This library uses an internal queue to make calls fast and non-blocking. It also batches requests and flushes asynchronously, making it perfect to use in any part of your mobile app.
Installation
PostHog is available through CocoaPods and Carthage or you can add it as a Swift Package Manager based dependency.
CocoaPods
pod "PostHog", "~> 1.1"
Carthage
github "posthog/posthog-ios"
Swift Package Manager
Add PostHog as a dependency in your Xcode project "Package Dependencies" and select the project target for your app, as appropriate.
For a Swift Package Manager based project, add PostHog as a dependency in your "Package.swift" file's Package dependencies section:
dependencies: [.package(url: "https://github.com/PostHog/posthog-ios.git", from: "2.0.0")],
and then as a dependency for the Package target utilizing PostHog:
.target(name: "myApp",dependencies: [.product(name: "PostHog", package: "posthog-ios")]),
Configuration
With Objective-C
#import <PostHog/PHGPostHog.h>#import <PostHog/PHGPostHogConfiguration.h>// on posthog.comPHGPostHogConfiguration *configuration = [PHGPostHogConfiguration configurationWithApiKey:@"YOUR_API_KEY"];// self-hostedPHGPostHogConfiguration *configuration = [PHGPostHogConfiguration configurationWithApiKey:@"YOUR_API_KEY"host:@"https://app.posthog.com"];configuration.captureApplicationLifecycleEvents = YES; // Record certain application events automatically!configuration.recordScreenViews = YES; // Record screen views automatically![PHGPostHog setupWithConfiguration:configuration];
With Swift
import PostHog// `host` is optional if you use PostHog Cloud (app.posthog.com)let configuration = PHGPostHogConfiguration(apiKey: "<ph_project_api_key>", host: "<ph_instance_address>")configuration.captureApplicationLifecycleEvents = true; // Record certain application events automatically!configuration.recordScreenViews = true; // Record screen views automatically!PHGPostHog.setup(with: configuration)let posthog = PHGPostHog.shared()
Making calls
Identify
We highly recommend reading our section on Identifying users to better understand how to correctly use this method.
When you start tracking events with PostHog, each user gets an anonymous ID that is used to identify them in the system.
In order to link this anonymous user with someone from your database, use the identify
call.
Identify lets you add metadata to your users so you can easily identify who they are in PostHog, as well as do things like segment users by these properties.
An identify call requires:
distinct_id
which uniquely identifies your user in your databaseproperties
with a dictionary of key:value pairs
For example:
// in objective-c[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] identify:@"distinct_id_from_your_database"properties:@{ @"name": @"Peter Griffin",@"email": @"peter@familyguy.com" }];
// in swiftposthog.identify("user_id_from_your_database",properties: ["name": "Peter Griffin", "email": "peter@familyguy.com"])
The most obvious place to make this call is whenever a user signs up, or when they update their information.
When you call identify
, all previously tracked anonymous events will be linked to the user.
Capture
Capture allows you to send events related to anything a user does within your system, which you can later use in PostHog to find patterns in usage, work out which features to improve, or find out where people are giving up.
A capture
call requires:
event name
to specify the event- We recommend using [noun][verb], like
movie played
ormovie updated
to easily identify what your events mean later on.
- We recommend using [noun][verb], like
Optionally you can submit:
properties
, which can be an array with any information you'd like to add
For example:
// in objective-c[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] capture:@"Signed Up" properties:@{ @"plan": @"Pro++" }];
// in swiftposthog.capture("Signed Up", properties: ["plan": "Pro++"])
Setting user properties via an event
To set properties on your users via an event, you can leverage the event properties $set
and $set_once
.
$set
Example
[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] capture:@"Signed Up" properties:@{ @"plan": @"Pro++", @"$set":@{ @"userProp": "value1" } }];
posthog.capture("Signed Up", properties: ["plan": "Pro++", "$set": ["userProp": "value1"] ])
Usage
When capturing an event, you can pass a property called $set
as an event property, and specify its value to be an object with properties to be set on the user that will be associated with the user who triggered the event.
$set_once
Example
[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] capture:@"Signed Up" properties:@{ @"plan": @"Pro++", @"$set_once":@{ @"userProp": "value1" } }];
posthog.capture("Signed Up", properties: ["plan": "Pro++", "$set_once": ["userProp": "value1"] ])
Usage
$set_once
works just like $set
, except that it will only set the property if the user doesn't already have that property set.
Flush
You can set the number of events in the configuration that should queue before flushing.
Setting this to 1
will send events immediately and will use more battery. This is set to 20
by default.
configuration.flushAt = 1;
You can also manually flush the queue:
[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] capture:@"Logged Out"];[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] flush]
posthog.capture('Logged Out')posthog.flush()
Reset
To reset the user's ID and anonymous ID, call reset
. Usually you would do this right after the user logs out.
