Looking for some suggestions Analytics for getting app usage statistics

Capacitor
1

I have been using google-analytics-plugin to track some of my previous app’s usage using the old Google Analytics Universal Tracking codes, but now that Google is moving to GA4, it appears that tools like linked plugin will no longer function.

What are some other Analytics tools that people are using that work well for measuring usage within the app?

2

Hi there,

this mostly depends on what you need and what you want to do with the data. I’ll try to break a few things down:

  1. You can track simple usage of the application without any additional framework. Both, App Store Connect and Google Play Console have options to see how many users have installed and using your app. This also includes device types and country where the users coming from.
    If this is the information you need, you good to go with the defaults (and most privacy version for your users).
  2. You can use something like Sentry. They also provide an official support for Capacitor (if you don’t want to use a legacy cordova plugin). See their documentation.
    Benefit of Sentry: It has a wide support of frameworks, languages and provides full SDKs. So if you also have other applications and/or a corresponding backend you can put your analytics data from this services as well to Sentry.
  3. You can use a solution from one of the large companies like Firebase Analytics (Google, follow up for the Google Analytics from the past) or using App Center and Application Insights from Microsoft on the Azure platform. Benefit of App Insights: They’re collecting raw data which can be query with a SQL-like language so you can build your own analytics dashboard or something similar.
  4. Another one is Mixpanel which is also quite long in the game. It’s more or less the same like Sentry but with a different taste. Also has no official Capacitor support. You need to use the cordova plugin here.

As with most things in the software development it’s depending on your requirements and the data you need (or want to collect).
These 4 are just a pick from a list I’ve used so far. Pick what you prefer and maybe test a few before sticking to one :slight_smile:

Hope this helps with your decision!

1 Like
4

If you want to use a privacy focussed solution I would recommend Matomo or Fathom.
Good mobile focussed solutions are Firebase Analytics or Appsflyer.

5

Thanks @Inoverse and @mariusbolik. I am trying to be able to track various screen views / document views, so that we can get a good understanding what sections of the app are being use frequently.

It looks like Firebase Analytics may be the best candidate to replace Google Analytics.

6

Hi @yellowkicks,
place the following code in your app.component.ts to track all pages and see what page gets visited the most:

try {
  if (this.platform.is('capacitor')) {
    FirebaseAnalytics.setCollectionEnabled({
       enabled: true,
    });
    this.router.events.pipe(
       filter((e: RouterEvent) => e instanceof NavigationEnd),
    ).subscribe((e: RouterEvent) => {
        FirebaseAnalytics.setScreenName({
          screenName: e.url
       });
    });
  }
} catch (e) {
   console.error(e);
}