Devices
Devices in the People area (Identity) — route /people/devices.
Devices lives in the People area of the dashboard, under Identity.
At a glance#
| Dashboard route | /people/devices |
| Area | People (people) |
| Group | Identity |
| Platforms | Mobile apps only (iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter). Hidden for web apps. |
What it does#
Devices lists the installations reporting into your app — one row per installation, searchable, with the device and app details each one is sending and when it was last seen.
An installation is not a user. It is one copy of your app on one device: a user with a phone and a tablet is two installations, and a user who reinstalls becomes a second one.
When to use it#
For anything device-shaped rather than person-shaped:
Confirming an integration. After a first build, this is where you check that something arrived at all. It populates before any analytics do.
Reproducing a device-specific bug. Finding which OS versions and models are actually in your population tells you what to test on — which is usually not what you assumed.
Checking version adoption. How much of your install base is still on the build with the bug.
Workflow#
Search for your own device after integrating
The fastest possible integration check. If your test device is here, ingestion works.
Read the app-version spread
Old versions persist far longer than release notes imply. This tells you how long a fix takes to actually reach people.
Check last-seen before concluding a device is active
An installation that has not reported in months is a device someone stopped using, not a user.
Permissions and prerequisites#
Requires the SDK to be initialised. This is the earliest-populating page in the dashboard, which is what makes it useful as an integration smoke test.
Limits and edge cases#
Installations, not users. Never use this count as a user count — it overstates by however many devices and reinstalls your population has.
A reinstall is a new installation. The previous one remains, last-seen frozen at the uninstall.
Device details are what the client reported. On some platforms the model string is a code rather than a marketing name.
Subject to retention. Long-dormant installations age out.
Troubleshooting#
Nothing listed after integrating. In order: wrong SDK key, wrong environment, or the SDK never initialised. Check the key belongs to this app.
Far more installations than users. Normal, and the ratio is worth knowing. If it is extreme, check whether something is resetting installation identity on every launch.
Where the data comes from#
From the SDK
Served by
People / CDP