Understanding mobile application monitoring: Benefits, implementation, and troubleshooting tips

Mobile applications have become integral and ubiquitous in the modern world. As these applications grow in complexity and importance, it becomes imperative to ensure their optimal performance and usability. This is typically done through Mobile Application Monitoring (MAM).

Mobile application monitoring is the process of tracking the performance, usage, and overall health of mobile apps in real time. It helps developers and businesses identify issues like crashes, slow response times, and bugs that can affect user experience.

This piece covers the benefits of mobile application monitoring, explains how to implement it, and shares troubleshooting tips to address common challenges.

Benefits of mobile application monitoring

Let’s start by looking at some key advantages of monitoring mobile applications:

Improved performance tracking

Monitoring tools allow you to track the performance of your app in real time. You can measure response times, load times, and any lags users may face. This helps you quickly spot performance issues and resolve them before they can snowball into larger, engagement-impacting problems.

Error and crash detection

One of the most important benefits is the ability to detect errors and crashes. Monitoring tools log crashes as they happen, with all the insights you need to find the root cause. This allows for quicker bug fixes and updates.

Optimized resource usage

Mobile apps rely on different resources, such as CPU, memory, and battery life. When you regularly monitor these resources, you can identify avenues to optimize your app’s performance, such as ensuring it doesn’t use up too much processing power or drain battery life unnecessarily.

Real-time alerts and notifications

Monitoring systems can send real-time alerts when critical issues arise. This allows you to address problems as they happen, minimizing downtime and user complaints. Fast responses to issues are key in maintaining a high level of app quality.

Better security

Mobile app monitoring can detect potential security vulnerabilities or suspicious activity within your app. For example, a monitoring tool may flag unauthorized network traffic, unusual user behavior, or signs of data breaches. This helps prevent security incidents and protect your users' sensitive information.

Increased customer satisfaction

By keeping your app performing well, and quickly addressing any issues, you can increase overall customer satisfaction. Happy users are more likely to leave positive reviews and remain loyal to your app.

Key metrics to focus on

To cover all bases, there are several key metric categories you should focus on. This section discusses these categories, along with examples of specific metrics within each.

Performance metrics

Performance metrics track how efficiently your app operates and how quickly it responds to user actions. These metrics help identify issues that may impact the overall app experience:

• App start time: How long it takes for the app to fully load after being opened.
• Throughput: The number of user requests or actions the app can handle within a specific timeframe.
• CPU usage: Monitors the app’s impact on device performance by measuring its CPU consumption.

Crash metrics

Crash metrics focus on identifying app failures and understanding the reasons behind crashes. Here are some examples:

• Crash rate: The percentage of sessions that result in a crash.
• Crash-free sessions: The percentage of app sessions that are free from crashes.
• Error rate: The number of errors encountered by users during their sessions.

User experience metrics

These metrics help assess how users interact with the app, to provide insights into usability and engagement. Examples include:

• User retention rate: The percentage of long-term users of the app.
• Session length: The average time spent by users on the app during a typical session.
• Active users: The number of daily, weekly, or monthly active users engaging with the app.
• App launch frequency: The number of times users launch the app.

Network and connectivity metrics

These metrics are critical for apps that rely on internet connections, as they track how network performance impacts the app’s behavior. Focus on these network metrics:

• Network latency: The time taken by data to make its way from the server to the user’s device, and vice versa.
• Data transfer rate: The amount of data being uploaded and downloaded by the app.
• Connection errors: The number of times the app fails to establish a network connection.

Resource usage metrics

Resource usage metrics show how the app consumes device resources, such as battery life, memory, and data, which can affect performance and user satisfaction.

• Battery usage: How much battery power the app consumes during use.
• Memory usage: How much memory (RAM) the app uses on the device.
• Disk space usage: How much storage space the app occupies on the user’s device.

Security metrics

Security metrics help ascertain whether the app is protected against potential threats and vulnerabilities.

