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Android FAQ

Here are a list of questions we commonly receive along with their answers. If you don't see your question here, or would like more clarification on one please reach out to use on Slack or email us at support@embrace.com.

Common Questions​

Crashes and ANRs​

Can I use other crash reporters in addition to the Embrace one?​

Yes, we add ourselves as a listener for uncaught JVM exceptions, but we pass on exceptions to any handler that was registered when we registered ours so that both listeners will receive the uncaught exceptions.

For NDK exceptions, we replace any existing signal handlers, which are used to capture C and C++ exceptions. Similarly, other NDK crash capture tools would be likely to replace our signal handlers if they are initialized after our SDK. It is therefore not recommended to enable more than one NDK crash reporting solution in your app as it will interfere with crash report quality.

What does it mean if I see Embrace in my ANR reports?​

The call stack that is reported for an ANR includes all processes running on the main thread at the time of an ANR. This way of classifying an ANR often misattributes the real culprit, as it tells you what is happening on the main thread at that moment, but doesn't point to the cause prior to the ANR. Embrace takes lightweight samples of the main thread up to 5 seconds before the occurrence of an ANR to show you what the thread was doing in that time. So, if you see Embrace in your ANR call stack, it's very likely the noise of the ANR reporter landing on the Embrace sampling methods.

Integrating​

The SDK should support API level 21 but, I get an error saying API level 24 is needed. What's wrong?​

Please verify that the following Gradle options are set. Additionally, please check if you're using the seancfoley/IPAddress library. You may be using a newer version of it which has a higher API level requirement.

compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
}

The SDK should support API level 21 but, I get an error saying I need to set android.useFullClasspathForDexingTransformAPI.​

A desugaring bug in old AGP versions results in runtime crashes on old devices when using Embrace. Therefore it's necessary to use AGP 8.3+ and add android.useFullClasspathForDexingTransform=true to your gradle.properties if your minSdk is below 24. Alternatively you can set your minSdk to 24 to avoid the problem.

How do I use Embrace functions in modules or libraries?​

In addition to performing the basic integration instructions, you must specify the Embrace SDK dependency directly in your module's Gradle file implementation 'io.embrace:embrace-android-sdk:<version>'. You still need to apply the Swazzler plugin in the app's Gradle file (apply plugin: 'embrace-swazzler') and verify that the Swazzler version set in your project Gradle file is the same as the version set for the SDK in the module’s Gradle file

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
        google()
    }
    dependencies {
        ...
        // <version> must match version in module file
        classpath 'io.embrace:embrace-swazzler:<version>'
    }
}

Is there a way that I can speed up build times?​

Yes, update to the latest version of the swazzler gradle plugin & ensure your AGP version exceeds 4.2.2. Newer AGP versions provide a more performant API for bytecode instrumentation.

What determines if a session is classified as prod or dev?​

A session is classified as dev if all of the following are true:

  • The buildType has the debuggable flag set to true in the app/build.gradle file.
  • The optional enableIntegrationTesting value passed to the SDK start method is true.
  • The debugger is attached (meaning you're running the app on a device or simulator with the Android Studio debugger attached).

How can I define custom app IDs for different build types?​

See this section on how to configure different app IDs.

Does Embrace work with Buck / OKBuck?​

Not currently. Please contact us at support@embrace.com or on Slack if you would like to request support.

I can see that the Embrace SDK has initiated, but there is no session data in the dashboard.​

A core aspect of the Embrace SDK is the ability to register as a listener to application lifecycle events. Sessions will not be recorded if the SDK is not alerted of lifecycle events.

Several customers have encountered the scenario in which they have mistakenly disabled the SDK's ability to listen for such events. In such cases, customer intervention is required to determine how the startup library was disabled and how to re-enable it.

Technical Examples

When using a version of 'appCompat' ≥ 1.4.1, the 'androidx.startup' library is used to initialise lifecycle event listeners. This is the same library used by WorkManager on Android.

In certain circumstances, an application may wish to deactivate the default WorkManager startup in order to implement its own. In the Android documentation , two ways of implementing custom configuration settings are described.

