HockeyApp is a solution for collecting app crash reports, get feedback from users and distribute your betas. It can be integrated with apps for iOS, Android and Windows. This week I had an opportunity to evaluate it and now want to deal with my experience.
- Integration into an iOS app is really easy. Using Cocoapods it’s just one entry in your podfile:
pod 'HockeySDK', :subspecs => ['AllFeaturesLib']
Be sure to enable AllFeaturesLib if you need a feedback functionality.
- To start using HockeyApp in your project, you first need to register the app under your HockeyApp account. After doing that, you get an identifier for your app. This one you’ll need in your project
- With these lines of code you initialize HockeyApp and get it running:
[[BITHockeyManager sharedHockeyManager] configureWithIdentifier:@"yourHockeyAppAppId"; //you can add the following line before calling startManager to disable the In-App-Update feature [[BITHockeyManager sharedHockeyManager] setDisableUpdateManager:YES]; // Do some additional configuration if needed here [[BITHockeyManager sharedHockeyManager] startManager]; [[BITHockeyManager sharedHockeyManager].authenticator authenticateInstallation]; // This line is obsolete in the crash only builds
- From now on all crash reports appear automatically at the backend side
- To integrate a feedback form just build in two buttons into your app with corresponding handlers:
- (IBAction)composeFeedbackAction:(id)sender { [[BITHockeyManager sharedHockeyManager].feedbackManager showFeedbackComposeView]; } - (IBAction)feedbackListAction:(id)sender { [[BITHockeyManager sharedHockeyManager].feedbackManager showFeedbackListView]; } - At the backend the administrator can view user feedbacks and reply them. In the app the user gets automatically notified about new replies.
- Integration with Jenkins is also a matter of a few minutes. There is a plugin for uploading .ipa files to the HockeyApp. Depending on your needs, this Jenkins-plugin can release the app version immediately into a download area of the HockeyApp. The download area can be accessed then by beta-testers or if you define also by a public.
All in all HockeyApp is a pretty helpful tool. Maybe it’s not a suitable solution for individual developers because of the pricing model, but for companies it can be an attractive alternative.