Is there any code needed in Activity so that ga_autoActivityTracking = true would work for Google Analytics V4

Question

In Google Analytics v3, to auto tracking for Activity, we need to have

1. ga_autoActivityTracking flag in manifest.xml.
2. GA code in onStart and onStop

Google Analytics SDK for Android v3

public class myTrackedActivity extends Activity {

  @Override
  public void onStart() {
    super.onStart();
    ... // The rest of your onStart() code.
    EasyTracker.getInstance(this).activityStart(this);  // Add this method.
  }

  @Override
  public void onStop() {
    super.onStop();
    ... // The rest of your onStop() code.
    EasyTracker.getInstance(this).activityStop(this);  // Add this method.
  }
}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

<resources>
  <!--Replace placeholder ID with your tracking ID-->
  <string name="ga_trackingId">UA-XXXX-Y</string>

  <!--Enable automatic activity tracking-->
  <bool name="ga_autoActivityTracking">true</bool>

  <!--Enable automatic exception tracking-->
  <bool name="ga_reportUncaughtExceptions">true</bool>
</resources>

However, when comes to newer version of Google Analytics v4, (https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/android/v4/), I don't see any code need to be added in Activity. From the above documentation, it seems that we only need

1. ga_autoActivityTracking flag in manifest.xml.

Google Analytics SDK v4

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <integer name="ga_sessionTimeout">300</integer>

    <!-- Enable automatic Activity measurement -->
    <bool name="ga_autoActivityTracking">true</bool>

    <!-- The screen names that will appear in reports -->
    <screenName name="com.google.android.gms.analytics.samples.mobileplayground.ScreenviewFragment">
        AnalyticsSampleApp ScreenView
    </screenName>
    <screenName name="com.google.android.gms.analytics.samples.mobileplayground.EcommerceFragment">
        AnalyticsSampleApp EcommerceView
    </screenName>
    <!--  The following value should be replaced with correct property id. -->
    <string name="ga_trackingId">UA-XXXXXXX-Y</string>
</resources>

However, after tested, it seems that there is no tracking information being automatically sent out from Activity.

Is the documentation for Google Analytics V4 missing something?

Answer 1

Step 1

Add app_tracker.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <!--  The following value should be replaced with correct property id. -->
    <string name="ga_trackingId">UA-00000000-1</string>

    <!-- catch and report uncaught exceptions from the app -->
    <bool name="ga_reportUncaughtExceptions">true</bool>

    <integer name="ga_sessionTimeout">300</integer>

    <!-- Enable automatic Activity measurement -->
    <bool name="ga_autoActivityTracking">true</bool>

    <!-- The screen names that will appear in reports -->
    <screenName name="com.mypackage.NameActivity">Name Activity</screenName>

</resources>

Step 2

Added getTracker

public static Tracker getTracker() {
    if (false == isGooglePlayServicesAvailable()) {
        return null;
    }

    if (tracker == null) {
        GoogleAnalytics analytics = GoogleAnalytics.getInstance(MyApplication.instance());
        tracker = analytics.newTracker(R.xml.app_tracker);
    }
    return tracker;
}

Step 3

Turn on GA during activity startup

public class MyFragmentActivity extends SherlockFragmentActivity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {        
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        Utils.getTracker();

Answer 2

Yes, there appears to be a bug in GAV4. See the answers here and here.

For devices running API v14 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or later you need to call enableAutoActivityReports in addition to setting ga_autoActivityTracking to true in your tracker configuration file. I've confirmed this works (that is, screen views do get reported in my Google Analytics console) on a post v14 device.

If you want your app to support devices running pre-API 14 you also have to add calls to reportActivityStart and reportActivityStop in onStart and onStop for all the activities you want to track. I've confirmed this works on a pre v14 device.

I've only tried this with activities, not fragments, and, from one of the links above, it looks like automated screen tracking doesn't work with fragments.