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iOS SDK (Beta)

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This is the official documentation for the Amplitude Analytics iOS SDK.

iOS Swift SDK Resources (Beta)

GitHub · Releases

Ampli Wrapper Not Yet Available

The Ampli Wrapper is an autogenerated library based on your pre-defined tracking plan. The Ampli Wrapper is not yet available for this SDK. To use Ampli see the non-Beta SDK and Ampli Wrapper instead. For customers beginning with Amplitude Experiment, please note that this SDK does not support the Amplitude Experiment integration.

Getting started

Use this quickstart guide to get started with Amplitude iOS SDK.

Usage

Initialize

You must initialize the SDK before you can instrument. The API key for your Amplitude project is required.

let amplitude = Amplitude(configuration: Configuration(
    apiKey: 'YOUR-API-KEY'
))

Configuration

Configuration Options
Name
Description Default Value
flushIntervalMillis The amount of time SDK will attempt to upload the unsent events to the server or reach flushQueueSize threshold. 30000
flushQueueSize SDK will attempt to upload once unsent event count exceeds the event upload threshold or reach flushIntervalMillis interval. 30
flushMaxRetries Maximum retry times. 5
minIdLength The minimum length for user id or device id. 5
partnerId The partner id for partner integration. nil
identifyBatchIntervalMillis The amount of time SDK will attempt to batch intercepted identify events. 30000
flushEventsOnClose Flushing of unsent events on app close. true
callback Callback function after event sent. nil
optOut Opt the user out of tracking. false
trackingSessionEvents Flushing of unsent events on app close. true
minTimeBetweenSessionsMillis The amount of time for session timeout. 300000
serverUrl The server url events upload to. https://api2.amplitude.com/2/httpapi
serverZone The server zone to send to, will adjust server url based on this config. US
useBatch Whether to use batch api. false
trackingOptions Options to control the values tracked in SDK. enable
enableCoppaControl Whether to enable COPPA control for tracking options. false

track

Events represent how users interact with your application. For example, "Button Clicked" may be an action you want to note.

let event = BaseEvent(
    eventType: "Button Clicked", 
    eventProperties: ["my event prop key": "my event prop value"]
)
amplitude.track(event: event)

Another way to instrument basic tracking event.

amplitude.track(
    eventType: "Button Clicked",
    eventProperties: ["my event prop key": "my event prop value"]
)

identify

Identify is for setting the user properties of a particular user without sending any event. The SDK supports the operations set, setOnce, unset, add, append, prepend, preInsert, postInsert, and remove on individual user properties. Declare the operations via a provided Identify interface. You can chain together multiple operations in a single Identify object. The Identify object is then passed to the Amplitude client to send to the server. Starting from release v0.4.0, identify events with only set operations will be batched and sent with fewer events. This change won't affect running the set operations. There is a config identifyBatchIntervalMillis for managing the interval to flush the batched identify intercepts.

Note

If the Identify call is sent after the event, the results of operations will be visible immediately in the dashboard user's profile area, but it will not appear in chart result until another event is sent after the Identify call. So the identify call only affects events going forward. More details here.

You can handle the identity of a user using the identify methods. Proper use of these methods can connect events to the correct user as they move across devices, browsers, and other platforms. Send an identify call containing those user property operations to Amplitude server to tie a user's events with specific user properties.

let identify = Identify()
identify.set(property: "color", value: "green")
amplitude.identify(identify: identify)

User groups

Feature availability

This feature is available in accounts with a Growth or Enterprise plan with the Accounts add-on.

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.

Example

If Joe is in 'orgId' '15', then the groupName would be '15'.

// set group with a single group name
amplitude.setGroup(groupType: "orgId", groupName: "15")

If Joe is in 'orgId' 'sport', then the groupName would be '["tennis", "soccer"]'.

// set group with multiple group names
amplitude.setGroup(groupType: "sport", groupName: ["tennis", "soccer"])

You can also set event-level groups by passing an Event Object with groups to track. With event-level groups, the group designation applies only to the specific event being logged, and doesn't persist on the user unless you explicitly set it with setGroup.

amplitude.track(
    event: BaseEvent(
        eventType: "event type",
        eventProperties: [
            "eventPropertykey": "eventPropertyValue"
        ], 
        groups: ["orgId": 15]
    )
)

Group identify

Feature availability

This feature is available in accounts with a Growth or Enterprise plan with the Accounts add-on.

Use the Group Identify API to set or update properties of particular groups. Keep these considerations in mind:

  • Updates affect only future events, and don't update historical events.
  • You can track up to 5 unique group types and 10 total groups.