[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] reset]
posthog.reset()
Sending screen views
With configuration.recordScreenViews
set as YES
, PostHog will try to record all screen changes automatically.
If you want to manually send a new screen capture event, use the screen
function.
[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] screen:@"Dashboard" properties:@{ @"fromIcon": @"bottom" }];
posthog.screen("Dashboard", properties: ["fromIcon": "bottom"])
A note about IDFA (identifier for advertisers) collection in iOS 14
Starting with iOS 14, Apple will further restrict apps that track users. Any references to Apple's AdSupport framework, even in strings, will trip the App Store's static analysis.
Hence starting with posthog-ios version 1.2.0 we have removed all references to Apple's AdSupport framework.
Group analytics
Group analytics allows you to associate the events for that person's session with a group (e.g. teams, organizations, etc.). Read the Group Analytics guide for more information.
Note: This is a paid feature and is not available on the open-source or free cloud plan. Learn more here.
- Associate the events for this session with a group
[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] group:@"organization" groupKey:@"42dlsfj23f"];
posthog.group( "some-type", groupKey: "42dlsfj23f")
- Associate the events for this session with a group AND update the properties of that group
[[PHGPostHog sharedPostHog] group:@"organization" groupKey:@"42dlsfj23f" properties:@{ @"name": @"Awesome Inc." }];
posthog.group( "organization", groupKey: "42dlsfj23f", properties: ["name": "ACME Corp"])
The name
is a special property which is used in the PostHog UI for the name of the Group. If you don't specify a name
property, the group ID will be used instead.
Feature Flags
Feature Flags allow you to safely deploy and roll back new features.
Note: This requires minimum library version 2.0.0
Here's how you can use them:
- Check if a feature is enabled:
[[PHGPosthog sharedPostHog] isFeatureEnabled:@"keyword"];
posthog.isFeatureEnabled('keyword')
- Trigger a reload of the feature flags:
[[PHGPosthog sharedPostHog] reloadFeatureFlags];
posthog.reloadFeatureFlags()
- By default, this function will send a
$feature_flag_called
event to your instance every time it's called so you're able to do analytics.
Get a flag value
If you're using multivariate feature flags, you can also get the value of the flag, as well as whether or not it is enabled.
[[PHGPosthog sharedPostHog] getFeatureFlag:@"some-flag"];
posthog.getFeatureFlag("some-flag")
All configuration options
The configuration
element contains several other settings you can toggle:
/*** Whether the posthog client should use location services.* If `YES` and the host app hasn't asked for permission to use location services then the user will be* presented with an alert view asking to do so. `NO` by default. If `YES`, please make sure to add a* description for `NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription` in your `Info.plist` explaining why your app is* accessing Location APIs.*/configuration.shouldUseLocationServices = NO;/*** The number of queued events that the posthog client should flush at. Setting this to `1` will not queue* any events and will use more battery. `20` by default.*/configuration.flushAt = 20;/*** The amount of time to wait before each tick of the flush timer.* Smaller values will make events delivered in a more real-time manner and also use more battery.* A value smaller than 10 seconds will seriously degrade overall performance.* 30 seconds by default.*/configuration.flushInterval = 30;/*** The maximum number of items to queue before starting to drop old ones. This should be a value greater* than zero, the behaviour is undefined otherwise. `1000` by default.*/configuration.maxQueueSize = 1000;/*** Whether the posthog client should automatically make a capture call for application lifecycle events,* such as "Application Installed", "Application Updated" and "Application Opened".*/configuration.captureApplicationLifecycleEvents = NO;/*** Whether the posthog client should record bluetooth information. If `YES`, please make sure to add a* description for `NSBluetoothPeripheralUsageDescription` in your `Info.plist` explaining explaining why* your app is accessing Bluetooth APIs. `NO` by default.*/configuration.shouldUseBluetooth = NO;/*** Whether the posthog client should automatically make a screen call when a view controller is added to* a view hierarchy. Because the underlying implementation uses method swizzling, we recommend initializing* the posthog client as early as possible (before any screens are displayed), ideally during the* Application delegate's applicationDidFinishLaunching method.*/configuration.recordScreenViews = NO;/*** Whether the posthog client should automatically capture in-app purchases from the App Store.*/configuration.captureInAppPurchases = NO;/*** Whether the posthog client should automatically capture push notifications.*/configuration.capturePushNotifications = NO;/*** Whether the posthog client should automatically capture deep links. You'll still need to call the* continueUserActivity and openURL methods on the posthog client.*/configuration.captureDeepLinks = NO;/*** Whether the posthog client should include the `$device_id` property when sending events.* When enabled, `UIDevice`'s `identifierForVendor` property is used. Changing the value of* of this property after initializing the client will have no effect.* The default value is `YES`.*/configuration.shouldSendDeviceID = YES;
Thank you
This library is largely based on the analytics-ios
package.