Configure Session Replay on crashes for Android

This page describes how to enable and customize Session Replay on crashes for your Android apps.

Session Replay on crashes visually recreates the last user actions before a crash occurred in your mobile application. It allows you to reproduce the issue that your users experienced so that you have the full context to understand what took place and why.

Prerequisites

Make sure that your system meets the following requirements:

• Dynatrace version 1.245+
• OneAgent for Android version 8.245+

• Real User Monitoring enabled for your application

• Active Dynatrace Digital Experience Monitoring license

• The web UI URL has a trusted certificate

• Dynatrace Managed only Secondary disk configured to store user session data

  Calculate secondary disk size

  To calculate the secondary disk size, consider the following:

  • The size of a regular mobile user session is around 300 KB
  • The default data retention period is 35 days
  • Having some buffer is always good Using these estimates, we recommend that you calculate the secondary disk size using the following formula:
    Secondary disk size = Sessions ended with a crash per day * Average session size (300 KB) * Retention period (35 days) * Buffer (1.5)

Known limitations and issues

Technical limitations

• Android 5.0+ (API level 21+) is supported.
• Android Gradle plugin 4.0+ is supported.

  For Android Gradle plugin 4.0 and 4.1, you need to change the compile option to Java 8.

• Jetpack Compose is not supported.
• Only AndroidX support libraries are supported. Classes such as Activity or Fragment in com.android.support are not supported.
• The recording of a navigation drawer usage and visibility changes is not currently supported, but you can instrument these events manually.
  Instrument a navigation drawer manually

  1. Implement a DrawerLayout.DrawerListener, and add it with DrawerLayout#addDrawerListener.
  2. In the DrawerLayout.DrawerListener implementation, add DynatraceSessionReplay.trackCustomEvent("Menu opened") in the DrawerLayout.DrawerListener#onDrawerOpened method.
  3. In the DrawerLayout.DrawerListener implementation, add DynatraceSessionReplay.trackCustomEvent("Menu closed") in the DrawerLayout.DrawerListener#onDrawerClosed method.
  Instrument a visibility change manually

  Whenever you have View#setVisibility, add DynatraceSessionReplay.trackCustomEvent("Visibility change") right after it.

• Session Replay is not available for Cordova, React Native, Flutter, or Xamarin.
• For a hybrid app, Session Replay on crashes is supported only for the native part of the app. Session Replay is not supported for the browser part of a hybrid app.
• We recommend that you not use other crash reporting tools together with Dynatrace Session Replay.
• Session Replay can capture only certain events. However, if you need to track a specific view or event that is not supported by default, you can capture a custom event.
• You can play back the user sessions recorded with Session Replay only in certain browsers.

See Technical restrictions for Session Replay for web applications for more information.

Known issues

• Fragments with in-out animations can cause problems, especially when animations are short.
• Floating action buttons can cause data masking issues.
• The inputType attribute within the Button component might result in buttons appearing without text when captured.

Enable Session Replay on crashes

If you haven't done so already, complete all steps described in the instrumentation wizard.

1. In the Dynatrace menu, go to Mobile.
2. Select the mobile application that you want to configure.
3. Select More (…) > Edit in the upper-right corner of the tile with your application name.

4. From the application settings, select General > Enablement and cost control.
5. Turn on Enable Session Replay on crashes.
6. From the application settings, select General > Data privacy.
7. Turn on Enable user opt-in mode.
8. From the application settings, select Instrumentation wizard, and then select Android or iOS.
9. Follow the steps in the instrumentation wizard.

groovycopydownload
compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility 1.8
    targetCompatibility 1.8
}

kotlincopydownload
compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility("1.8")
    targetCompatibility("1.8")
}

Mask sensitive data

Data masking levels

Session Replay on crashes comes with three predefined masking levels:

• Safest—all the editable text fields, images, labels, web views, and switches are masked.
• Safe—all the editable text fields are masked.
• Custom—by default, masks the same elements as Safest, but you can decide exactly which application components or views should be masked. See Configure custom masking for details.

Change masking level

By default, OneAgent applies the Safest masking level. To change it to the Safe or Custom level, use the API to configure OneAgent. If you've opted for the Custom level, see Configure custom masking for details on how to set which application components or views should be masked.

Example 1: Change masking level to Safe

Use the following code to set the masking level to Safe.

javacopydownload
MaskingConfiguration config = new MaskingConfiguration.Safe();  // .Safest or .Custom
DynatraceSessionReplay.setConfiguration(Configuration.builder()
      .withMaskingConfiguration(config)
      .build());

kotlincopydownload
val config = MaskingConfiguration.Safe()                        // .Safest or .Custom
DynatraceSessionReplay.setConfiguration(Configuration.builder()
      .withMaskingConfiguration(config)
      .build())

Example 2: Change masking level to Custom

Use the following code to set the masking level to Custom. For additional options, see Configure custom masking.

javacopydownload
MaskingConfiguration config = new MaskingConfiguration.Custom();  // .Safest or .Safe
DynatraceSessionReplay.setConfiguration(Configuration.builder()
      .withMaskingConfiguration(config)
      .build());

kotlincopydownload
val config = MaskingConfiguration.Custom()                        // .Safest or .Safe
DynatraceSessionReplay.setConfiguration(Configuration.builder()
      .withMaskingConfiguration(config)
      .build())

