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Using the Mobile Recordings Dashboard in VWO

Sakthi R
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About the Mobile Recordings Dashboard

The Mobile Recordings dashboard is a comprehensive platform where you can access, create and manage the recorded sessions of all your visitor interactions within your mobile application. To access the Mobile Recordings dashboard, go to  Insights > Mobile Recordings.

Using the Mobile Recordings dashboard, you can typically do the following:

  • Enable data collection 
  • Configure data collection
  • View recordings
  • Save/Delete/Share recordings
  • Filter recordings

Enable and Configure Data Collection for Recordings

Primarily, you need to configure the Mobile Recordings to enable the data collection for the same. While onboarding, you will be able to see an Enable and Configure button. Clicking on that will display the configuration settings to be applied for your recordings. 

NOTE: Post onboarding, you can access the Configuration settings at any time by clicking on ⚙ on the Mobile Recordings page.

If you wish to configure your Mobile Recordings later, click on I’ll do it later. Otherwise, proceed with the configuration as follows:

Anonymize all key presses

All key presses of the visitors are mandatorily anonymized by default. This cannot be modified.
Record app's state of nonresponsiveness

Sometimes, certain actions like uploading heavy data files or downloading them from your mobile application could render it unresponsive. To analyze the reasons behind such events, select this option to record the sessions when your app stays nonresponsive for more than 5 seconds. This option is selected by default.

TIP: You can also filter the recordings of this event using the Custom Segments section. Refer to How to Filter Mobile Recordings in VWO for more details.
Record application crashes

Select this option to record the sessions when your app crashes. This option is selected by default.

INFO: You can access the stack trace for the crash events by following the steps mentioned here.
TIP: You can also filter the recordings of this event using the Custom Segments section. Refer to How to Filter Mobile Recordings in VWO for more details.
Exclude elements/sections from screen recording

Select this option to restrict the recording of specific screens. You can even restrict the appearance of certain select elements on a screen. This enables you to hide a text or a UI element like a checkbox, button, or field. You can use the following options from the dropdown to define these elements:

  • Screen - Use this option to specify the screen that is to be excluded from being recorded.
  • Tag - Use this option to define select UI elements on the screen to be excluded from being captured. For example, if you want to hide a specific button out of several buttons on the screen, you can mention the tag corresponding to that button, as specified in your screen’s code.
    ATTENTION: Before mentioning a tag here, you need to ensure that the tag is not shared with another element that you’re not looking to exclude from being captured.
  • View - Use this option to define the type of UI elements like checkboxes or buttons to exclude all of their instances across the screen from being captured. For example, if you want to hide all the input fields or buttons in the screen, you can mention “input” or “button”, respectively. Should you require adding more elements to this list, use a comma (,) to separate them.
  • Text - Use this option to define the texts to be excluded from being captured. For example, if you want to hide all the instances of a specific text across the screen or a specific sentence, you can mention the same here. This field is case insensitive and can match with the element names, as well.
    ATTENTION: Exercise caution while mentioning the name of an element here, as it can exclude the entire element on the screen from being captured.
NOTE: If you do not specify any view, tag, or text for a given screen, then VWO will exclude the screen altogether.

You can add several screens by clicking on exclude another screen as many times as you require. You can delete a view, tag, or text by clicking on the ‘X’ against them. Or, you can use the ‘-’ button against each of the fields to remove them altogether.
Target specific visitor group for screen recordings

Select this option to configure the segments of visitors whose sessions you want to record.

You can choose a predefined segment template from Standard Segments or create a custom segmentation criteria from the Custom Segment section.

The following are the options you can avail of under Standard Segments:

  • Phone Users - To target the visitors who use the app on phones.
  • Tablet Users - To target the visitors who use the app on tablets.
  • New Users - To target the visitors who use the app for the first time.
  • Returning Users - To target the visitors who have already used the app.

