Hi All,

So a few of you have asked about transparency on what information and platforms I use in the apps. These apps are as much mine, as they are yours. So here we go.

The main framework/ tool I use is Twitter’s Fabric api. This framework combines live analytics, Crashlytics and many other tools. Crashlytics is by far the most useful in development as it shows me whenever the app crashes and why it crashes. This lets me see how stable a build is and what I need to fix to give you all a better experience. Whenever a crash does happen, I do get some information about the phone you have and what you were last doing. Specifically, the last query’s you made to the server, memory left on the phone, phone type/style, and version of Android you are running on. This lets me figure out what caused the crash and much more.

The live analytics data lets me see how many people are on the app right now, how many are users are crashing, new users, monthly users and some data about how the users are accessing the app. I have specially calls to this api when you search for a captain, save/delete a captain, view a ship in the shipopedia, when you click on a item in the menu and a bunch of other actions. This lets me see how users are using the app and where I might need to improve the app. For example, the original Twitch and Youtube area was never being used. I have a total of 18 clicks on any link in that old section. When I re-did the area in 1.0, there was a massive uptake and already have around 300+ clicks in just that area. This showed me that I made the area a lot better for the users as they were using it more often.

Now to the crazy part of Fabric. With how marketing and user data is shared in today’s society, its kind of crazy that without having any permission on the app to grab your current location, Fabric actually tells me where a lot of the user base is. Hello to my California and Texas users :). Also hello to my Ontario brothers and sisters up north. Now you Europeans are awesome, especially you German and Polish users. Fun Fact, German has been the most generous donators to the app. Giving a whopping 324% more then the next leading country, which is Canada.

Sorry for the side track, back to the data. This information on location and more is really common with data being shared everywhere. Its how Google and Amazon know what you send in emails to you and much more. It also gives me some data on everyone’s interests and even whether you are male or female. I’m not sure how accurate it is but it even creeps me out to see how much data I can see about the users of both of my apps. To be clear, I see general data, nothing about specific users. The only time I get specific data is when a crash happens and that is only data about the phone really. But to give you some data, I’m seeing about 78% male and 22% female right now. The data depends on the time of day really so I have seen up to 36% female. Good to know that there are so many female captains out there. The world needs more female gamers, because if any of you are similar to my gamer wife, you’re pretty awesome. Top interests for most users is Technology, Business news and Politics. Which is actually really off compared to other apps in our section of the market, at least according to Fabric.

Now the only other framework that really uses your information is the voluntary ads I have added in the WoWs app, don’t worry WoT users, its coming over soon. I use Google Admobs for this, I mostly get watched data/ price per ad stuff and nothing about the users. But having seen what Google Analytics gets from users without using any permissions on an app(work experience), they probably know more about you than your SO. Then again, you are most likely using a Android phone for the app so you should know that Google knows everything about you anyways. Not the biggest issue today at least.

So there you have (Totally ripping off Tipsy Bartender). This should tell you about the apps general background and what information I see about the community at large. If you have any questions, ask below or tweet at me(@47HALF). I will get back to you asap. Thank you all for making this app possible and I can’t wait to release the newest update. Which the WoWs 1.1 update is about ready for translations to support more european and russian users, so expect that in the coming weeks. Translations can take a bit. After that, its back to WoT CA.

Peace.