Android error tracking installation

The best way to install the PostHog Android library is with a build system like Gradle. This ensures you can easily upgrade to the latest versions.

All you need to do is add the posthog-android module to your App's build.gradle or build.gradle.kts:

dependencies {
  implementation("com.posthog:posthog-android:3.+")
}

Configuration

The best place to initialize the client is in your Application subclass.

import android.app.Application
import com.posthog.android.PostHogAndroid
import com.posthog.android.PostHogAndroidConfig

class SampleApp : Application() {

    companion object {
        const val POSTHOG_API_KEY = "<ph_project_api_key>"
        // usually 'https://us.i.posthog.com' or 'https://eu.i.posthog.com'
        const val POSTHOG_HOST = "https://us.i.posthog.com"
    }

    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()

        val config = PostHogAndroidConfig(
            apiKey = POSTHOG_API_KEY,
            host = POSTHOG_HOST 
        )
        PostHogAndroid.setup(this, config)
    }
}

You can autocapture exceptions by setting the errorTrackingConfig.autoCapture argument to true when initializing the PostHog SDK.

import com.posthog.android.PostHogAndroidConfig

val config = PostHogAndroidConfig(
    apiKey = POSTHOG_API_KEY, 
    host = POSTHOG_HOST
).apply {
    ...
    errorTrackingConfig.autoCapture = true
}
...

When enabled, this automatically captures $exception events when errors are thrown by wrapping the Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler listener.

It is also possible to manually capture exceptions using the captureException method:

PostHog.captureException(
    exception, 
    properties = additionalProperties
)

This is helpful if you've built your own error handling logic or want to capture exceptions that are handled by your application code.

Before proceeding, let's make sure exception events are being captured and sent to PostHog. You should see events appear in the activity feed.