Replace Firebase Analytics: no PII collected

Q: What if our analytics team needs to slice by user segment (paid vs free)?

Encode the segment into the event name. Instead of `track('paywall_view', { tier: 'paid' })`, fire `track('paywall_view_paid_user')` and `track('paywall_view_free_user')`. The aggregation buckets them automatically; no per-user identity is stored.

▸Example Firebase Analytics call (the "before")

swift Respectlytics

import FirebaseAnalytics

// Default Firebase event with rich per-user metadata:
Analytics.logEvent("purchase", parameters: [
    "value": price,
    "currency": "USD",
    "transaction_id": UUID().uuidString,
    "user_id": userId,
])

Most analytics SDKs accept arbitrary event parameters — the path of least resistance for an engineer adds user_id, email, phone, address to events over time. Respectlytics's 5-field event schema (event_name, session_id, timestamp, platform, country) rejects extra fields at the API with a 400 — making PII drift architecturally impossible.

☑Remove Firebase Analytics cleanly

1
Remove pod 'Firebase/Analytics' from Podfile (and any Firebase/Core pulled by it that isn't needed elsewhere)
2
Remove implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics-ktx' from build.gradle.kts
3
Remove @react-native-firebase/analytics from package.json
4
Remove firebase_analytics: from pubspec.yaml
5
Remove FirebaseApp.configure() and Analytics.logEvent call sites — replace with Respectlytics.configure() and Respectlytics.track("event_name")
6
Delete the GoogleService-Info.plist and google-services.json if no other Firebase product remains in the app
7
Run ./gradlew :app:dependencies and confirm play-services-ads-identifier is no longer in the runtime classpath

⇋Firebase Analytics vs Respectlytics — no pii collected

	Firebase Analytics	Respectlytics
Accepts arbitrary event parameters	Yes (per-event params or properties)	No (5-field schema, extras rejected with 400)
Persistent user identifier	— see tool note above	No (session_id rotates every 2h, RAM-only)
IP address stored	— see tool note above	Used transiently to derive country, then discarded
Per-user historical record	— see tool note above	Out of scope (use your account system)

❓Frequently asked questions

How do we attribute revenue to a specific user without `user_id`?

You don't — at least not in your analytics. Your billing system (Stripe, RevenueCat, App Store Connect) is the authoritative source of per-user revenue, with refund-aware totals and the appropriate access controls. Respectlytics tells you the product signal (conversion rate, funnel completion) at the session level; per-user revenue lives where it belongs.

What if our analytics team needs to slice by user segment (paid vs free)?

Encode the segment into the event name. Instead of track('paywall_view', { tier: 'paid' }), fire track('paywall_view_paid_user') and track('paywall_view_free_user'). The aggregation buckets them automatically; no per-user identity is stored.

Doesn't the country field count as personal data?

Country-only resolution is generally considered the most minimised form of geographic data and is widely accepted in privacy reviews — but consult your legal team to determine your specific situation. Respectlytics derives country from the request IP server-side, then discards the IP before storing the event.

What happens if a teammate accidentally adds an extra field to a `track` call?

The API returns a 400 with the offending field name in the response body. Your integration test fails on the first run that includes the new field, so the regression is caught at PR review — not after months of unnoticed silent PII collection.

⇢Related migration guides

Replace Firebase Analytics to stop collecting personal data in analytics