• Failed logins: The number of unsuccessful login attempts, which could indicate a security threat.
• Authentication success rate: How often users successfully log in to the app.
• Unusual activity: Monitors any unexpected or suspicious user behavior that could indicate a breach.

Revenue metrics

Revenue metrics are crucial for understanding the financial success of your app, especially for apps that generate income through in-app purchases, ads, or subscriptions.

• In-app purchase revenue: Total revenue generated from purchases made within the app.
• Average revenue per user (ARPU): Average income earned from each user over a set period.
• Ad impressions and click-through rate (CTR): Number of ad views and the percentage of users who click on ads.
• Customer lifetime value (CLV): Total predicted revenue from a user over their entire relationship with the app.
• Conversion rate: Percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or subscribing.

Tools for efficient monitoring

This section highlights two popular tools for MAM.

Site24x7 Mobile App Monitoring

Site24x7 is a comprehensive monitoring tool that offers mobile app monitoring as part of its suite. It allows you to track critical metrics like app performance and start (load) time for apps built in Android, iOS, React Native, and Flutter. Site24x7 also supports real-time alerts and in-depth reporting for mobile applications.

Here’s how to get started on Android:

1. Log in to your Site24x7 account. Then select APM > Add Mobile APM.
2. Then select Add Application.
3. Enter the Display Name and set the Apdex Threshold.
4. Select a Threshold and Availability profile, or let the default one apply.
5. Click Notification Profile. Decide whether you want to use the default profile or create a new one.
6. Select Save when done.
7. Now when you go to APM Insight -> Mobile APM, you’ll be able to view your app’s data.

How to implement mobile application monitoring

Now that you know the key metrics and the recommended monitoring tools, let’s look at a detailed guide on how to implement mobile application monitoring:

Step 1: Choose the right monitoring tool

The first step is to select a monitoring tool that suits your needs. Your choice should depend on your app’s platform, the metrics you want to track, and the complexity of your app.

Step 2: Integrate the monitoring SDK

Once you’ve chosen a monitoring tool, the next step is to integrate the SDK into your mobile app. This SDK will be used for collecting performance data, tracking errors, and monitoring user behavior.

Step 3: Enable Monitoring Features

Once the SDK is integrated, configure specific monitoring features based on the tool you are using. For example:

• Enable performance metrics like app load time, response time, and network latency.
• Set up automatic crash reporting to capture any errors or crashes that may occur during a user session.
• Track user interactions, session lengths, and retention rates to understand user behavior.

For most tools, such features can be enabled directly from the platform's dashboard, or by writing simple configurations within the app code.

Step 4: Deploy the app

Once all monitoring features are configured, test your app thoroughly in a staging environment to ascertain whether the SDK is functioning properly. Then deploy the app to production. At this point, the monitoring tool will automatically start collecting data from real user interactions.

Step 5: Set up alerts and notifications

Most monitoring tools allow you to configure alerts and notifications when specific thresholds are exceeded. For example:

• Crash alerts: Receive real-time notifications whenever your app crashes.
• Performance alerts: Get notified when the app's load time exceeds a certain limit.
• Network issue alerts: Get alerts if the app experiences high network latency or connection failures.

You can configure these alerts via the tool’s dashboard, and decide whether to receive them via email, SMS, or other messaging apps.

Step 6: Inspect monitoring data

Once your app is live, you can begin inspecting the monitoring data that your tool collects. For example, here’s how you can inspect performance data:

Navigate to the performance section of your monitoring tool’s dashboard:

• Review app load times: See how long your app takes to load across different devices and locations.
• Analyze response times: Check the average response time for different app interactions and identify slow-performing areas.
• Network monitoring: Look at the latency and speed of API requests, and determine if there are any regions where network performance is lagging.

Step 7: Optimize based on data

The real power of mobile application monitoring comes from using the data to improve your app. For example, if your app’s load or response time is too slow, investigate and optimize areas of the app that are dragging down performance. Similarly, you can use crash reports to debug and fix errors in real time.

