Customer & Marketing
Mobile applications require specific SDKs capable of capturing tactile interactions (tap, scroll, pinch). Not all web tools support this type of tracking. So it’s crucial to choose solutions that offer an SDK compatible with iOS, Android and hybrid frameworks.
| Tool | Mobile compatibility | Special features | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UXCam | SDK for Android, iOS, Flutter, React Native, Cordova, Capacitor. | Touch heatmaps (tap, scroll), session replays, funnels and retention analytics. | |
| Smartlook | Supports web and mobile applications with a lightweight SDK. | Cross-platform heatmaps, session replays, personalized events and mobile segmentation. | |
| Glassbox | Designed for large organizations with strong mobile capabilities. | Mobile session replays, crash and error detection, multi-channel customer journey. | |
| Contentsquare Mobile App Analytics | SDK compatible with iOS, Android and hybrid frameworks; automatic collection of scroll activity. | Touch heatmaps, scroll maps, mobile path and engagement analysis. | |
| Heap (Contentsquare group) | Product analysis solution with heatmaps and mobile support via a lightweight SDK. | Heatmaps and funnels on mobile, cohort analysis, automated segmentation. |
Tracking interactions on mobile applications presents particular challenges: no cursor, varied gestures (tap, double tap, swipe, pinch), differences between operating systems and performance constraints. Not all heatmap tools that work on the web are suitable for mobile applications. In this section, we take a detailed look at solutions capable of delivering tactile heatmaps and replays on mobile, the points to check before integration and best practices for optimizing mobile UX.
UXCam is designed from the outset for mobile applications. Its lightweight SDK integrates with iOS and Android apps as well as hybrid frameworks (Flutter, React Native, Cordova, Capacitor), capturing taps, swipes and scrolls. UXCam also records video replays and provides thermal heatmaps showing where users press most often. Funnel functionalities make it possible to track onboarding stages (e.g. home screen visit, registration click, navigation to checkout) and identify drop-off points. The tool offers detailed segmentation by device type, operating system version and user characteristics (language, subscription). A major advantage is its integration with Firebase GA and Google Analytics for mobile, which facilitates the linking of quantitative and qualitative metrics.
Smartlook offers a mobile SDK that captures interactions on iOS and Android and supports React Native and Flutter. Touch heatmaps show areas with the most frequent taps, while replays reproduce sessions seamlessly. Smartlook also lets you define custom events for specific actions (tapping a particular button, filling in a form). For companies developing both web and mobile products, Smartlook offers the advantage of centralization: data from both platforms can be accessed from the same dashboard. This means that user behavior on mobile and desktop can be compared to adapt design and strategy.
Glassbox offers a robust mobile analytics solution for large corporations and financial institutions. Its SDK records not only touch interactions, but also crash errors, slowness and network incidents. Glassbox’s mobile heatmaps reveal areas where users make mistakes or give up, and the tool provides alerts in the event of anomalies. By combining replays, heatmaps and transactional data, Glassbox enables companies to track the impact of bugs on revenues. Its data protection features (automatic masking of sensitive fields) make it a suitable choice for sectors subject to strict regulations.
The mobile solution from Contentsquare (formerly Clicktale) offers tactile heatmaps and scrollmaps on mobile. The SDK automatically collects scroll activity and generates visualizations showing the most viewed areas. Contentsquare stands out for its analysis engine, which calculates an engagement score and identifies “friction zones”. This data can be combined with website data to create a unified view of the multi-channel customer journey. The tool also supports A/B testing on mobile and provides optimization recommendations based on AI models.
Heap is a product analysis tool that automatically collects all user interactions in mobile applications. Its heatmaps show the most frequently used elements, and its funnel analyses identify friction points. Heap excels in automated segmentation: it automatically creates groups of users with similar behavior, making it easy to target features or experiments. Mobile compatibility is ensured via a lightweight SDK that runs on iOS and Android, with minimal impact on performance.
Firebase Analytics + Custom Heatmaps: some companies develop customized solutions using Firebase Analytics to collect events and generate heatmaps through back-end processing. This approach offers great flexibility, but requires technical skills and development resources.
LogRocket Mobile: well known for its web functions, LogRocket also offers a mobile SDK with session logging, heatmaps and error tracking. The tool stands out for its performance monitoring (loading time, dropped frames), useful for optimizing mobile UX.
FullStory Mobile: FullStory offers a mobile SDK similar to its web version, with heatmaps, replays and event search. The tool is designed for companies requiring in-depth analysis and integration with support and product platforms.
Evaluate the impact on performance: before implementing an SDK, test it on a representative device to make sure it doesn’t cause slowdown or excessive battery consumption. Choose an optimized tool and configure the sampling rate to limit collection to a percentage of sessions.
Configure masking of sensitive data: mobile applications often handle sensitive information. Enable masking settings for credit card fields, personal information and passwords to respect user confidentiality.
Define key events: identify the most important actions in your application (registration, in-app purchase, sharing). Create personalized events and funnels to measure conversions and spot drop-offs.
Segment by version and device: track users separately by application version, phone model and OS. A bug on a specific version may be invisible in aggregated data. Use segments to quickly identify such problems.
Combine heatmaps and feedback: integrate feedback mechanisms into the application (in-app questionnaires, notes) to understand the reasons behind observed behavior. Heatmaps show what users are doing, but not always why.
Onboarding a fitness app: a startup launches a fitness app and notices that many users unsubscribe after the first week. Using UXCam heatmaps, they noticed that the “Start training” button was poorly placed and not very visible. By highlighting it on the home page, she reduces the abandonment rate.
Optimizing a mobile game: a game publisher uses Smartlook to analyze interactions in initial levels. Heatmaps reveal that users don’t find a hidden bonus because the design doesn’t indicate that it’s a clickable element. By adding a visual effect, engagement increases.
Error detection in a banking application: a bank uses Glassbox to track sessions on its mobile application. It identifies a bug specific to Android 11 that causes a crash during the transfer. By filtering replays by OS and version, the team quickly solves the problem and avoids financial losses.
Improving a delivery app: thanks to Contentsquare, a delivery app observes that users get lost in address selection. The heatmaps show that the address field is too small and that many people type outside the field. By increasing the size of the field and adding an address suggestion, the UX improves.
To track users on mobile applications, you need a tool with a native SDK. UXCam and Smartlook are comprehensive solutions offering tactile heatmaps, replays and funnels on mobile. Contentsquare (Mobile App Analytics) and Heap provide advanced analytics, while Glassbox targets large enterprises with error detection and multi-channel journey features. Proper implementation of a mobile SDK requires assessing the impact on performance, configuring masking of sensitive data, defining key events and segmenting by version. By combining these tools with user feedback, product teams can significantly improve mobile UX.