Use the mobile debugger

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The mobile debugger tool is accessible to Pendo admins and lets you connect your application with Pendo, in the same way as you connect your device to the app for tagging pages. The debugger monitors events sent to Pendo in real-time. This is an alternative to using the setDebugMode() code level API, so you can monitor your events directly from the UI for troubleshooting purposes without the need to interact with the source code of your application.

Prerequisites

To connect to and use the UI debugger:

  • Make sure you have an established connection with Pendo’s server. Do this by calling PendoSDK.setup.
  • To see event analytics in the debugger after connecting, a valid session is needed, meaning the startSession()method must be called.
  • If you can’t connect or don’t see valid metadata in the UI, verify that you are logged into your application first, such that setup() and startSession() have been called in the installation flow before connecting your device.
  • The debugger requires an active session to work. Debugging issues that take place during or before the pendoSDK.setup phase of your installation requires using the debug API. For more information on using the debug API, see our mobile API documentation.

Access the mobile debugger

Subscription admins can access the debugger as follows:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Subscription Settings.
  2. In the Subscription settings page, select the Applications tab.
  3. Select the app you want to troubleshoot.
  4. In the App Details page, under Basic Bettings, select Debug.

Use the debugger

After accessing the debugger, you can connect your device to it. A modal prompting you to connect your device displays. You can also connect by scanning the QR code or, if you aren’t able to use your device camera, by copying the pairing link and pasting it into your device's browser. For more information, see Connect a mobile device.

If the device is paired successfully, a Pendo icon with a magnifying glass displays on your device’s screen.

If this icon doesn't show, or the magnifying glass isn't present, the device isn't connected or isn't in debug mode. Verify you have a valid session and try again, ensuring that your application is launched and you're logged in to your application beforehand.

Example use cases for the debugger

Example use cases include:

  • I'd like to see if Pendo recognizes the Page views and Feature click events.
  • I'd like to see what metadata is being added to my visitor at a certain point in my user journey.
  • I'd like to see if a track event is being sent when I expect it to.

Interpret information shown in the debugger

When your app has connected successfully, the debug tool displays three tabs, Logs, Events and Device Info. Each tab shows you different information about your current session.

The table provides details of the actions you can take in each tab:

Icon Details
match_icon.png

Relevant for Events only.

Matches events with Pages and Features that have been saved in your app.

delete_icon.png Delete items from the Log or Events list
copy_icon.png Copy items from the Log or Events list to an external file. You can select to copy all or select to copy an individual row in the each tab.

Logs

The Logs tab shows all SDK-related activity that's sent to Pendo, not just events that are related to the analytics shown in the Pendo One UI. You can filter these logs in the top-right corner of the Logs page. Logs are filtered by Warnings, Errors, Info, and Verbose - a collection of all logs together.

Logs tab.png

Events

The Events tab displays analytic event types that are used to display analytic data in the Pendo One UI. To filter the events, select an event type from the dropdown list in the top-right corner of the Events page.

events_tab.png

Select an individual event to view more detailed information about it.  

event_info.png

Event types include:

Navigation Analytics:

  • RAScreenView. Sent when viewing a screen.
  • RAScreenLeft. Sent when leaving a screen (for example, moving to a different application screen).
  • RAClick. Sent when clicking an element.

Guide Analytics:

  • guideReceived. Sent on init, while there are guides defined for that segment.
  • guideSeen. Sent when a guide is displayed.
  • guideActivity. Sent when you click button - actions for example: "next step".
  • guideAdvanced. Sent when moving away from a guide step.
  • guideNotSeen. Sent when a segment eligible guide isn't displayed due to failure (poor internet for downloading guide content, guide image error, etc.) or another guide was higher in the guide ordering/throttling configuration.
  • guideDismissed. Sent when closing a guide or when it's automatically dismissed.
  • pollResponse. Sent when a poll response is provided by the visitor.
  • guideSnoozed. Sent when you select a guide button with the Snooze Guide action.

Other Analytics:

  • UpdateUserAttributes. Sent when setting new visitor metadata attributes.
  • UpdateAccountAttributes. Sent when setting new account metadata attributes.
  • AppSessionStart. Sent when a new session starts or when setting a new visitorId for a current session.
  • AppSessionEnd. Sent when a new session ends or when setting a new visitorId, effectively ending the session of the previous visitorId. This event could be sent during the next session, as the SDK doesn't send events if the application is closed.
  • AppInBackground. Sent when moving application to the background.
  • AppInForeground. Sent when moving application to the foreground.
  • TrackEvent. Sent when a track event occurs.

Device info

The Device Info tab shows the current Visitor ID and Account ID, app version, and device information based on the most recent event received during the debug session. If the Visitor or Account IDs are missing, interact with the application to generate events. The Device Info page doesn't include the agent metadata values you've created.

device_info_tab.png

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