Is it possible to enable and disable Analytics through an editor script?

We are using Unity Analytics in our project, but do not want it to be active on certain platforms. Is it possible to switch it on and off via editor script?

In a similar way to how we can write an editor script to change platform

EditorUserBuildSettings.SwitchActiveBuildTarget(BuildTargetGroup.Standalone, BuildTarget.StandaloneWindows64);

Is there some api similar to this:

// EditorSettings.Analytics.Disable()
// EditorSettings.PerformanceReporting.Disable()

 

is there any update to this? is it possible to disable it at build time. This would really help our build pipeline. Disabling it first thing as the player starts up still seems to send some analytics data

Same for crash reporting

 

You could try to manually edit the /ProjectSettings/UnityConnectSettings.Asset file

 

PerformanceReportingSettings.enabled = false;
AnalyticsSettings.enabled = false;
CrashReportingSettings.enabled = false;

Looks like a new API was added ^

 

Not sure what API you are referring to, but those settings should indeed disable Analytics.

 

Hi,

Didn't start a new thread as think this is related.

Not sure if those Api's are working. I used the following in my game;




The Disable HW Statistics selected;



I did a windows standalone build. Closed down the editor. Ran the build and monitored with Charles Proxy.

Charles proxy shows that the build is still showing communication attempts to Unity;



If this is normal then how do we get access to the information shared between our games and unity as this is a legal requirement for the newish USA export compliance and French equivalent.

Thanks

 

If you installed the Charles root certificate and rebooted, you should be able to view the contents of the request and response to see exactly what is being sent. You can find more information here https://unity3d.com/legal/gdpr You can email GDPR@unity3d.com with your GDPR related questions.

 

Hi @JeffDUnity3D,

Thanks for the reply. I've read the links you referred to. It seems to be related to apps that have ads, marketing etc switched on. From what I understand the question relating to this thread (which is the same as mine) is how to make sure that no data is shared and no network communications attempted. Hence the need to switch of analytics through code as the thread starter asked. In my game I have attempted to turn off all network communications using the Unity provided API so the game is isolated with no need for any users to have to opt out of any such data collection etc.

From following the API, unity manual and tutorials I thought this was achievable but it seems to not be the case demonstrated by charles proxy showing network communication generated by unity and not my code even though I am sure to have done everything required for this.

The links you gave are not clear or helpful regarding this situation. I would have thought the APIs and selecting' Disable H W stats' would be enough

Could you clarify then. Is it possible to stop unity collecting data? If not then are we devs expected to complete the requirements of the USA export compliance and french equivalents even when it's unity and not us that are collected the data. If this is the case could you provide an easy way for us to access the data you have gathered and providing that information to these USA and French regulatory agencies. Or when submitting products for distribution are we exempt from these legal requirements as it's unity who collect and have the data and not us?

Thanks again.

 

The code that I shared should disable all data collection. As mentioned, any further questions should be directed to the GDPR team, thanks for understanding.

 

Sorry I missed the email you linked to, my fault. I'll contact them re the getting access to the data question.

Re the code you referred to - Analytics.enabled = false;

Should that have not stopped all the communication? This is what I'm finding confusing. I would have thought Charles proxy would report no connection attempts. Is this possible bug or am I misunderstanding it's full use?

Thanks

 

Are you able to view the request and response content? We would not be expected to be collecting any data, perhaps it is a call simply to check internet access or your login. It is not a Unity Analytics end point. If you disable the Internet, do you get an error?

 

Unplugging the internet gives the following report



Previously with the internet on the Request and Response info as highlighted.



No obvious info showing but seems like attempts of some kind made.

Thanks

 

Agreed and likely as I stated. Please show the actual request and response content. You are only showing the Overview. Click the Structure tab on the left, then the Request and Response tabs will show the unencrypted data.

 

@JeffDUnity3D, It's only showing as encrypted info not plain text. Think would need to add the SSL location in ssl proxy settings for that. In case this is only a personal issue and not affecting others I can start a conversation as I don't want to spam this thread. Anything that maybe useful to/affectng others I can add post later.

 

Please see my previous post today at 5:35 pm. You need to install the Charles root certificate and reboot. Help/SSL Proxying/Install Charles Root Certificate. As mentioned, this is not an Analytics endpoint.

 

Got it. Will do all the tests again tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

@docsavage hey, curious if you did any more testing with turning analytics off at run-time and any data sent out by Unity via Charles proxy?

I'm going to look at this myself doing some test builds, curious to hear what you've found so far.

Thanks

 

Hi,

I didn't change anything other than using the API and disable HW statistics. For some reason the game always tries to connect with the network no matter what I do. I know this because the firewall tells me. In spite of this Charles proxy says there's no data transmitting. I'd prefer it to have a straightforward one command API that completely cut off any network access attempts. Basically a network kill switch for the built app. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have one. Or at least if the ones that already exist should do this they aren't doing it that effectively.

Thanks

 

Completely disabling the network is a separate issue. If you are looking to be compliant, the steps in this thread should suffice. This article discusses how to use Charles, and what to do if the events are still encrypted. https://support.unity3d.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002917683-Using-Charles-Proxy-with-Unity . However even if the requests are encrypted, you'll be able to see which endpoints are being hit which is sufficient for confirming. Please provide this information.

 

Hi @JeffDUnity3D,

Thanks for this. I did those steps described in the article back in april. Retrying with the charles certificates etc that you advised (1st april). It still showed no data transferred but the connection attempts still occurring. Unfortunately I've can't get you the requested info with the endpoints info as currently in the middle of some massive PC housekeeping and rebuilds since finishing the game.

You said completely disabling the network is a separate issue. Is it possible to completely disable the network for any build? If there is a way to kill any connection with any network for the builds that would be great to know.

