Tracking user activity

In AppMetrica, a session is the period of time a user interacts with the app.

Background session

A background session starts with the AppMetrica SDK initialization.

If, during a background session, AppMetrica receives the onResume() system event for Android or the UIApplicationDidBecomeActiveNotification system event for iOS, a user session begins.

Any events sent before these system events refer to background sessions.

A background session can refer to:

• A period of time between clicking an app icon and displaying the app's interface.
• Start of services that accept push notifications.

User session

A user session starts when AppMetrica receives the following system events:

• For Android: onResume().
• For iOS: UIApplicationDidBecomeActiveNotification.

A user session ends when the session timeout expires. The session timeout is counted from the moment the user minimizes the app.

Any events sent after the system events mentioned above refer to user sessions.

By default, AppMetrica considers a session new if a user returns to the app after a significant period of time after the app switched to background mode (the user minimized the app or opened system settings).

Setting the session timeout

The session timeout is the period of time that must pass after a user minimizes the app and before they open it again. You can set the session timeout in the SDK.

• If the user opens the app again before the timeout expires, the current session continues.
• If the user opens the app again after the timeout expires, a new session starts.

By default, the session timeout is 10 seconds. The minimum acceptable value for the sessionTimeout parameter is 10 seconds.

To change the timeout, pass the value in seconds to the withSessionTimeout(int sessionTimeout) method when creating the extended library configuration.

// Creating an extended library configuration.
val config = AppMetricaConfig.newConfigBuilder(API_KEY)
    // Setting the length of the session timeout.
    .withSessionTimeout(15)
    .build()
// Initializing the AppMetrica SDK.
AppMetrica.activate(applicationContext, config)

// Creating an extended library configuration.
AppMetricaConfig config = AppMetricaConfig.newConfigBuilder(API_KEY)
        // Setting the length of the session timeout.
        .withSessionTimeout(15)
        .build();
// Initializing the AppMetrica SDK.
AppMetrica.activate(getApplicationContext(), config);

Monitoring the app lifecycle

If the app has the minimum Android version set to 4.0 or later, the AppMetrica library can track its lifecycle automatically. After library initialization, call the AppMetrica.enableActivityAutoTracking(Application application) method:

class YourApplication : Application() {
    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()

        // Initializing the AppMetrica SDK.
        AppMetrica.activate(...)
        // Automatic tracking user activity.
        AppMetrica.enableActivityAutoTracking(this)
    }
}

public class YourApplication extends Application {
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        // Initializing the AppMetrica SDK.
        AppMetrica.activate(...);
        // Automatic tracking user activity.
        AppMetrica.enableActivityAutoTracking(this);
    }
}

If the minimum Android version in the app is earlier than 4.0, use the following methods: AppMetrica.resumeSession(activity) and AppMetrica.pauseSession(activity) in the corresponding methods for your activity, which are onResume() and onPause(). When using those methods, make sure the active session is always terminated by calling the AppMetrica.pauseSession(activity) method. If that method is not called, the library considers the session active and commits regular data exchange with the service part of AppMetrica. This can lead to incorrect tracking of the session duration and energy consumption.

Example:

class YourActivity : Activity() {
    override fun onResume() {
        super.onResume()
        AppMetrica.resumeSession(this)
    }

    override fun onPause() {
        AppMetrica.pauseSession(this)
        super.onPause()
    }
}

public class YourActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        AppMetrica.resumeSession(this);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        AppMetrica.pauseSession(this);
        super.onPause();
    }
}

Working with an additional API key

By sending data to an additional API key, you can control the access to statistics. Use reporters to transmit events. For more information, see Usage examples.

For correct tracking, manually configure the reporters to send events about the start and the pause of the session for each reporter. Use the resumeSession() and pauseSession() methods in the IReporter interface when implementing onResume() and onPause() for your activity:

class YourActivity : Activity() {
    override fun onResume() {
        super.onResume()
        AppMetrica.getReporter(applicationContext, ANOTHER_API_KEY).resumeSession()
    }

    override fun onPause() {
        AppMetrica.getReporter(applicationContext, ANOTHER_API_KEY).pauseSession()
        super.onPause()
    }
}

public class YourActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        AppMetrica.getReporter(getApplicationContext(), ANOTHER_API_KEY).resumeSession();
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        AppMetrica.getReporter(getApplicationContext(), ANOTHER_API_KEY).pauseSession();
        super.onPause();
    }
}

This helps the library accurately monitor:

• The number of active users.
• Session length.
• Frequency of app use.

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