Is there any way to track iPhone app utilisation? I'd like to know every time a user has opened or interacted with my app. I don't want any other information about the user or their device. I don't even need to identify the user. I just want to monitor frequency of use and inactivity.
I thought of possibly creating a unique ID using time in seconds and then writing some code in viewWillAppear that sends an email containing the unique ID. But I don't even know if my App will be approved for sale in the AppStore with this function.
Any suggestions would be welcome - thanks you very much in advance for any effort spent on answering this question...
just use Flurry in you App
Flurry Analytics delivers powerful insight into how consumers interact with your mobile applications in real-time. Over 60,000 companies have chosen Flurry Analytics to use in more than 150,000 applications across iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, JavaME and HTML5.
Flurry Analytics helps mobile application developers make better apps, deepen consumer engagement and improve monetization of their applications. The service is free, cross-platform, easy to integrate, able to handle data loads of any size application and frequently updated with new, advanced features.
You can use Google Analytics to track these figures.
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ios/
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Is there any easy and effective way to track user activities from my iPhone app. I have to record all actions performed by user in my application without any performance/frozen problems. There should be no limits like per second hits etc.... App is global and cross platform. It is better if I can write my own custom algorithm to make this functional.
You can also use google analytics
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ios/
We use a service called Flurry Analytics. It works on all mobile platforms and we have had great experiences with it. Free too!
http://www.flurry.com/flurry-analytics.html
The app can collect all kinds of information in a very versatile manner and is efficient in when it sends the data back the the server. I believe it's only when the app terminates.
On the device side it is super easy to set up and beginning tracking user events.
what are the advantages and disadvantages in using Flurry or Localytics?
I can't answer about iOS, but the Android libraries for Flurry had a very half-baked feel to them when I tried them out about 3 months ago. There's a lot less power in their stats reporting and drilling down through the data can be like pulling teeth.
Additionally, I was getting wildly inaccurate session counts in a small closed beta test of my app (1000 sessions reported in a few minutes from one device). When I contacted Flurry support, it took them nearly a week to get back to me and then all I got was a fairly useless stock response. That alone knocked them straight off my list of potential analytics providers.
I've used Localytics on Android for hundreds of thousands of total installs at this point and am quite happy. Android gets treated as a first-class citizen (rather than feeling like a bolt-on on Flurry or even Google Analytics), and they have a pretty nice looking UI with a lot of good drilldown controls.
Both services are free and both services provide the same basic functionality of providing app analytics (e.g. number of users, type of devices, how the users are interacting with the app, etc.).
I have used both services for Android, although I am currently using Localytics because the Localytics library is open source. The Flurry library is closed source. Open source has the advantage that you can modify the library, as well as see exactly what the library is collecting.
Using flurry in your app you can trace your app, Suppose you want to track that this button pressed how many times ,You can use flurry it shows that in this location this app is used and that button is pressed that number of times.
DISADVantage:- Flurry is very slow it gives you results in 14-15 hours.
ADVANTAGE:- it is free
OTHER :- in place of flurry you can use google analytics(free) and omniture(Paid but give result faster)
you have to register yourself in flurry.com
Both of them store the data in public area. Although the data is so-called privacy, but it's not on your own server.
Flurry is free but provides much less detailed information, and flurry also only accepts up to 10 parameters per event. Localytics makes it easy to sort your data in many ways. For example I can look at all my users for the past week, now I can view users per day, or per hour. Then I can split the data to show me which users that played in the last week started playing the game for the first time, and then I can view that chart scaled to 100%. I could then add a filter so that I'm only looking at data from the users that started on a specific date, or specific week, or even multiple specific dates/weeks/etc. There are only a few things that I'd like from the localytics website that they don't provide, like retention data for days 8-13, or 15-27, or past 28 days, but those things can all be done through SQL queries.
Basically, flurry is free, but basic compared to what you get from localytics. Localytics I believe is free up until 10k MAU (monthly active users). Using localytics over flurry has made a huge difference on the product I'm on, we have been able to make much better decisions based on data.
HI all,
so we all know "pinch media" - the "spyware" software ;)
i'm searching for some really cool analytics softwares for my iphone application.
pinch media, is the one i know, it looks really great, but we all know, the reputation of this piece of software is very bad.
i'd like to know if i can use it, or if my app then is one of this spyware apps, for users (it isnt really, i know, but users might think it is, when i use this).
are there some alternatives? other programms, with the same good analysis?
I found admob and motally.com, but pinch media/Flurry is the best one atm.
Here is a good pdf that compares some of the main iPhone/iPod touch analytics providers
Try Google Analytics
Any analytics package which reports usage statistics back to a central server (Flurry, Google Analytics, etc.) will be considered "spyware" by some users, not just Pinch Media's offering. The really paranoid users will sniff data traffic out of your application and detect traffic from any service, no matter who provides it.
If you really care about those users who will be upset by this, give them the option to opt-out of data collection in your application's settings or when the application first starts.