Thanks

 

Hey i am facing pretty much the same issue like discussed in this thread and i followed all the steps mentioned! But Charles proxy still catches one event when ever unity iap gets initialized. It goes to this url: ecommerce.iap.unity3d.com
with userid, decisiveid,appid, and sessionid. We got rejected from apple because of this. Is there any solution?

 

No solution yet, but we are working on it. Hopefully in the next release.

 

Hello, I got same issue. Disabled ads & all analytics at runtime, but Charles still shows a call at the beginning of the app to https://ecommerce.iap.unity3d.com/catalog providing the appid, deviceid, userid, sessionid

-> What is that endpoint on your end ?
-> What is the purpose of the call, what should the response be ? Using Charles proxy I get denied with 405 status and IAPs are not working (price / purchase / restore), so something is not going well.
-> How can the request be turned off / disabled ? Will IAPs work without this call ?

I got a kids app twice rejected by apple because of third party calls, and this is the only https call left that the app makes to non apple urls.

What is your feedback on how should we proceed forward. Disabling all forms of revenue (ADS & IAP) just to get accepted on apple is not a viable solution for most game devs out there.

Looking fwd for your reply

Using Unity 2019.3.12f1

 

What does that checkbox do exactly?

 

That does not really say what it actually does, at least not in any detal. I don't care about COPPA, I don't target kids, I don't have ads and I have analytics off.

Will this checkbox help me ensure Unity does not transmit any data at all?

Because until very recently, it still occasionally transmitted data no matter how many other checkboxes I had turned off, or whatever hacks and other attempts I did to just make Unity stop.

I keep waiting for Unity to add a simple "I DON'T CARE ABOUT DATA, I JUST WANT TO MAKE GAMES" checkbox, that actually works.

 

2018.4.22f1

 

Hey solved the issue with switching from unity iap solution to this asset, https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/integration/ios-native-pro-119175
It is a little bit harder to implement but it solved most of our problems (i had to still disable some section in xcode)

 

As far as my expires earlier this year (on unity 2019.3) this check box does not help since apple does not allow any third-party (unity counts as third-party in this case) server analytic events and only after complete removal of those we got accepted from apple. I do not completely agree with that but that was the realty for us. So it would be nice if at least for ios we got a solution from unity to have iap without analytics.
best regards!

 

@SamOYUnity3D is there any estimate as to when this Unity IAP without analytics for iOS is likely to be available? i.e is it likely to be in the next weeks or months or later? It would help us decide our forward (i.e. wait for solution or go with Xcode edits and 3rd party asset). Many thanks.

 

My estimate would be towards the end of the year

 

@JeffDUnity3D Thanks for that. Very useful to know - I'll use another IAP asset. It's disappointing as Unity IAP was so easy to set up and nice to use. It may be helpful to let people know that Unity IAP cannot be used for iOS kids apps until this time (save people spending time in integrating Unity IAP which Apple will reject). Could maybe put in a pinned thread at the top of the Unity IAP forum?

 

I did not make that claim. We simply don't know yet. Do you have a Charles Proxy capture? Did you disable Analytics at runtime and use the most recent release of Unity? https://support.unity3d.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002917683-Using-Charles-Proxy-with-Unity

 

@JeffDUnity3D sorry ... my misunderstanding - thanks for clarifying. I was under the impression that the inclusion of the Analytics package precluded me from claiming that the app does not contain analytics when submitting a kids app ... resulting in app rejection.

I had an app rejected yesterday as a result of the existence of 3rd party analytics (using pretty recent Unity 2019.4.1f1 with Unity IAP 1.23.2 ). Not sure how it was detected, whether by code analysis, or listening for calls, or simply because I said the app included the Unity analytics package. However, I did not include code to disable Analytics at run time, as looking in this thread it didn't seem to help in getting through review. Looking at the various posts on the forums the way people seem to reliably get around the problem is by giving up the fight and using a 3rd party asset.

Is the theory that if I disable Analytics at runtime and monitor using Charles Proxy that I could answer "No" to the does your app contain analytics question? Or that I should try to put a case forward in app review to say "yes analytics code is there, but I never call it" (wouldn't rate my chances of pulling this one off).

I would love to use Unity IAP as it's been so easy to integrate (until the final hurdle).

 

You don't monitor your live game with Charles Proxy, I only suggested to use it in your testing once to see what data is being sent.

 

Yes - understood. So the theory is that if calls weren't made during testing with Charles Proxy it would provide support to the claim that the release was analytics free for all practical purposes - and perhaps this may be sufficient to pass review. Or indeed if data is being sent then this could be investigated as you wouldn't expect it?

 

We are looking for unexpected events being sent and confirming that Analytics is properly disabled.

 

@JeffDUnity3D Just to make sure I'm up to date. Can you confirm that to disable Analytics you just need these calls as the very first calls in your game.

Code (CSharp):

1. // If you want to disable Analytics completely during runtime
2.     public void DisableAnalyticsCompletely()
3.     {
4.         Analytics.enabled = false;
5.         Analytics.deviceStatsEnabled = false;
6.         PerformanceReporting.enabled = false;
7.     }

Taken from https://docs.unity3d.com/2020.1/Documentation/ScriptReference/Analytics.Analytics-enabled.html

 

Try this in Awake or a method with the OnLoad attribute

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/RuntimeInitializeOnLoadMethodAttribute.html

Analytics.initializeOnStartup = false;
Analytics.enabled = false;
PerformanceReporting.enabled = false;
Analytics.limitUserTracking = true;
Analytics.deviceStatsEnabled = false;

 

Should this be

Code (CSharp):

1. Analytics.limitUserTracking = true;