The groupIdentify method accepts a group type string parameter and group name object parameter, and an Identify object that's applied to the group.

let groupType = "plan"
let groupName = "enterprise"
let identify = Identify().set(property: "key", value: "value")
amplitude.groupIdentify(groupType: groupType, groupName: groupProperty, identify: groupIdentify)

Track revenue

Amplitude can track revenue generated by a user. Revenue is tracked through distinct revenue objects, which have special fields that are used in Amplitude's Event Segmentation and Revenue LTV charts. This allows Amplitude to automatically display data relevant to revenue in the platform. Revenue objects support the following special properties, as well as user-defined properties through the eventProperties field.

let revenue = Revenue()
revenue.price = 3.99
revenue.quantity = 3
revenue.productId = "com.company.productId"
amplitude.revenue(revenue: revenue)
Name
Description
productId Optional. String. An identifier for the product. Amplitude recommends something like the Google Play Store product ID. Defaults to null.
quantity Required. Integer. The quantity of products purchased. Note: revenue = quantity * price. Defaults to 1
price Required. Double. The price of the products purchased, and this can be negative. Note: revenue = quantity * price. Defaults to null.
revenueType Optional, but required for revenue verification. String. The revenue type (for example, tax, refund, income). Defaults to null.
receipt Optional. String. The receipt identifier of the revenue. For example, "123456". Defaults to null.
receiptSignature Optional, but required for revenue verification. String. Defaults to null.

Custom user ID

If your app has its own login system that you want to track users with, you can call setUserId at any time.

amplitude.setUserId(userId: "user@amplitude.com")

Custom device ID

You can assign a new device ID using deviceId. When setting a custom device ID, make sure the value is sufficiently unique. Amplitude recommends using a UUID.

amplitude.setDeviceId(NSUUID().uuidString)

Reset when user logs out

reset is a shortcut to anonymize users after they log out, by:

  • setting userId to null
  • setting deviceId to a new value based on current configuration

With an empty userId and a completely new deviceId, the current user would appear as a brand new user in dashboard.

amplitude.reset()

Amplitude SDK plugin

Plugins allow you to extend Amplitude SDK's behavior by, for example, modifying event properties (enrichment type) or sending to a third-party APIs (destination type). A plugin is an object with methods setup() and execute().

Plugin.setup

This method contains logic for preparing the plugin for use and has amplitude instance as a parameter. The expected return value is null. A typical use for this method, is to instantiate plugin dependencies. This method is called when the plugin is registered to the client via amplitude.add().

Plugin.execute

This method contains the logic for processing events and has event instance as parameter. If used as enrichment type plugin, the expected return value is the modified/enriched event. If used as a destination type plugin, the expected return value is null. This method is called for each event, including Identify, GroupIdentify and Revenue events, that's instrumented using the client interface.

Plugin examples

Enrichment type plugin

Here's an example of a plugin that modifies each event that's instrumented by adding extra event property.

class EnrichmentPlugin: Plugin {
    let type: PluginType
    var amplitude: Amplitude?

    init() {
        self.type = PluginType.enrichment
    }

    func setup(amplitude: Amplitude) {
        self.amplitude = amplitude
    }

    func execute(event: BaseEvent?) -> BaseEvent? {
        event?.sessionId = -1
        if event?.eventProperties == nil {
            event?.eventProperties = [:]
        }
        event?.eventProperties?["event prop key"] = "event prop value"
        return event
    }
}

amplitude.add(plugin: EnrichmentPlugin())

Destination type plugin

In destination plugin, you are able to overwrite the track(), identify(), groupIdentify(), revenue(), flush() functions.

class TestDestinationPlugin: DestinationPlugin {
    override func track(event: BaseEvent) -> BaseEvent? {
        return event
    }

    override func identify(event: IdentifyEvent) -> IdentifyEvent? {
        return event
    }

    override func groupIdentify(event: GroupIdentifyEvent) -> GroupIdentifyEvent? {
        return event
    }

    override func revenue(event: RevenueEvent) -> RevenueEvent? {
        return event
    }

    override func flush() {
    }

    override func setup(amplitude: Amplitude) {
        self.amplitude = amplitude
    }

    override func execute(event: BaseEvent?) -> BaseEvent? {
        return event
    }
}

Advanced topics

User sessions

A session on iOS is a period of time that a user has the app in the foreground.

Amplitude groups events together by session. Events that are logged within the same session have the same session_id. Sessions are handled automatically so you don't have to manually call startSession() or endSession().

You can adjust the time window for which sessions are extended. The default session expiration time is 30 minutes.

let amplitude = Amplitude(
    configuration: Configuration(
        apiKey: "YOUR-API-KEY",
        minTimeBetweenSessionsMillis: 1000
    )
)

By default, Amplitude automatically sends the '[Amplitude] Start Session' and '[Amplitude] End Session' events. Even though these events aren't sent, sessions are still tracked by using session_id. You can also disable those session events.

let amplitude = Amplitude(
    configuration: Configuration(
        apiKey: "YOUR-API-KEY",
        trackingSessionEvents: false
    )
)

You can define your own session expiration time. The default session expiration time is 30 minutes.

let amplitude = Amplitude(
    configuration: Configuration(
        apiKey: "YOUR-API-KEY",
        minTimeBetweenSessionsMillis: 100000
    )
)

Set custom user ID

If your app has its own login system that you want to track users with, you can call setUserId at any time.

amplitude.setUserId(userId: "USER_ID")

Don't assign users a user ID that could change, because each unique user ID is a unique user in Amplitude. Learn more about how Amplitude tracks unique users in the Help Center.

