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iOS Ampli SDK

Note

This page covers the iOS Swift and Objective-C runtimes. All (Itly) runtimes are deprecated. If you are still using an (Itly) runtime, see the migration guide to upgrade to the newest runtime. Docs for the Itly version are available here.

Iteratively supports tracking analytics events from iOS apps written in Swift and Objective-C.

In Swift and Objective-C, the tracking library exposes a type-safe function for every event in your team’s tracking plan. The function’s arguments correspond to the event’s properties and are strongly typed to allow for code completion and compile-time checks.

Tip

See example apps that use the iOS Swift and Objective-C runtimes on GitHub.

Installation

These instructions are also available from the Implementation page of your Iteratively workspace.

Install the Ampli CLI

If you haven't installed the Ampli CLI, install it now.

Install dependencies

If you haven't already, install the core Amplitude SDK dependencies.

To install these dependencies with CocoaPods:

  1. Close Xcode
  2. Install CocoaPods with sudo gem install cocoapods.

  3. Create a file called Podfile in the project root folder (the one with your .xcodeproj) and edit it to contain this code:

    platform :ios, '10.0'

target '{Project-Name}' do
  use_frameworks!

  pod 'Amplitude', "~> 8.6.0"
end

    platform :ios, '10.0'

target '{Project-Name}' do
  use_frameworks!

  pod 'Amplitude', "~> 8.6.0"
end

  4. Run pod install

  5. Open Xcode. Don't open the .xcodeproj file, instead open the .xcodeworkspace file.

Pull the SDK into your project

At the project root, run pull command.

ampli pull

This prompts you to log in to your workspace and select a source.

➜ ampli pull sourcename
Ampli project is not initialized. No existing `ampli.json` configuration found.
? Create a new Ampli project here? Yes
Organization: Amplitude
Workspace: My Workspace
Source: sourcename
Runtime: iOS - Swift
Branch: main
Pulling latest version (1.0.0)...
Tracking library generated successfully.
Path: ./src/itly

➜ ampli pull sourcename
Ampli project is not initialized. No existing `ampli.json` configuration found.
? Create a new Ampli project here? Yes
Organization: Amplitude
Workspace: My Workspace
Source: sourcename
Runtime: iOS - Obj-C
Branch: main
Pulling latest version (1.0.0)...
Tracking library generated successfully.
Path: ./src/itly

API

Load

Initialize Ampli in your code. The load() method accepts configuration option arguments:

Ampli.instance.load(LoadOptions(
  environment: AmpliEnvironment.Production
));

#import "Ampli.h"
[Ampli.instance load:[LoadOptions builderBlock:^(LoadOptionsBuilder *b) {
    b.environment = development;
}]];
Arg Description
LoadOptions Optional. Defaults to false. Specifies configuration options for the Ampli SDK.
disabled Optional. Specifies whether the Ampli SDK does any work. When true, all calls to the Ampli SDK are no-ops. Useful in local or development environments.
environment Optional. Defaults to development. Specifies the environment the Ampli SDK runs in: either production or development. Environment determines which Access Token is used to load the underlying analytics provider libraries. The option also determines safe defaults for handling event validation errors. In production, when the SDK detects an invalid event, it logs an error but stills let the event through. In development, the SDK throws an exception to alert you that something is wrong.
instance Optional. Specifies an Amplitude instance. By default Ampli creates an instance for you.
apiKey Optional. Specifies an API Key. This option overrides the default, which is the API Key configured in your tracking plan.

Identify

Call identify() to identify a user in your app and associate all future events with their identity, or to set their properties.

Just as the Ampli SDK creates types for events and their properties, it creates types for user properties.

The identify() function accepts an optional userId, optional user properties, and optional options.

For example your tracking plan contains a user property called userProp. The property's type is a string.

Ampli.instance.identify("userID", Identify(
  userProp: "A trait associated with this user"
));

[Ampli.instance identify:@"userID" event:[Identify userProp:@"A trait associated with this user"]];

The options argument allows you to pass Amplitude fields for this call, such as deviceId.

Ampli.instance.identify("userID", Identify(deviceID: "my_device_id")

[Ampli.instance identify:@"userID" event:[Identify deviceID: "my_device_id"];

Group

Note

This feature is available for Growth customers who have purchased the Accounts add-on.

Call setGroup() to associate a user with their group (for example, their department or company). The setGroup() function accepts a required groupType, and groupName.

Ampli.instance.setGroup("groupType", "groupName")

[Ampli.instance setGroup:"groupType" value:"groupName"]

Amplitude supports assigning users to groups and performing queries, such as Count by Distinct, on those groups. If at least one member of the group has performed the specific event, then the count includes the group.

For example, you want to group your users based on what organization they're in by using an 'orgId'. Joe is in 'orgId' '10', and Sue is in 'orgId' '15'. Sue and Joe both perform a certain event. You can query their organizations in the Event Segmentation Chart.

