Fire when the user navigates from cart to the first checkout screen — or, in single-screen checkouts, when they tap the primary CTA to begin entering address or payment. Don't pass the cart total, the address, or the saved payment method.
▸Install the Swift (iOS) SDK
// Package.swift
dependencies: [
.package(url: "https://github.com/respectlytics/respectlytics-swift.git", from: "3.0.0")
]
// Or via Xcode → File → Add Packages → paste the URL above.The SDK ships only via Swift Package Manager. CocoaPods and Carthage are not published — fewer integration paths means fewer surfaces to keep audited.
▸Initialize Respectlytics in Swift (iOS)
import Respectlytics
@main
struct MyApp: App {
init() {
Respectlytics.configure(appKey: "<YOUR_APP_KEY>")
}
var body: some Scene { WindowGroup { ContentView() } }
}Call configure once at app launch — typically in your App struct's init. No Info.plist keys are required: the SDK does not call ATTrackingManager and does not request the IDFA, so NSUserTrackingUsageDescription should NOT be added.
▸Track the event in Swift (iOS)
import Respectlytics
import SwiftUI
struct CartView: View {
var body: some View {
VStack {
// ... cart line items ...
Button("Checkout") {
Respectlytics.track("checkout_start")
navigateToCheckout()
}
}
}
}Distinct event names if you support multiple checkout flows: checkout_start_guest vs checkout_start_authenticated.
✦Privacy & implementation notes
Shipping address is unambiguous personally identifiable information under every privacy regulation that exists. The Address field is rejected by Respectlytics's API at the boundary — it never reaches storage, and the rejection happens with a 400 that's visible in your integration tests. Mirror the address into your commerce database, where it has a legitimate purpose (shipping the order) and proper access controls.
Apple Pay and Google Pay completion rates routinely outperform card-entry rates by 20–40 percentage points. Distinct event names per payment method let you see this delta directly in your funnel. Foregrounding the wallet option in checkout is one of the highest-leverage UX changes in mobile commerce.
Apple rejected approximately 3% of apps in 2024 for incorrectly omitting NSUserTrackingUsageDescription when ATT was required by the SDKs they shipped. Respectlytics doesn't trigger ATT. The corollary is also true: do not add the key on Respectlytics's account — its presence implies you track across apps, even if your code never calls requestTrackingAuthorization.
Internally the Swift SDK uses Swift Concurrency: events are queued in an actor-isolated buffer (RAM-only), flushed on a 30-second timer and on UIApplication.willResignActiveNotification. Force-quit before flush drops queued events — by design. There is no UserDefaults or file backing.
⇋How this compares to other analytics SDKs
| Checkout start event | Firebase Analytics | Mixpanel | Respectlytics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cart total / currency | Recommended | Recommended | Rejected by API |
| Item count in cart | Recommended | Recommended | Rejected by API |
| Shipping address as event property | Possible | Possible | Forbidden (PII) |
| Saved payment method type | Recommended | Recommended | Use distinct event_name |
| Cart → checkout-start funnel rate | Per-user | Per-user | Session-grouped |
❓Frequently asked questions
How do we know average cart value at checkout-start without storing total?
Your commerce backend computes that — and it has the authoritative number with refund-aware totals. Respectlytics is for the rate signal; the monetary-value signal lives in commerce. Both are useful; conflating them produces drift.
Can we still differentiate guest checkout from logged-in checkout?
Distinct event names: checkout_start_guest, checkout_start_authenticated. The two flows have different completion rates and different optimization targets, so splitting them is worth it.
What about Apple Pay / Google Pay vs card?
If you instrument the payment-method choice, distinct event names: checkout_payment_apple_pay, checkout_payment_card. Most teams find Apple/Google Pay completion rates 20–40% higher; that delta is a strong case for foregrounding the wallet option.
Should we instrument address-entry abandonment specifically?
Useful in long flows. Fire checkout_shipping_address_entered when the user moves past address. The rate from checkout_start to that event is your address-form drop-off signal; address forms are notorious abandonment surfaces.