Question

Before I add the Flurry library into my .APK, I’d like to know how are they able to provide a free analytic service?

They see all the data I ship back from my app. but how do they monetize that? What does an app developer give up or give away by using someone else’s analytics SDK?

Peter

Answer 1

As with many/most “freemium” solutions, they are providing the analytics at the cost of data privacy. While they do clearly state that they don’t want you sending PII, they are saying that they have the right to use the information you send, in return for the right to use the analytics solution.

Per their terms of service (TOS): http://www.flurry.com/about-us/legal/tos.html

Privacy and Information Collection
As a condition of your access to the Analytics Service, you agree that Flurry has the right, for any purpose, to retain, use, and publish in an aggregate manner, subject to the terms of its Privacy Policy located here (or such other URL that Flurry may provide from time to time), information collected in your use of the Analytics Service, including without limitation, User Data. Flurry will not disclose to any third parties any User Data collected by the Analytics Service from your applications in a manner that contains or reveals any personally identifiable information or is specifically attributable to you, your applications or your customers. You will not (and will not allow any third party to) use the Analytics Service to track or collect personally identifiable information of end users, nor will you (or will you allow any third party to) associate any data gathered from your application(s) with any personally identifying information from any source as part of your use (or such third parties’ use) of the Analytics Service. You agree that you have and will abide by an appropriate privacy policy and will comply with all applicable laws relating to the collection of information from end users of your applications. You must post a privacy policy and that policy must provide notice of your use of a tracking pixel, agent or any other visitor identification technology that collects anonymous data about end users of your applications.

Also, on their legal page look at the disclosure section: http://www.flurry.com/about-us/legal/privacy.html

How We Disclose or Share Information with Others

Except as described in this policy, Flurry does not rent, sell, or share personally identifiable information collected on the Sites or through the Flurry Services with other people or nonaffiliated companies unless we have your consent, or under the following circumstances:

* with third party vendors, consultants and other service providers who work for us and need access to your information to do that work;
* to comply with laws or to respond to lawful requests and legal process;
* to protect the rights and property of Flurry our agents, customers, users, and others including to enforce our agreements, policies and terms of use;
* in an emergency to protect the personal safety of Flurry, its customers, or any person;
* in connection with or during negotiation of any merger, sale of company assets, financing or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

We may also share aggregated or anonymized information in a form that does not directly identify you or your End Users with any third parties.

For some organizations giving up rights to your data is acceptable in return for the ability to do analysis. If that is something that your company is not ok with you may want to research other analytic options available. Many traditional web analytics vendors and some non-free mobile analytic vendors (such as Localytics) provide more strict data privacy policies.