When setting groups, define a groupType and groupName. In the previous example, 'orgId' is the groupType and '10' and '15' are the values for groupName. Another example of a groupType could be 'sport' with groupName values like 'tennis' and 'baseball'.

Setting a group also sets the 'groupType:groupName' as a user property, and overwrites any existing groupName value set for that user's groupType, and the corresponding user property value. groupType is a string, and groupName can be either a string or an array of strings to indicate that a user is in multiple groups. For example, if Joe is in 'orgId' '10' and '20', then the groupName is '[10, 20]').

Your code might look like this:

Ampli.instance.setGroup("orgID", ["10", "20"])

[Ampli.instance setGroup:"orgID" value:["10", "20"]]

Track

To track an event, call the event's corresponding function. Every event in your tracking plan gets its own function in the Ampli SDK. The call is structured like this:

Ampli.instance.track(_ event: Event, options: EventOptions, extra: MiddlewareExtra)

`objectivec [Ampli.instance track:(Event *)event options:(EventOptions *_Nullable)options extra:(MiddlewareExtra *_Nullable)extra ];

The options argument allows you to pass to pass Amplitude fields, like deviceID. The extra argument lets you pass data to middleware.

Note

EventOptions are set via generic track and aren't exposed on the strongly typed event methods such as Ampli.instance.songPlayed(songId: 'id', songFavorited: true).

For example, in the code snippet below, your tracking plan contains an event called songPlayed. The event is defined with two required properties: songId and songFavorited. The property type for songId is string, and songFavorited is a boolean.

The event has two Amplitude fields defined: price, and quantity. Learn more about Amplitude fields here. The event has one MiddlewareExtra defined: myMiddleware. Learn more about middleware.

Ampli.instance.track(SongPlayed(songId: 'songId', songFavorited: true), options: EventOptions(deviceId: 'deviceId'))
);

SongPlayed* event = [SongPlayed
    songId:'songId', // NSString *
    songFavorited:true, // NSNumber *
]];

EventOptions* options = [EventOptions builderBlock:^(EventOptionsBuilder *builder) {
    builder.deviceId = deviceId;
    builder.userId = userId;
}];

[Ampli.instance track:event options:options]

Ampli also generates a class for each event.

let myEventObject = SongPlayed(
  songId: 'songId', // String,
  songFavorited: true, // Bool
);

SongPlayed *songPlayed = [SongPlayed
    songId:'songId', // NSString *
    songFavorited:true, // NSNumber *
];

All event objects can be sent using the generic track method.

Ampli.instance.track(SongPlayed(
  songId: 'songId', // String,
  songFavorited: true, // Bool
);

[Ampli.instance track:[SongPlayed
    songId:'songId', // NSString *
    songFavorited:true, // NSNumber *
]];

Verify implementation status

Verify events are implemented in your code with the status command:

ampli status

To update the implementation status in your tracking plan use the --update flag or -u:

ampli status -u
The output displays status and indicates which events are missing.

➜ ampli status
✘ Verifying event tracking implementation in source code
 ✔ Song Played (1 location)
 ✘ Song Stopped Called when a user stops playing a song.
Events Tracked: 2 missed, 3 total

Learn more about ampli status.

Migrating from an Itly iOS runtime

Migrate from an Itly iOS runtime to Ampli by following these steps.

  1. Remove legacy Itly dependencies from your project. This includes anything with a ly.iterative.itly. 
    pod "ItlySdk", '~> 1.X'
pod "ItlyAmplitudePlugin", '~> 1.X'
pod "ItlyIterativelyPlugin", '~> 1.X'
pod "ItlySchemaValidatorPlugin", '~> 1.X'
pod "ItlyMixpanelPlugin", '~> 1.X'
pod "ItlySegmentPlugin", '~> 1.X'
  2. Add Amplitude dependencies. 
    platform :ios, '10.0'

target '{Project-Name}' do
  use_frameworks!

  pod 'Amplitude', "~> 8.6"
end
  3. Install pods. 
    pod install

  4. Pull the latest Ampli SDK. 

    ampli pull

  5. Check your Ampli SDK path.

    ampli pull prints the download location of the SDK. If the path contains itly, you can update the Path by hand in the ampli.json file, or pull again using the --path parameter: ampli pull -p ./path/to/ampli.

  6. Find and replace:

    Swift and Objective-C: - Itly => Ampli

    Swift only:

    • Itly.instance.load() => Ampli.instance.load()
    • Itly.instance.group(groupId) => Ampli.instance.setGroup(groupType, groupValue)
    • Itly. => Ampli.

    Objective-C only:

    • [Itly.instance load] => [Ampli.instance load]
    • [Itly.group:groupId] => [Ampli.setGroup:groupType groupValue:groupValue)
    • [Itly instance] => [Ampli instance]

  7. See updated Event tracking details on your Implementation page in the web app.

Last update: 2022-05-17
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