If you are looking for more inside on your app, you should try heatma.ps. They let you view heatmaps for your app, and other interaction data.
Example heatmap:
I suggest you to take a look at Appsee
Appsee provides visual in-app analytics, including heatmaps, real user recording and user bahavior reprots. And you can create a free account there.
Flurry, Google Analytics, etc are central server to store the user's data.
If you want to build your private data center. you can visit this url
http://www.github.com/cobub
And the web site is: http://dev.cobub.com
to get the open source system (both server and client sides)
There are two kinds of analytics: business analytics and app performance analytics. Google Analtyics, Flurry etc are good for business analytics but app developers are mostly interested in knowing when app crashes, being able to capture app logs, impact of network speeds and carriers on performance of their apps. For app performance analytics, take a look at http://apigee.com/about/mobile-analytics . You not only get real time performance anlaytics but also ability to do some configuration changes in real time.
I finished building an app that allows beaming of photos, contacts and text clips over Wi-Fi
IPhone to IPhone and IPhone to desktop.
I want to decide on the feature set of the lite version of my IPhone app. I also want to come up with a pricing model. So the question is, which of these components should be free, and for which I should be charging for ?
For example, the lite version could have all features except the ability to interact with the desktop version - that is, it would work IPhone to IPhone, but not IPhone to desktop. The paid version would be able to beam to the desktop. In addition, the desktop version would be free, so you could share it with family and friends.
Alternatively, there would be a single free IPhone version and I would charge for the desktop app. The only thing here is that I would have to setup server side code for managing registration codes.
One reason to make your desktop app free and the iPhone app a paid product would be to take advantage of Apple's app store and their payment processing, hosting, etc. While I know 30% seems steep for what Apple provides, it is nice to have that part of the business be handled by someone else. For example, you will never have to deal with credit card processing or have to issue refunds - Apple does all that for you.
I like the mechanism that is more suited to viral distribution and giving people a good taste of all the features, before they are sort of convinced to go for the paid version. The marketing value of an app that can be freely tried out once one user recommends it to another, is invaluable. If someone recommends a product to me and I have to pay for it, then I probably would put off trying it till alter when I have learned more about it. However, if it is free, I can download and try it without feeling like I need to do more research prior. Once I like, and am hooked on it, then I will want locked functionality that I would have to pay to unlock.
I'd stay away from selling, payment processing, and reg code management, if your expertise is in coding - you'd make yourself more money writing more code than writing reg code management utilities...
Good luck.
I'm not sure charging for either is the best idea. If you keep both tools free, you get people trying (and liking) both apps. Viral distribution will ensure a decent user base. Once people use both tools, they're more likely to pay for the next part, which is the connector software.
I like your idea of three parts: a free iPhone app (Let people share photos on their iPhone), free PC app (There are hundreds of photo viewing apps, free... Don't try to charge for them, that way lies pain) and paid connection between 'em.
That way:
You get people using your iPhone app virally (To share with each other's phones & try out the application)
You get people using your PC app virally (Because the cost to try is nearly null)
The connection can be sold through Apple's iStore, so you don't need to do the money handling side
You could even make the connection component a subscription, but as an end user I hate that idea unless I get some additional functionality from it being a subscription (Like free hosting).
If you deploy an application through the iTunes app store, what usage information do you get from Apple? Do you only get the number of downloads/sales, and does this differ for free vs. paid apps? Do you get any information regarding how often it is used, crash logs, demographics info, etc? Is the only way to build hooks to your own server to track this information and would such an app even get approved?
I've seen articles such as this one that includes quotes like:
only about 20 percent of users return to use a free app the day after they first download it and by 30 days out, less than five percent are using the app.
Is that based on surveys, or is it data that comes from Apple? There doesn't appear to be much publicly available data except when Apple shows the top applications, but that is just based downloads or ratings, and nothing deeper.
Most of this information comes from companies like Pinch Media and Admob. They supply libraries you can include in you app which inform their servers of events in your app (specifically launch but also other events decided by you).
They use these events to provide aggregate information on iPhone apps. Several reports have been published recently referencing this data.
You only receive usage information if you somehow program the reporting of such information into your app.
Number of Downloads (Sales if a non-free app) and more recently crash logs are the only information you receive from Apple. you do not even receive personal information about WHO is was that bought your app, only that they did.
You won't get usage statistics from Apple, only download and sales statistics. The reporting is slightly different for free apps(as they won't show up in the financial report), but basically the same information is provided.
You can however track usage information on your own by having your application ping a remote server every time the app is accessed. You can use the unique device id to track a specific user. This will be dependent on internet access for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Apple does give you how many downloads have occurred as well as what countries they are from. If you want more detailed usage statistics you will have to go to a third party solution, or write it yourself.
Unless Apple is secretly sending usage information when an app is opened, I don't see how anyone can get aggregate statistics about the whole app store. When I upload an app, it is in binary format, and it is probably unlikely that anyone adds in their own code to secretly do this.