If the following code block is present in your Manifest file, Embrace SDK will not run. This deactivates every initialization provider:

<!-- If you want to disable android.startup completely. -->
<provider
    android:name="androidx.startup.InitializationProvider"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.androidx-startup"
    tools:node="remove">
</provider>
Recommended Usage

Only disable the WorkManager initializer. This will allow the Embrace SDK to function properly:

<provider
    android:name="androidx.startup.InitializationProvider"
    android:authorities="${applicationId}.androidx-startup"
    android:exported="false"
    tools:node="merge">
    <!-- If you are using androidx.startup to initialize other components -->
    <meta-data
        android:name="androidx.work.WorkManagerInitializer"
        android:value="androidx.startup"
        tools:node="remove" />
</provider>

In other instances, a library may disable the initializer. In such a scenario, there may not be any explicit provider block in the application manifest file. In this situation, the initialization provider should be added explicitly:

<provider android:authorities="${applicationId}.androidx-startup" android:exported="false" android:name="androidx.startup.InitializationProvider">
   <meta-data android:name="androidx.lifecycle.ProcessLifecycleInitializer" android:value="androidx.startup"/>
</provider>

Note: Since this issue only occurs with appcompat >= 1.4.1, the provider block may previously exist in prior versions of the application that report sessions without difficulty, and this issue is caused by an appCompat version change.

Please contact us if you have any questions or require help.

How do I override the version of OkHttp to be lower than the one Embrace specifies?​

By default, your app will choose the latest version of a particular dependency if multiple versions are transitively specified due to your app's explicit dependencies. If you wish to use a version of a dependency like OkHttp that is lower than what Embrace uses, you can follow the instructions here.

Note that Embrace does not support versions of dependencies lower than what has been specified, so doing this kind of override may lead to unspecified behaviors. Only do this if it cannot be avoided and thoroughly test that it does not conflict with Embrace or any other SDKs that may also dependent on it.

Users​

If a user registered in a later session, are previous sessions still linked to that user?​

Yes. We link all sessions to that user from the past and in the future. Search by the Embrace ID for all of that users sessions.

Do I have access to the Embrace ID at runtime?​

Yes, we make the Embrace ID available to you via our SDK. See the API docs.

Network Requests​

Why are my API calls not displaying in the dashboard?​

Please make sure that Embrace is initialized after any 3rd party networking libraries. We are consistently discovering new APIs and libraries for which we need to add support. Please contact us via email or Slack with the information.

Do you support GRPC?​

Yes. Please contact us for the steps to track GRPC.

Do you support GraphQL?​

Yes, we have multiple customers that use GraphQL. See the GraphQL guide in Best Practices.

Which network libraries do you support?​

All network calls are automatically tracked without any code changes. Network calls are tracked if you use one or more of the following network libraries:

  • OkHttp3 (including support for Retrofit)
  • Volley
  • Http(s)URLConnection

If you use a library not listed or do not see expected network calls, please contact us at support@embrace.com or via Slack.

Compatibility with Akamai, Cloudflare, PacketZoom and Other Networking Services​

Embrace is compatible with SDKs that optimize networking, such as those from Akamai, Cloudflare, and PacketZoom. However, it is important that the Embrace SDK is initialized after any of these types of SDKs are initialized to ensure that our SDK captures network requests.

My network calls are not being captured. What could be going wrong?​

This could be due to one of the following reasons:

  • We currently do not automatically capture WebSocket requests.

  • The networking library you're using isn't one of the supported ones.

  • You may use a CDN like Cloudflare, which can change your networking under-the-hood. Here's a list of CDNs that are verified to be compatible:

    • Akamai
    • Cloudflare
    • PacketZoom

  • If you are using OkHttp3, make sure to get an instance of OkHttpClient by calling the builder:

        val myOkHttpClient = OkHttpClient.Builder().build()

    instead of getting a new instance by calling the constructor:

        val myOkHttpClient = OkHttpClient()

    Our SDK instruments the build() method, so it will only track network requests with the first approach.

Monitoring Performance​

How do I measure operations running in parallel?​

Please refer to Traces feature guide for a reference on how to measure custom app operations using Embrace, including ones running in parallel.

Tap Coordinates​

Can I disable the capture of tap coordinates?​

Yes, you can turn off capture of tap coordinates with the taps[capture_coordinates] setting in the embrace-config.json file.

Trace IDs​

I have a custom ID to represent each network request made to my server. Can I capture that in the network logging?​

Yes, you can capture custom IDs by adding them to the x-emb-trace-id header in the request.

note

Trace IDs longer than 64 characters will be truncated