Self-tracking lets Countly record how your own team uses the dashboard, in a project you choose. You can see how often people use Countly, which pages they open, and, if you want, who they are. That helps you plan maintenance at quiet times and support the people who rely on the dashboard.
Classic Version
This guide describes Countly 27.0. For the classic version, choose v26.01 in the version menu at the top of this page.
Understanding What Self-Tracking Records
You choose what is recorded in the Self-tracking group of the Tracking settings:
- Track dashboard sessions records how often people use the dashboard.
- Track dashboard views records which dashboard pages people visit.
- Track dashboard feedback records the feedback people submit inside the dashboard.
- Device ID policy decides which identifier stands for a dashboard user in the recorded data.
The Usage mode decides whether people are named. Anonymous records usage without names. Members records each person's name, username, and e-mail address, so you can see who uses what.
The Server-side tracking group can add the server's own sessions, events, crashes, views, feedback, and user details to the same project.
Data Points
Self-tracking events count toward your data-point allowance, so turn on only what you need.
Turning On Self-Tracking
- Create a project just for the usage data, so it does not mix with your real app data. In the top bar, go to Manage > Projects to create it.
- In the top bar, go to Manage > Settings and open the Tracking section.
- Under Connection, set Usage project to the project you created. To send the data to another Countly server instead, choose Remote project and enter both the Remote server URL and the Remote app key.
- Choose a Usage mode, then turn on what you want to record under Self-tracking.
- Review your changes and save them.
Seeing the Results
The recorded usage arrives in the usage project like any other data. In the Tracking section, Create a usage dashboard builds a dashboard of how your team uses Countly: sessions, the features people open, and the changes they make.
Apply event schema to the usage project adds the dashboard's events to that project's schema, so once schema validation is switched on for the server, events that do not match are flagged.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Is Nothing Recorded?
Check that a Usage project is selected and that at least one tracking option is on. If your license turns tracking off, Countly sends nothing.
Why Does One Person Show Several Sessions?
One person who uses Countly in several browsers can show as overlapping sessions. A reload within 15 seconds continues the same session.