]

We definetely should move the utf8-encoding into native layer instead of using JS-layer therefor.
This should be implemented in upcoming versions

[gtebbutt]

@itinance Firstly, thank you for all your work on the library!

I was wondering if there's a plan on moving the encoding into native on iOS? I did a very rudimentary test (literally just changed the default return type in the native code) and it looks like a 10x or greater speedup on large files.

All I did was swap [content base64EncodedStringWithOptions:NSDataBase64EncodingEndLineWithLineFeed]; with [[NSString alloc] initWithData:content encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];, but I haven't yet looked at Android or at the implications of changing the function signature to pass the encoding back to the native code.

[kesha-antonov]

Is this fixed?
Animations in my app stattering when I do RNFS.readFile

[alainib]

not fixed for me. read and write freeze complety the UI for many seconds. not usable unfortunably

[tgensol]

Same here

[jan-happy]

+1

[alainib]

any update ?

[kesha-antonov]

I use RN-fetch-blob for read/write files

[ATShiTou]

I use fetch to read/write files:

const res = await fetch(filePath);
const content = await res.text();

[schumannd]

Can confirm that there is a significant difference between android and iOS.

This issue also affects e.g. the hash() function.

Edit: We were (and still are) actually using rn-fetch-blob. I was testing react-native-fs because our package was having issues. But this bug sent me straight back. Seems like a pretty big deal breaker to me.

[alainib]

I use fetch to read/write files:

const res = await fetch(filePath);
const content = await res.text();

how did you write file with fetch ?
thanks

[alainib]

Can confirm that there is a significant difference between android and iOS.

This issue also affects e.g. the hash() function.

I will test it today when i get the Mac back

[xvonabur]

Same problem. Downloading on iOS is extremely slow even on LAN connection.

[russelRajitha]

uploadings getting slow with uri.

[creambyemute]

I also had to switch to rn-fetch-blob for iOS and Android due to the encoding happening in the JS Thread and in our case, blocking the App/Interactions for around 4 seconds.

Works fine with rn-fetch-blob which does the encoding natively

I'd move the encoding to native for this library with a PR, but atm I'm pretty occupied.

[robert-bitguild]

I got same situation when I read 3M file from IOS device. It takes 1.2 seconds to read it. I don't know what does it read file in js thread