--- title: Mobile SDK guide source: https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/mobile-sdk-api-guide --- Use the New Relic mobile SDK API calls to customize and extend the data your mobile app reports to New Relic. While our mobile monitoring solution offers powerful out-of-the-box data collection, you may need to customize and extend the data your mobile app reports to New Relic. For example, you can use the public SDK API calls to: - Start and stop interaction traces from events in your mobile app - Record custom metrics - Send custom attributes and events - Track network requests from libraries not supported automatically - Set custom IDs to user sessions ## Get started [#get-started] 1. Make sure you have the latest mobile agent installed. 2. Select a customization from the table below and follow the method's documentation. ## Available customizations [#methods] The table below lists supported SDK methods to customize your mobile agent instrumentation. Select a method to view syntax and usage examples for each agent type. | If you want to... | Use this method | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Record breadcrumbs to track app activity that may be helpful for troubleshooting crashes. | [Record breadcrumbs](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/record-breadcrumb) | | Track a method as an interaction. | [Start interactions](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/start-interaction) [Stop interactions](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/stop-interaction) > #### 💡 TIP > > If you use these methods, the instrumented interactions will not show up on the [Interactions](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/mobile-monitoring-ui/mobile-app-pages/interactions-page) page, but they can be still found with a NRQL query, such as: > > ````sql > SELECT name FROM Mobile SINCE 7 DAYS AGO > ``` > > ```` | | Name or rename an interaction. | [Name interactions](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/name-interaction) | | Set your app's build ID or version to be associated with interactions. | [Set app build number](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/set-application-build-number/) [Set app version number](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/set-application-version/) | | Create custom metrics. | [Record custom metrics](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/record-custom-metrics/) | | Report custom attributes and events. | There are several ways to report custom attributes and events: - [Record custom attributes](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/create-attribute) - [Increment session attribute count](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/increment-session-attribute-count) - [Remove an attribute](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/remove-attribute) - [Remove all attributes](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/remove-all-attributes) - [Record custom events](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/record-custom-events) - [Record breadcrumbs](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/record-breadcrumb) - [Set the maximum size of an event pool](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/set-max-event-pool-size) - [Set maximum time the agent stores events in memory](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/set-max-event-buffer-time) - [Get a current session's ID](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/current-session-id) - [Set a custom user ID to associate with events and attributes](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/set-custom-user-id) For more about which would be the best method to use and why, see [Report mobile monitoring custom events and attributes](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/data-apis/custom-data/custom-events/report-mobile-monitoring-custom-events-attributes/). | | Track custom network requests and failures. | [Track HTTP requests](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/network-request-success) [Track failing HTTP requests](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/network-request-failures) | | Record a handled exception as an event, including the context of what happened. | [Record handled exceptions](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/record-handled-exceptions) | | Record errors. | [Record errors](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/record-errors) | | Name activity for app launch time. | [Set app launch time target activity](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/name-android-activity) | | Shut down the agent. | [Shut down the agent](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/shut-down-agent) | | Enable/disable default mobile monitoring settings. | [Enable/disable monitoring features](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/configure-settings) | | Run a test crash report. | [Test crash reporting](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/mobile-monitoring/new-relic-mobile/mobile-sdk/test-crash-reporting) | ## Using the mobile SDK API [#android-sdk-usage] ### (Android) Automatically instrumented methods [#method-list] Automatic instrumentation is one of the Android agent's more convenient features. However, if it interferes with the method being traced, add `@SkipTrace` to the method, and the agent will skip it during compile time instrumentation. | **Classes** | **Methods** | | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `Activity` | - `onCreate` - `onCreateView` | | `AsyncTask` | - `execute` - `executeOnExecutor` | | `BitmapFactory` | - `decodeFile` - `decodeResourceStream` - `decodeResource` - `decodeByteArray` - `decodeStream` - `decodeFileDescriptor` - `decodeResourceStream` | | `SQLiteDatabase` | - `query` - `queryWithFactory` - `rawQuery` - `rawQueryWithFactory` - `insert` - `insertOrThrow` - `insertWithOnConflict` - `replace` - `replaceOrThrow` - `delete` - `update` - `updateWithOnConflict` - `execSql` | | `GSON` | - `toJson` - `fromJson` | | `JSONObject` | - `` - `toString` | | `JSONArray` | - `` - `toString` | | `Log` | - `d // debug` - `w // warning` - `i // info` - `v // verbose` - `e // error` | ### (iOS) Automatically instrumented methods [#method-list-ios] Automatic instrumentation is one of the iOS agent's more convenient features. It is enabled by default. To disable please configure feature flags `NRFeatureFlag_DefaultInteractions` and `NRFeatureFlag_InteractionTracing`. The table below lists the automatically instrumented classes and methods in iOS agent. | **Classes** | **Methods** | | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `UIViewController` | - `viewDidLoad` - `viewWillAppear` - `viewDidAppear` - `viewWillDisappear` - `viewDidDisappear` - `viewWillLayoutSubviews` - `viewDidLayoutSubviews` | | `UIImage` | - `imageNamed` - `imageWithContentsOfFile` - `imageWithData` - `imageWithData:scale:` - `initWithContentsOfFile:` - `initWithData:` - `initWithData:scale:` | | `NSJSONSerialization` | - `JSONObjectWithData:options:error:` - `JSONObjectWithStream:options:error:` - `dataWithJSONObject:options:error:` - `writeJSONObject:toStream:options:error:` | | `NSManagedObjectContext` | - `executeFetchRequest:error:` - `processPendingChanges` | ## (iOS) Sending custom attributes and events [#custom-att-events] When [reporting custom attributes and events](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/insights/new-relic-insights/adding-querying-data/custom-attributes-events-new-relic-mobile), use the SDK methods within the `NewRelic` object. Methods that return `BOOL` results return `YES` if they succeed, or `NO` if the operation did not complete. These methods are available in versions 5.0.0 or higher of the New Relic iOS agent. The SDK can store up to 128 user-defined [custom attributes](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/insights/insights-data-sources/custom-events/insert-custom-events-attributes-mobile-data#event-definition) at a time. If you attempt to store more than 128 attributes, the SDK returns `NO`. When naming custom attributes, we recommend that you use the simplest format needed, such as using single word attributes and no spaces. For example, `My Custom Attribute` should be formatted to `myCustomAttribute`. When naming custom metrics: - Avoid using the characters `/` `]` `[` `|` `*` when naming things. - Avoid multi-byte characters.