Skip to content

Consent

In Herald, consent is a single yes or no: may this app collect analytics? ConsentService turns every vendor on or off together.

It's a single yes or no on purpose, because that's the only consent switch every vendor has. Anything more detailed looks different for each vendor, so you set it on the vendor SDK yourself:

  • Firebase Consent Mode is a map of four keys;
  • Adjust's third-party sharing is keyed by partner;
  • AppsFlyer's DMA consent is its own object;
  • Mixpanel has none at all.

A fresh install shouldn't collect anything before the user answers. Herald's Adjust and AppsFlyer modules take care of that for you. Firebase, Mixpanel and Amplitude collect by default, and their off switch is a setting on the vendor object you create. Meta's switch is in your app's native settings, and covers only the events Meta logs by itself:

Vendor A fresh install collects?
Adjust no: Herald calls disable() before initSdk()
AppsFlyer no: Herald's start() only stops the SDK, which starts on consent
Meta its own events, such as installs, yes, until you turn them off. Events your app sends always reach it: Meta has no switch for them
Firebase, Mixpanel, Amplitude yes, until you turn it off

Turn the others off where you create them:

Vendor Turn it off where
Firebase firebase_analytics_collection_enabled=false in AndroidManifest.xml
Mixpanel MixpanelOptions.Builder().optOutTrackingDefault(true)
Amplitude Configuration(apiKey, context, optOut = true)
Meta AutoInitEnabled, AutoLogAppEventsEnabled and AdvertiserIDCollectionEnabled set to false in AndroidManifest.xml, as Meta shows
Vendor Turn it off where
Firebase FIREBASE_ANALYTICS_COLLECTION_ENABLED set to NO in Info.plist
Mixpanel Mixpanel.initialize(token:trackAutomaticEvents:optOutTrackingByDefault: true)
Amplitude Configuration(apiKey: apiKey, optOut: true)
Meta FacebookAutoLogAppEventsEnabled and FacebookAdvertiserIDCollectionEnabled set to NO in Info.plist, as Meta shows
Vendor Turn it off where
Firebase firebase_analytics_collection_enabled=false in AndroidManifest.xml, and FIREBASE_ANALYTICS_COLLECTION_ENABLED set to false in iOS's Info.plist
Mixpanel Mixpanel.init(token, optOutTrackingDefault: true, ...)
Amplitude Configuration(apiKey: apiKey, optOut: true)
Meta in AndroidManifest.xml and iOS's Info.plist, as Meta shows
Vendor Turn it off where
Firebase "analytics_auto_collection_enabled": false in firebase.json
Mixpanel Mixpanel.init(token, trackAutomaticEvents, true)
Amplitude amplitude.init(apiKey, undefined, { optOut: true })
Meta the react-native-fbsdk-next Expo config plugin, which turns it off by default, or the native settings, as Meta shows

Herald can do it for Adjust and AppsFlyer because their switch is just a flag. For the others it would do harm:

  • Mixpanel's optOutTracking() deletes unflushed events and the stored identity, so calling it on every launch would throw away the last session of a user who had already agreed. On iOS it also deletes the identified user's People profile;
  • Firebase and Meta read their switches from the app's native settings before any Herald code runs.

Recording the decision

Save the user's answer yourself, then apply it to every vendor. For example, from the ViewModel of your privacy settings screen:

class PrivacySettingsViewModel(
    private val consentRepository: AnalyticsConsentRepository,
    private val consent: ConsentService,
) : ViewModel() {
    fun onAnalyticsConsentChanged(enabled: Boolean) {
        viewModelScope.launch {
            consentRepository.setEnabled(enabled) // save the answer first
            consent.setEnabled(enabled)           // then apply it to every vendor
        }
    }
}

final class PrivacySettingsController {
    private let consentRepository: any AnalyticsConsentRepository
    private let consent: any ConsentService

    init(consentRepository: any AnalyticsConsentRepository, consent: any ConsentService) {
        self.consentRepository = consentRepository
        self.consent = consent
    }

    func onAnalyticsConsentChanged(enabled: Bool) {
        consentRepository.setEnabled(enabled)  // save the answer first
        consent.setEnabled(enabled)  // then apply it to every vendor
    }
}

class PrivacySettingsController(
  final AnalyticsConsentRepository consentRepository,
  final ConsentService consent,
) {
  Future<void> onAnalyticsConsentChanged(bool enabled) async {
    await consentRepository.setEnabled(enabled); // save the answer first
    await consent.setEnabled(enabled); // then apply it to every vendor
  }
}

export class PrivacySettingsController {
  constructor(
    private readonly consentRepository: AnalyticsConsentRepository,
    private readonly consent: ConsentService,
  ) {}

  async onAnalyticsConsentChanged(enabled: boolean): Promise<void> {
    await this.consentRepository.setEnabled(enabled); // save the answer first
    await this.consent.setEnabled(enabled); // then apply it to every vendor
  }
}

Re-applying it on every launch

Vendors differ in whether they remember the decision:

Vendor Remembers across launches?
Firebase, Mixpanel, Meta yes
Adjust yes, but Herald's start() turns it off again every launch
AppsFlyer, Amplitude no

So one rule works for all of them: after start(), re-apply the stored decision. Do it right where you start Herald, as Set up your app shows:

analytics.start()                                 // some vendors start quiet here
consent.setEnabled(consentRepository.isEnabled()) // so re-apply the stored answer, every launch

analytics.start()  // some vendors start quiet here
consent.setEnabled(consentRepository.isEnabled())  // so re-apply it, every launch

await analytics.start(); // some vendors start quiet here
await consent.setEnabled(await consentRepository.isEnabled()); // so re-apply it, every launch

await analytics.start(); // some vendors start quiet here
await consent.setEnabled(await consentRepository.isEnabled()); // so re-apply it, every launch

For AppsFlyer this is also the moment it actually starts. With consent stored, setEnabled(true) resumes the SDK and sends the launch.

Revoking

setEnabled(false) stops every vendor. Two details:

  • Mixpanel flushes what it has queued, then opts out.
  • Amplitude stops accepting new events. Events recorded before the revoke, while consent was given, may still upload.

Set it on the vendor objects, next to their other configuration:

  • Firebase setConsent;
  • AppsFlyer setConsentData and anonymizeUser;
  • Meta's Limited Data Use, setDataProcessingOptions;
  • Adjust's third-party sharing.

Herald's yes or no then works on top of it.