There are a number of tools out there aimed at helping developers improve their apps. But for the most part, they’re focused on detecting crashes or performance problems after they occur.

SourceDNA is a startup in our current class that has created a private app review service called Searchlight that helps developers improve their code and address security flaws before they cause problems for users. Searchlight also provides proactive monitoring, continually scanning iOS and Android apps and generating intelligence from an index of millions of binaries to keep developers updated on new potential issues.

VentureBeat’s Ken Yeung wrote about SourceDNA and Searchlight this week:

“Available in both free and paid versions, Searchlight gives
developers a better look into what could potentially go wrong with their
app.

SourceDNA chief executive Nate Lawson cited an example of Searchlight’s potential: when Google replaced OpenSSL in Android M, there was a private API in use that
wasn’t intended for use by apps. Apps using this API ran the risk of
eventually crashing as a result. Lawson provided VentureBeat with a
partial list of apps that are affected: UC Browser (over 100 million installs), Waze (at least 50 million installs), HBO Go (more than 5 million installs), and Modern War
(more than 10 million installs). More than 3,000 people signed up for
Searchlight after the company published details about this issue.

The point here is that Searchlight allows developers to proactively
improve their apps without worrying about problems that may crop up in
the future, freeing them to concentrate on providing the best user
experience possible.”

You can read the entire VentureBeat article here, and see the related discussion on Hacker News here.