Session Monitoring for Android App

ComponentsEngineMobile AppRUM JS

Availability2022.1 or later

Automatic Session Identification

Sessions tracked without setup

Session-ID Requirements

Rules for custom session IDs

Analyze Sessions

Find what happened before errors

Troubleshooting

Fix missing session data

Configure Session Monitoring for an Android Application

Overview

GermainUX automatically generates a session ID and associates it with telemetry collected during an Android application session. The session ID enables GermainUX to correlate:

Application lifecycle events
Screens, views, and fragments
Transactions
Errors and exceptions
Crashes
Device and application context
Custom events
Business-process activity

Most applications should use the session ID generated by GermainUX. Configure a custom session ID only when it is required to correlate GermainUX telemetry with an existing application or cross-system session.

Automatic Session Identification

No additional configuration is required to use automatic session identification. After the GermainUX Mobile App library initializes, it generates and assigns a session ID to collected telemetry. Automatic identification avoids:

Duplicate session IDs
Reuse of expired application sessions
Exposure of authentication-session values
Inconsistent session boundaries
Missing identifiers during application startup

Configure a Custom Session ID

A custom session ID can be assigned:

During GermainUX initialization
At runtime after GermainUX has initialized

Use a stable, unique, non-sensitive value. Do not use:

Passwords
Authentication or refresh tokens
Session cookies
Access tokens
Email addresses
Personal information
Predictable identifiers that create a security risk

A monitoring correlation ID should be separate from the credential used to authenticate the user.

Set the Session ID During Initialization

Set the ID through GermainAPMConfiguration when it is already available during application startup.

Java

import android.app.Application;
import com.germainsoftware.apm.mobile.library.GermainAPM;
import com.germainsoftware.apm.mobile.library.GermainAPMConfiguration;

public class MonitoredApplication extends Application {

    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        super.onCreate();

        GermainAPMConfiguration config =
            new GermainAPMConfiguration(
                "https://YOUR_GERMAINUX_HOST/ingestion/fact"
            );

        config.setSessionId(
            "YOUR_MONITORING_SESSION_ID"
        );

        GermainAPM.init(this, config);
    }
}

Kotlin

import android.app.Application
import com.germainsoftware.apm.mobile.library.GermainAPM
import com.germainsoftware.apm.mobile.library.GermainAPMConfiguration

class MonitoredApplication : Application() {

    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()

        val config = GermainAPMConfiguration(
            "https://YOUR_GERMAINUX_HOST/ingestion/fact"
        )

        config.setSessionId(
            "YOUR_MONITORING_SESSION_ID"
        )

        GermainAPM.init(this, config)
    }
}

Replace the sample value with the application-generated correlation ID.

Set the Session ID at Runtime

If the session ID becomes available after initialization, assign it using GermainAPM.setSessionId().

Java

GermainAPM.setSessionId(
    "YOUR_MONITORING_SESSION_ID"
);

Kotlin

GermainAPM.setSessionId(
    "YOUR_MONITORING_SESSION_ID"
)

Set the ID before collecting the events or transactions that must be associated with it. For example, an application may initially use the GermainUX-generated session ID and assign an application correlation ID after authentication or after a business session begins.

Session-ID Requirements

A custom session ID should be:

Unique for each intended session
Stable throughout that session
Different when a new session begins
Free of personal or confidential information
Available to every event that must be correlated
Consistent across systems when cross-system correlation is required

Do not reuse a single static value across users, devices, or application launches. If multiple users can use the application on the same device, update the session and user context whenever the active application session changes.

User and Session Identification

The user ID and session ID serve different purposes:

Identifier	Purpose
User ID	Associates activity with a user across sessions
Session ID	Associates related activity within one application session
Transaction or correlation ID	Connects a specific operation across application and backend systems

Use pseudonymous values where possible. Do not place user-identifying information inside the session ID if it can be stored separately under approved privacy controls.

Cross-System Correlation

A custom session ID can help correlate Android telemetry with:

Application APIs
Backend services
Integration platforms
Logs
Business transactions
Support or diagnostic records

For reliable correlation:

Propagate an approved correlation ID through the relevant requests

Capture that identifier in each monitored system

Keep clocks synchronized

Avoid changing the ID during an active transaction

Do not expose security credentials as correlation identifiers

A mobile session may contain many backend requests and business transactions. Use transaction-level correlation IDs when a session ID is too broad.

Analyze Sessions

In GermainUX, sessions can be analyzed by:

Application and environment
Application version
Android version
Device manufacturer and model
User or role, when approved
Session duration

Show all 11

Screens and fragments visited
Transactions
Errors and crashes
Business-process completion
Network or device context

Session analysis helps determine what happened before an error, where users abandoned a workflow, and which releases or devices are associated with poor experiences.

Privacy

Before configuring session identification:

Use random or pseudonymous identifiers.
Do not use authentication tokens.
Avoid embedding user names or email addresses.
Apply anonymization and exclusion rules.
Restrict access to session-level data.
Define an appropriate retention period.
Review correlation fields in custom events, errors, and network telemetry.

Session IDs should support analysis without granting access to the application or exposing the user’s credentials.

Validation

After configuring session monitoring:

Start the application and generate a session

Confirm that collected events contain a session ID

Navigate across multiple screens

Execute a transaction

Generate a controlled handled exception

Verify that all events appear under the expected session

Start a new application session

Confirm that it does not reuse the previous session ID unintentionally

Test runtime assignment if the ID is set after initialization

Verify that the ID contains no sensitive information

Troubleshooting

Telemetry has no session ID

Verify that:

GermainUX initialized successfully.
The session ID is not empty.
setSessionId() executes before the relevant telemetry is collected.
Privacy rules do not remove the field.
The installed library supports the configured API.

Multiple users appear in one session

Confirm that the application updates the user and session context when the active user changes. Do not reuse identifiers across login, logout, or account-switching boundaries.

One user journey is split across sessions

Check whether:

The application process restarted.
A new custom session ID was assigned.
Different application processes use different configurations.
Offline telemetry was received later.
The application and backend use different correlation values.

⁉ Sessions from different users are combined

Verify that the custom session ID is unique and not a hard-coded, user-level, device-level, or globally shared value.

Get Help

Contact GermainUX Support

The Germain Team can help you set this up.

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The content of this document is proprietary to GERMAIN SOFTWARE.

Automatic Session Identification

Session-ID Requirements

Analyze Sessions

Troubleshooting

​Configure Session Monitoring for an Android Application

​Overview

​Automatic Session Identification

​Configure a Custom Session ID

​Set the Session ID During Initialization

​Java

​Kotlin

​Set the Session ID at Runtime

​Java

​Kotlin

​Session-ID Requirements

​User and Session Identification

​Cross-System Correlation

​Analyze Sessions

​Privacy

​Validation

​Troubleshooting

​Telemetry has no session ID

​Multiple users appear in one session

​One user journey is split across sessions

​⁉ Sessions from different users are combined

​Get Help

Contact GermainUX Support

Can't find what you need?

Configure Session Monitoring for an Android Application

Overview

Automatic Session Identification

Configure a Custom Session ID

Set the Session ID During Initialization

Java

Kotlin

Set the Session ID at Runtime

Java

Kotlin

Session-ID Requirements

User and Session Identification

Cross-System Correlation

Analyze Sessions

Privacy

Validation

Troubleshooting

Telemetry has no session ID

Multiple users appear in one session

One user journey is split across sessions

⁉ Sessions from different users are combined

Get Help