Bulletin: Minimum time between sessions

What's new

What's changing

The sessions metric is calculated by counting sessions reported by the SDK in the app.

Starting on the Effective Date, the sessions metric is calculated taking into account a minimum time between sessions timer. This means that some sessions aren't counted as illustrated in the example that follows. 

The timer has a default duration of 10 minutes and the possible values are: 

• 1-60 minutes
• 1-24 hours

Example: Sessions counting with a minimum time between sessions of 10 minutes.

In this example, the sessions reporting times are stated as minutes elapsed since 00:00

Impact of the change

• Expect a reduction in the sessions metric starting from the Effective Date in the Analytics tools and sessions raw data available to clients having Data Locker. 
• Ad network partners, if you consume the session event via postbacks expect a reduction due to this change. 

The following are without change:

• Metrics:
  • Daily active users (DAU)
  • Monthly active users (MAU)
  • Retention
  • Loyal users using the default setting of 3 app opens
• Re-engagement conversions including deep-linking
• Historical data (sessions) recorded before the Effective Date

Consider that if the Minimum time between sessions is very long, more than several hours, and users don't open the app many times a day,  then some retention metrics can be impacted. This is especially true in the case of apps where users typically open the app once a day. 

[Optional] Setting change

If needed, you can change the default setting of 10 minutes, to one that suits your users’ behavior and interaction style with the app.

To change the minimum time between sessions duration:

1. In AppsFlyer. go to Configuration > App settings.
2. Set Minimum time between sessions. 
3. Click Save settings. 
   The change takes effect within an hour.