I'm developing an Android app and I'm planning to use ACRA - Application Crash Report for Android to get crash reports from users.
It seems that a crash report has to survive to many user choices to get to the developer. Below are my options. How can I get the most crash reports, while avoiding frustrating or upsetting the user?
It should be noted that this app is a game, not a casual one, but a game. So my users might not be in need of my app and not be really interested in its improvement.
Default way
Android with Google Play offers a default mechanism for this: after the crash, the following dialog appears. It's up to the good will of the users to send the report and refrain from giving a bad rating to the app on the store.
ACRA ways
- App crashes, temporary onscreen message saying "App crashed, sending report..." (without asking the users).
- App crashes, users are notified in Android Status bar. When/if they touch the notification a dialog comes up to propose reporting the crash.
- App crashes, users restart the app and they're immediately presented the same dialog as above.
I can customize any message shown. See AdvancedUsage - User Interaction for screenshots of these methods.
Moreover, ACRA presumes that the app has permission to access Internet. "For pure offline applications [like my game] , users might even be frightened to grant this permission and can be suspicious about the real goal of the app or the developer" (source). The compromise here is to send the report via email:
- report procedure starts (silently or with dialog), users have to choose the email app, this will open with a prefilled report email ready to be sent.