The following are the options you can avail of under Custom Segment to create your own custom segmentation criteria:

  • Operating System - To target the visitors based on the operating system of their device.
  • Device Type - To target the visitors based on the type of device.
  • App Version - To target the visitors based on the version of the mobile app.
  • iOS Version - To target the visitors based on the iOS version of their devices.
  • Screen Width - To target the visitors based on the width of their device screen.
  • Screen Height - To target the visitors based on the height of their device screen.
  • Android Version - To target the visitors based on the Android version of their devices.
  • Day of Week - To target the visitors who arrive on a specific day in a week.
  • Hour of the Day - To target the visitors who arrive at a specific hour in the day.
  • Visitor Type - To target new or returning visitors.
  • Location - To target the visitors based on their geographical location.
  • Custom Variable - To target the visitors who satiate the values of the custom variables that you specify.
  • Network Speed - To target the visitors based on their network speed.
  • Battery Percentage - To target the visitors based on the percentage of battery charge remaining in their device at the given time.

To learn how to use segmentation in VWO, click here.

Post configuring, click Save and Enable to apply the settings to your Mobile Recordings. 

NOTE: If you’re accessing the Configuration settings post onboarding, you will have to save the changes by clicking on the Save button.

Now, you need to integrate the VWO SDK into your application to start capturing your visitor sessions. As a developer, you can integrate the SDK using the API key. To do that, click on ⚙, navigate to the SDK key area, copy the Android API Key and paste it into your mobile application’s source code. For more details on the steps to do this, refer to this link.

After all the settings are done, click on Start data collection to start recording the sessions. 

NOTE: If you start the data collection without configuring your Mobile Recordings, VWO applies the default settings for recordings.

You can pause the recording of sessions by clicking on Pause data collection > Yes, Disable Recordings.

Should you require flushing all your Mobile Recordings data, click Flush all data > Yes, Flush Data.

ATTENTION: Flushing your Mobile Recordings data will result in the permanent deletion of the data, which will be irreversible.

Viewing and Managing Mobile Recordings

If you’re accessing the Mobile Recordings page at any time after configuring it, you will be able to view the list of recordings captured on your mobile application. If you are in the Configuration section, you can simply click on ⚙ to close it to view the list of Mobile Recordings.

The Mobile Recordings page typically displays the following:

Header

This displays the following:

  • Sessions - Total number of visitor sessions recorded
  • Screens - Total number of screens recorded
  • Share Report - Allows you to share the report with someone for further analysis or discussion. This option typically shares all of the recorded mobile sessions that you have in your account.
    NOTE: The report receiver can only play all the available recordings and the saved recordings. They cannot filter, share or download them.
  • Settings - Allows you to configure the session recordings
  • Data Retention - Displays the retention period of your recordings. But saved recordings can stay as long as you want to hold them. However, the data retention period and the number of recordings that you can save are dependent on your VWO plan.
  • Data Collection Status - Displays the status of data collection
Timeline Displays the timeline of the events performed in the Mobile Recordings
List of recordings
 Displays the list of visitor session recordings captured on your mobile application

List_of_recordings.png

The list of Mobile Recordings primarily consists of two parts - the list and the filters.

The list populates the recordings based on your filter criteria. You can configure the filter date-wise and segment-wise.

Each member of the list of recordings features the following details:

  • The location where the mobile device has been used.
  • The number of activities (screens on your app) viewed by the visitor during the session.
  • The duration of the recorded session.
  • The type of device (mobile or tablet) used by the visitor during the session.
  • The operating system of the device used by a visitor during the session.
  • The date and time at which the recording has been created.
NOTE: The time zone displayed here is the one that you have set under Settings > Campaign > Locale Settings > Timezone.
INFO: You can sort the list by activities, created date, and duration by clicking on the appropriate column on the header row.

You can set the limit for the number of recordings (10, 20, 50, or 100) to be displayed per page via the Change Sessions Display Count field. 

To navigate through the pages of your mobile recordings, use the Previous Page and the Next Page options correspondingly.

To view a recording, click on the corresponding Play button. You can save, delete or share the link to the recording by clicking on the vertical ellipsis (⋮) and selecting the respective options.

Recordings_List_Ellipsis.png

You can select any number of recordings by clicking on the checkbox against them. To select all of the recordings on a given page, simply click on the checkbox at the header. Selecting the recordings allows you to save or delete them in a bunch using the Save and Delete buttons that appear at the header post selection. 

Select_all_recordings.png

NOTE: All your saved recordings will appear under Saved Recordings. These recordings will stay beyond the stipulated data retention period for as long as you retain them. However, the number of recordings that you can save is subjective to your VWO plan.

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