Speed Up Gradle & iOS Builds

In KMP you build a JVM app and an iOS framework, so builds can feel slow. A little tuning wins back minutes on every single run. ⏱️

The Gradle build cache reuses outputs from earlier runs, so unchanged modules skip recompilation entirely instead of rebuilding from scratch.

Independent modules can compile at once. The parallel flag lets Gradle use several modules concurrently and finish the graph faster.

The Gradle daemon stays alive between builds, holding a warm JVM so the next build does not pay startup cost again.

Big KMP builds can run low on memory. Raising the JVM heap in gradle.properties stops slow garbage collection from dragging things down.

The configuration cache skips re-evaluating your build scripts when nothing in them changed, cutting startup time on repeat builds.

Each target multiplies work. While developing, build only the simulator architecture you actually run, not every device slice.

The Xcode embedAndSign task links the Kotlin framework. Building one architecture at a time keeps this slow step from ballooning.

Guessing wastes effort. A Gradle build scan shows exactly which tasks are slow so you fix the real bottleneck first.

Use the wrapper so everyone and your CI run the same Gradle. Consistent versions mean caches actually hit instead of silently missing.

No single flag is magic. Stacking cache, parallel, daemon and a fitting heap together turns a painful build into a quick one.

Recall the flag that reuses task outputs across builds.

You sped up KMP builds with the cache, parallel runs, a warm daemon, more heap, and slimmer iOS targets, then used a scan to find slow tasks. ⏱️