Google Analytics has long been the undisputed leader in web analytics and reporting for firms both large and small. This is partly due to the fact that, for better or for worse, Google holds the monopoly on web search and related properties and technologies. Native offerings such as AdSense and AdWords also allow Google to build a seamless front-to-back integrated solution for their customers. However, a far more prominent reason for the popularity of Google Analytics is that, like most of the search behemoth’s software products, the platform is well-designed and easy to understand and use. While Google has long since made their Analytics platform available as an Android mobile app, they’ve only recently released a version for iOS.
This marks a somewhat of a watershed event, signaling Google’s acquiescence to the Analytics user base on the other side of the mobile fence, who up until recently had only access to the desktop web version of the application.
Features and Benefits
Like its Android counterpart, the Google Analytics app for iOS features an optimized experience custom-tailored for smartphone and tablet use. Simplified dashboards make efficient access to granular metrics on a smaller screen possible, with an abundance of expanding, left-oriented menus and options embedded in lightbox screens. The user experience is completely designed for mobile, so elements such as visualizations automatically re-size to adjust to dynamic screen size and orientation parameters. To save on screen real estate, the most relevant metrics are displayed on cards—with additional information available upon drill-down.
The mobile offerings provide reporting of the same data points as the desktop web version, including behaviors, conversions, and acquisition and traffic sources, to name a few. The app also features real-time reports, which allow users to track visitor behavior and monitor live data. This feature can come in extremely handy in testing and demonstration scenarios where one is using their iPad/iPhone as a dedicated device for displaying Analytics data in real-time, alongside a laptop and browser as it traverses the site.
Cross-OS Compatibility and Testing
Though the Google Analytics app runs on all devices running iOS 6 or later, it is optimized for use on the iPhone 5. This can be taken to mean that either some features of the Google Analytics app don’t work well for older iOS devices, or that Apple has specifically left out functionality for non-iPhone 5 devices that presumably work across the board for all Android devices. Whatever the case may be, clearly Google has taken some shortcuts with their new iOS app by choosing not to optimize the experience across all iOS devices. That being said, credit must be given where its due, and the software giant has finally addressed the needs of a long-ignored segment of their user base.
Testing for compatibility among different OS and device versions of an app or website is critical for maintaining an optimal user experience across all users, especially in this day and age when users may be on a myriad of devices. Firms such as MyCrowd help companies QA their websites and apps by crowdsourcing the QA process. For example, in the case of Google’s Analytics for iOS app release, the testing of different versions of the app could have been easily accomplished with MyCrowd, effectively increasing their app coverage to all iOS devices.
In short, the Google Analytics app for iOS release marks the rounding out of the popular Analytics platform’s availability across all devices. Users tracking their web site performance through the desktop web version of the software now have a streamlined version they can access on-the-go, on their iOS device.
Sources:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.giant&hl=en
http://www.loadthegame.com/2014/07/21/google-analytics-finally-available-iphone-5-ios-devices/
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2356030/Google-Analytics-Now-Available-for-iOS
http://mashable.com/2014/07/17/google-analytics-iphone/
http://9to5google.com/2013/09/30/google-releases-completely-redesigned-analytics-app-for-android/