Example 3: Change masking level to Custom and remove all masked views

Use the following code to set the masking level to Custom and remove all masked views (removeAllMaskedViews). For additional options, see Configure custom masking.

javacopydownload
MaskingConfiguration config = new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeAllMaskedViews();
DynatraceSessionReplay.setConfiguration(Configuration.builder()
      .withMaskingConfiguration(config)
      .build());

kotlincopydownload
val config = MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeAllMaskedViews()
DynatraceSessionReplay.setConfiguration(Configuration.builder()
      .withMaskingConfiguration(config)
      .build())

Configure custom masking

If you set the data masking level to Custom, you can use additional API methods to decide which application components or views should be masked. You can:

• Mask views.
• Mask views using android:tag.
• Mask views using a masking tag.

Mask views

You can enable or disable masking globally or for the selected components, such as text fields, images, labels, web views, and switches.

javacopydownload
Set<Class<? extends View>> set = new HashSet<Class<? extends View>>()\{{
   add(ImageView.class);
   add(WebView.class);
}};
new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().addMaskedView(ImageView.class);    // Adds one masked view
new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().addMaskedViews(set);               // Adds all masked views
new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeMaskedView(ImageView.class); // Removes one masked view
new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeAllMaskedViews();            // Removes all masked views

kotlincopydownload
MaskingConfiguration.Custom().addMaskedView(ImageView::class.java)                              // Adds one masked view
MaskingConfiguration.Custom().addMaskedViews(setOf(ImageView::class.java, WebView::class.java)) // Adds all masked views
MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeMaskedView(ImageView::class.java)                           // Removes one masked view
MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeAllMaskedViews()                                            // Removes all masked views

Mask views using android:tag

You can also enable or disable masking of the selected views based on their android:tag.

javacopydownload
Set<Integer> set = new HashSet<Integer>()\{{
   add(R.id.view_id1);
   add(R.id.view_id2);
}};
new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().addMaskedIds(set);
new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().addNonMaskedIds(set);
new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeMaskedIds(set);
new MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeNonMaskedIds(set);

kotlincopydownload
MaskingConfiguration.Custom().addMaskedIds(setOf(R.id.view_id1, R.id.view_id2))
MaskingConfiguration.Custom().addNonMaskedIds(setOf(R.id.view_id1, R.id.view_id2))
MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeMaskedIds(setOf(R.id.view_id1, R.id.view_id2))
MaskingConfiguration.Custom().removeNonMaskedIds(setOf(R.id.view_id1, R.id.view_id2))

Mask views using a masking tag

You can also mask a view by adding the data-dtrum-mask masking tag to the view's android:tag. A view with this masking tag is always masked.

Enable Session Replay logs

You can enable Session Replay logs the same way as for OneAgent. See OneAgent for Android debug logging for more information.

Capture custom events

Session Replay records only certain events. However, you can track an event that is not supported by default.

javacopydownload
DynatraceSessionReplay.trackCustomEvent("User logged")

kotlincopydownload
DynatraceSessionReplay.trackCustomEvent("User logged")

Change transmission mode to Wi-Fi for images

By default, all data—information on captured events and images—is sent over any connection. However, you can opt to transfer images only when the users are connected to Wi-Fi to save their mobile data.

javacopydownload
DynatraceSessionReplay.setConfiguration(
    Configuration.builder()
        .withDataTransmissionMode(DataTransmissionMode.NOT_METERED_NETWORK)
        .build()
)

kotlincopydownload
DynatraceSessionReplay.setConfiguration(
   Configuration.builder()
         .withDataTransmissionMode(DataTransmissionMode.NOT_METERED_NETWORK)
         .build()
)

Troubleshooting

Ensure that your system meets the Session Replay requirements.

User sessions are not recorded at all

• Ensure that you added the correct properties to your gradle.properties file.
• Make sure you enabled the user opt-in mode and added a privacy notice.
• Verify that you applied the Dynatrace plugin and added the plugin configuration.
• In the running application console logs, find the following:
  • Line stating OneAgent version, for example, I/dtxAgentCore: #2.Dynatrace OneAgent (Android) 8.xxx.y.zzz Target API ## Android API ##
  • Line on Session Replay, for example, I/dtxSessionReplay: ℹ️ Info -> Session replay agent started.

User sessions are recorded, but Session Replay is not available

• Verify that Session Replay is enabled—from the mobile application settings, select General to check.
• Verify that Session Replay on crashes and user opt-in mode are enabled—from the mobile application settings, select Instrumentation settings to check.
• In the running application console logs, check for the following:
  • Line confirming that Session Replay is enabled:

    plaintextcopydownload
    D/dtxAgentAdkSettings: #2.switching settings: ServerConfiguration
    
    ...
    
    "replayConfiguration=ReplayConfiguration"{
       "capture=true",                         // true means Session Replay is enabled; false means Session Replay is disabled
    
    ...

  • Line on a new session, for example, I/dtxSessionReplay: ℹ️ Info -> New session started: visitorId=123456789101112, sessionId=0003, sequenceNumber=NNNNN, visitStore=TTTTTT, serverId=DDDDDDD

Frequently asked questions