Google is bringing its Analytics to mobile apps — both Android and iOS-based — to help give developers greater visibility into their apps’ performance.
The free tool to provide Google Analytics for mobile apps, called Mobile App Analytics, is being released in beta on Friday. The reports are designed to give developers (and the brands they work for) data about who is using the apps, how they’re using it and if that use is leading to purchases.
This is what information we have on the features of the Google Analytics for mobile apps tool.
New and Active Users
Isolates the number of new users and active users and identifies their country of origin and the devices they use to access the app.
Engagement
The average session duration and the number of screens accessed per session.
Google Play Referrals
Shows where people came from to download your app. Such stats aren’t available for iOS apps.
Devices and Network
A deeper dive into what devices people are using to access your app and what networks they’re using.
Engagement Flow
The path users take to move within your app.
Loyalty
Average session duration, the number of sessions, screens per session and the goal conversion rate. (Goal is set by the developer.)
Crashes and Exceptions
Downtime for the app.
Google’s motivation for providing such analytics for mobile is obvious: For the first time, customers began spending more time on mobile apps than the web last year, according to Flurry Analytics. Google itself is also putting more of its R&D behind mobile as evidenced by the introduction of Google Glass and the Nexus 7 Android tablet. However, this is a case in which Google’s role as an information provider trumps its mission to spread Android products. Since Google is providing metrics for iOS as well as Android, the company is in theory helping Apple app makers as much as it is helping Android developers.
Good news for both developers and marketers then.
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