Troubleshooting common mobile application issues

Mobile applications can often run into issues that can impact performance, user experience, and functionality. Let’s dissect some common types of issues:

Performance issues

Performance problems can range from slow app load times to laggy interactions or crashes during use.

Troubleshooting tips

• Use monitoring tools to track app startup times. If the load time is slow, optimize your code, reduce the number of dependencies, or minimize large resource files (e.g., images).
• Slow network requests can cause delays. Consider caching data locally, using compression for network requests, and reducing the number of API calls.
• Memory leaks can also degrade performance over time. Use monitoring tools to identify areas in the app where memory is not properly released, and fine-tune those areas.

Crashes and errors

Crashes can occur due to unhandled exceptions, memory overload, or faulty logic. Errors that don’t crash the app but degrade the experience (e.g., missing data or broken features) are equally harmful.

Troubleshooting tips

• Use crash reporting tools like Site24x7 Crash Analytics to get detailed crash logs, including stack traces. Analyze these to find the root cause of the crash and resolve the error.
• Simulate wide-ranging scenarios, such as low memory, poor network connections, or different device sizes. These edge cases often expose hidden errors or crash risks.
• Ensure that you are handling exceptions gracefully. Avoid unhandled exceptions by writing defensive code and catching errors where necessary.

Network-related issues

Network issues such as timeouts, high latency, or dropped connections can affect app functionality, especially for apps that rely heavily on external APIs.

Troubleshooting tips

• Use monitoring tools to track network performance, including latency and failed requests. If latency is high, try switching to a more reliable server or optimizing API response times.
• When network requests fail due to poor connectivity, implement retry logic that allows the app to make multiple attempts to reconnect.
• Implement offline support, such as local data caching, to allow users to continue using the app even when their connection is weak or lost.

Battery drain issues

Mobile app users often complain about excessive battery consumption. Battery drain issues are often caused by background processes, frequent network calls, or poor power management.

Troubleshooting tips

• Limit your app’s background activity. Disable unnecessary background services, and reduce the frequency of background tasks.
• Constant use of GPS, accelerometer, or other sensors can drain battery life. Limit the use of sensors and activate them only when necessary.
• Frequent network requests can also drain battery life. Optimize network calls by batching requests, using data compression, and avoiding frequent polling of APIs.

Security issues

Security vulnerabilities can expose user data or lead to unauthorized access, resulting in user distrust and potential legal issues.

Troubleshooting tips

• Regularly check for security patches and updates in your libraries or frameworks. Use monitoring tools that can detect potential vulnerabilities or outdated dependencies.
• Ensure that sensitive data, both in transit and at rest, is encrypted. Use HTTPS for all network communications.
• Implement proper authentication methods, such as OAuth or multi-factor authentication, to protect user accounts and prevent unauthorized access.

Mobile application monitoring best practices

Finally, here are some best practices that you should follow for effective mobile app monitoring:

• Regularly track the most crucial metrics, such as performance, user engagement, crashes, and network activity. Consistent monitoring provides insights into the overall health of your app and highlights trends or anomalies that need attention.
• Make sure to test your app on a wide range of devices, screen sizes, and OS versions. This prevents compatibility issues and ensures that your app delivers a consistent experience across different environments.
• Use detailed and structured logs to capture critical events and errors in your app. Efficient logging allows you to trace issues back to their source and resolve them faster.
• Stay up to date with the latest versions of libraries, SDKs, and frameworks. Regular updates guarantee better security, performance improvements, and compatibility with new operating systems.
• Perform regular load testing to understand how your app handles high traffic and stress. This helps in the timely identification and resolution of bottlenecks.
• Keep an eye on user reviews and feedback from app stores. User comments can provide insights into real-world issues and performance problems that may not show up in monitoring tools.

Conclusion

Mobile application monitoring is a crucial aspect of ensuring the success and reliability of your mobile applications. By actively tracking key metrics, using the right tools, and following best practices, developers can identify issues early, prevent crashes, and ensure a seamless user experience.

To implement MAM for your Android, iOS, React Native, or Flutter app, check out the Mobile Application Monitoring solution by Site24x7.