Log level

You can control the level of logs that print to the developer console.

  • 'OFF': Suppresses all log messages.
  • 'ERROR': Shows error messages only.
  • 'WARN': Shows error messages and warnings. This level logs issues that might be a problem and cause some oddities in the data. For example, this level would display a warning for properties with null values.
  • 'LOG': Shows informative messages about events.
  • 'DEBUG': Shows error messages, warnings, and informative messages that may be useful for debugging.

Set the log level logLevel with the level you want.

amplitude.logger?.logLevel = LogLevelEnum.LOG.rawValue

Logged out and anonymous users

Amplitude merges user data, so any events associated with a known userId or deviceId are linked the existing user. If a user logs out, Amplitude can merge that user's logged-out events to the user's record. You can change this behavior and log those events to an anonymous user instead.

To log events to an anonymous user:

  1. Set the userId to null.
  2. Generate a new deviceId.

Events coming from the current user or device appear as a new user in Amplitude. Note: If you do this, you can't see that the two users were using the same device.

amplitude.reset();

Disable tracking

By default the iOS SDK tracks several user properties such as carrier, city, country, ip_address, language, and platform. Use the provided TrackingOptions interface to customize and toggle individual fields. Before initializing the SDK with your apiKey, create a TrackingOptions instance with your configuration and set it on the SDK instance.

let trackingOptions = TrackingOptions()
trackingOptions.disableCity().disableIpAddress().disableLatLng()
let amplitude = Amplitude(
    configuration: Configuration(
        apiKey: "YOUR-API-KEY",
        trackingOptions: trackingOptions
    )
)

Tracking for each field can be individually controlled, and has a corresponding method (for example, disableCountry, disableLanguage).

Method
Description
disableAdid() Disable tracking of Google ADID
disableCarrier() Disable tracking of device's carrier
disableCity() Disable tracking of user's city
disableCountry() Disable tracking of user's country
disableDeviceBrand() Disable tracking of device brand
disableDeviceModel() Disable tracking of device model
disableDma() Disable tracking of user's designated market area (DMA).
disableIpAddress() Disable tracking of user's IP address
disableLanguage() Disable tracking of device's language
disableLatLng() Disable tracking of user's current latitude and longitude coordinates
disableOsName() Disable tracking of device's OS Name
disableOsVersion() Disable tracking of device's OS Version
disablePlatform() Disable tracking of device's platform
disableRegion() Disable tracking of user's region.
disableVersionName() Disable tracking of your app's version name

Note

Using TrackingOptions only prevents default properties from being tracked on newly created projects, where data has not yet been sent. If you have a project with existing data that you want to stop collecting the default properties for, get help in the Amplitude Community. Disabling tracking doesn't delete any existing data in your project.

Carrier

Amplitude determines the user's mobile carrier using CTTelephonyNetworkInfo, which returns the registered operator of the sim.

COPPA control

COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) restrictions on IDFA, IDFV, city, IP address and location tracking can all be enabled or disabled at one time. Apps that ask for information from children under 13 years of age must comply with COPPA.

let amplitude = Amplitude(
    configuration: Configuration(
        apiKey: "YOUR-API-KEY",
        enableCoppaControl: true
    )
)

Advertiser ID

Advertiser ID (also referred to as IDFA) is a unique identifier provided by the iOS and Google Play stores. As it's unique to every person and not just their devices, it's useful for mobile attribution.  Mobile attribution is the attribution of an installation of a mobile app to its original source (such as ad campaign, app store search). Mobile apps need permission to ask for IDFA, and apps targeted to children can't track at all. Consider using IDFV, device ID, or an email login system when IDFA isn't available.

To retrieve the IDFA and add it to the tracking events, you can follow this example plugin to implement your own plugin.

Location tracking

Amplitude converts the IP of a user event into a location (GeoIP lookup) by default. This information may be overridden by an app's own tracking solution or user data.

Opt users out of tracking

Users may wish to opt out of tracking entirely, which means Amplitude doesn't track any of their events or browsing history. OptOut provides a way to fulfill a user's requests for privacy.

let amplitude = Amplitude(
    configuration: Configuration(
        apiKey: "YOUR-API-KEY",
        optOut: true
    )
)

Set log callback

Implements a customized loggerProvider class from the LoggerProvider, and pass it in the configuration during the initialization to help with collecting any error messages from the SDK in a production environment.

class SampleLogger: Logger {
    typealias LogLevel = LogLevelEnum

    var logLevel: Int

    init(logLevel: Int = LogLevelEnum.OFF.rawValue) {
        self.logLevel = logLevel
    }

    func error(message: String) {
        // TODO: handle error message
    }

    func warn(message: String) {
        // TODO: handle warn message
    }

    func log(message: String) {
        // TODO: handle log message
    }

    func debug(message: String) {
        // TODO: handle debug message
    }
}

let amplitude = Amplitude(
    configuration: Configuration(
        apiKey: "YOUR-API-KEY",
        loggerProvider: SampleLogger()
    )
)

More resources

If you have any problems or issues with the SDK, create a GitHub issue or submit a request on Amplitude Help.


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