Do you think that if I'll build my own custom analytic tool (Flurry, Pinchmedia) and I'll host that on the same server where I have my data source for the application, will Apple consider this as a thirdparty analytic tool or not? ... Problem is that Flurry and Pinch are being banned from Appstore by the newest T&C ... than I thought that I'll build an open source library that will allow anyone to have their own analytic installed on their server ...
Thanks,
Ondrej
(Full disclosure: I work for Localytics)
What you describe would seem to comply with Apple's new terms. It's what I call 1st-party collection of device data. Or Apple could approve your use 3rd-party analytics, which is more likely if your analytics service isn't using those data to serve ads or selling data to someone else.
But why build it yourself? Localytics announced its Enterprise analytics service last week, which includes 1st-party data collection: http://www.localytics.com/blog. Localytics client libraries for iPhone (and Android and BlackBerry) are already open source.
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Marketing specialists keep instructing my client to setup the analytics so that it can track where the user is being referred from so that we can optimize the advertising campaigns.
When I ask them how to setup the tracking correctly they send me to a link for the native Android & iOS google analytics libraries and provide the settings. I respond in kind stating that our app is not built using the native SDK's it is built using the Ionic Framework. They then have no response for this.
I have Google Analytics implemented as well as Facebook analytics. Both systems are actively tracking data. But apparently it is still not tracking the source of which advertising campaign the user originated from and / or installed the app from.
I've tried to find an example of this somewhere and talked to numerous people but from what I can tell it is not possible using the Ionic Framework.
Can anyone provide some insight into this? If this is not possible it seems like a rather large issue with the Ionic Platform that should be made more visible.
Thank you!
I have an iOS app that uses the Google Docs List API to access and download spreadsheet data. I've done a basic test with upgrading my Google Docs account to Google Drive, and everything still seems to be working okay.
Based on the answer for this question Google Document List API and Google Drive SDK it looks like things will continue to work for awhile.
Are there any steps that mobile devs should be taking now to move to the new API? My main concern is that most of the developer docs so far are related to web apps and not mobile apps so requirements like registering for the chrome web store don't seem to fit. For example:
"Warning: Apps will not have any API access to files unless the app has been installed in Chrome Web Store. To test an app during development, you must first create a listing and install it."
Any guidance or suggestions would be appreciated.
Check this answer for the rationale behind the Chrome Web Store installation: https://stackoverflow.com/a/10476737/186674
Also, we are considering removing the installation requirement for the development and testing phase, we should have some updates soon.
iOS apps using the Documents List API should now update to using the Google Drive API and the newer Google APIs Client Library for Objective-C.
The new API and library are quite a bit easier to use and more efficient than are the older GData alternatives.
my app is like an iPod for web articles.
You can listen to the web articles. http://lisgo.org/
I am working on a free version with in-app-purchase now.
But, I'm not sure if I can do subscriptions model for a upgraded version on app store.
There is no web version for my app, even though it needs to connect to the internet for
article parser.
For example, I want to do like this.
Free version = ads, voice speed 1x only, no offline mode.
Premium version (subscriptions) = no ads, multiple voice speeds, offline mode.
I have not seen apps which unlock their features on subscriptions unless it has been
provided as a web SaaS service. And, my friend told me it is against apple's guide line,
but I couldn't find the page states that rule.
Any advice will be appreciated so much!
Thanks.
Apple said to me that auto-renewable subscriptions are only allowed to publishers, not for web service vendors.
It seemed that I can try non auto-renewable subscriptions because they suggested it, but I haven't tried it yet. I believe one time in-app-purchase is good for my model for the moment.
The author of Instapaper also talked about this on his podcast, and he needs to use non-renewable subscriptions for his additional subscription model.
there have been some confusion about using analytics in apps. Just to make sure I got it straight:
I want to use Google Analytics in my app to track app usage (tracking what content is being viewed basically). I'm not sending any user or device data to Google.
Firstly, I understand that Google Analytics API is completely fine to be used and doesn't violate any Apple developer agreements.
Secondly, I assume that in this case (anonymously tracking app usage - no user or device data) I am allowed to use the service without the need to say anywhere in the app that analytics is being used (so the 3.3.9. of 'iOS Developer Program License Agreement' doesn't apply here).
Can anyone confirm my assumptions or explain if they are not right?
Or better did anyone of you have your app using analytics approved even though it didn't say anywhere it is using it? ...or the opposite
I've seen plenty of forum entries on the subject none of them though clearly stating what is required by Apple and what is just recommended.
Thanks
I know you're asking about Google Analytics, but for what it's worth, I've had great success using the Flurry analytics package in my apps. It's very stable and provides a lot of great metrics. If GA doesn't work out for you, I'd say give this a try:
http://www.flurry.com/
Three questions for iPhone developers using Google Analytics within their apps for tracking use of their apps:
Will using Google Analytics cause us to be in breach of the terms and conditions of the Apple SDK 4 for developers?
If the answer to #1 is YES, then what are we -- as iPhone developers -- allowed to use to track usage of our apps?
Has anyone who is using the iPhone SDK 4 built their apps that included the Google Analytics library and found it not to work? I'm being told by my developer that it doesn't work when you build with a Base SDK set to iPhone Device 4.0 and and an iPhone OS Deployment Target set to iPhone OS 3.0.
Thanks in advance!
Answers to your questions:
Yes, with the current API and data collection it looks like it is not compliant with the terms of the SDK. I am using both Flurry and Google in my apps because they offer different feature sets that I need. While Flurry has been very vocal that they are working with Apple to resolve the terms of the SDK, Google hasn't said a peep. So, I'm nervous about using Google but not Flurry, because I think Flurry will change their data gathering if Apple presses hard enough. In any event, I have made sure that I can rip out either analytics service quickly if Apple rejects my app.
My understanding is that it's fine to collect your own device data, as long as you don't report it to others. You especially don't want to share any data that would hint at new devices. That's what got Flurry in trouble. Just remember that you are under NDA with Apple, so anything not publicly announced is between you and Apple. There are also rules about what you do with Device IDs, so make sure you understand those as well.
I am using Google analytics on iOS 4, with deployment target set to 3.0. While I no longer have a device to test against 3.0, it is deployed on the AppStore and seems to be working. (No crash reports)
Louie, I encourage you to take a look at Localytics, our app analytics service. Our service is real-time, we don't sell data to third parties and we release the source code to our libraries.
We also have an updated library that works better with the multitasking or fast-user switching in iOS 4: http://www.localytics.com/blog/
Check out www.flurry.com - they have an awesome service!
They allow you to add "events" so you know not only how many times the apps been downloaded, opened, removed... but you know what buttons and areas they are navigating to once the app is open.
If your app uses core location, you can even see where the users are on a map. Very cool!
Good luck my friend!