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Tap Capture

The Embrace SDK's TapCaptureService automatically instruments tap events throughout your app, providing visibility into user interactions and the screens they engage with most.

How Tap Capture Works​

The tap capture service monitors user tap events in your app and creates OpenTelemetry spans for each interaction. These spans capture:

  • The time of tap
  • The view that was tapped
  • Optional tap coordinates
  • Custom attributes (if configured)

This data helps identify screens with high user engagement, troubleshoot UI responsiveness issues, and understand user behavior patterns.

Configuration​

You can customize tap capture behavior when initializing the Embrace SDK:

let services = CaptureServiceBuilder()
    .add(.tap(options: TapCaptureService.Options(
        ignoreClassNames: ["UITableView", "UIScrollView"],
        captureTapCoordinates: true,
        delegate: myCustomDelegate
    )))
    .addDefaults()
    .build()

try Embrace
    .setup(
        options: Embrace.Options(
            appId: "APPID",
            captureServices: services
            //...other options
        )
    )
    .start()

Customization Options​

Ignoring Specific Views​

You can configure the tap capture service to ignore taps on specific UIView classes:

TapCaptureService.Options(
    ignoreClassNames: ["UIButton", "UITableViewCell", "UICollectionViewCell"]
)

This is useful when you want to focus on particular interactions or exclude high-volume tap areas.

Capturing Tap Coordinates​

Enable coordinate capture to record the exact location of each tap:

TapCaptureService.Options(
    captureTapCoordinates: true
)

When enabled, tap coordinates will be included as attributes in the generated spans:

  • emb.tap.x: X-coordinate of the tap
  • emb.tap.y: Y-coordinate of the tap

Custom Tap Capture Delegate​

For fine-grained control over which taps are captured, you can implement a custom delegate:

class MyTapDelegate: TapCaptureServiceDelegate {
    func shouldCaptureTap(on view: UIView, at point: CGPoint) -> Bool {
        // Custom logic to determine if this tap should be captured

        // For example, only capture taps on important views
        if view.accessibilityIdentifier?.hasPrefix("important_") == true {
            return true
        }

        // Or ignore taps in a specific area of the screen
        if point.y < 100 {  // Ignore taps near the top of the screen
            return false
        }

        return true
    }
}

// Then use this delegate when configuring the service
let myDelegate = MyTapDelegate()
TapCaptureService.Options(
    delegate: myDelegate
)

Understanding Tap Data​

Tap events are captured as OpenTelemetry spans with the following attributes:

  • emb.tap.view_class: The class name of the tapped view
  • emb.tap.view_id: The accessibility identifier of the view (if available)
  • emb.tap.x and emb.tap.y: Tap coordinates (if enabled)
  • emb.view_controller: The class name of the view controller containing the tapped view

Example Use Cases​

User Flow Analysis​

Tap capture data can reveal how users navigate through your app and which features they interact with most frequently.

UI Responsiveness Monitoring​

By combining tap data with view performance metrics, you can identify areas where your app may be slow to respond to user input.

Feature Engagement Tracking​

Monitor which features users are engaging with and identify areas of your app that may need better visibility or redesign.

A/B Testing Analysis​

When running A/B tests, tap data can provide insights into how different UI variations affect user behavior and engagement.

Best Practices​

  • Be selective about which views you monitor to avoid capturing excessive data
  • Use accessibility identifiers on important UI elements to make tap events more meaningful
  • Consider user privacy when capturing detailed interaction data
  • Combine tap data with session information to build comprehensive user journey maps
  • Use tap coordinates sparingly, only when the precise location of interaction is important