2019-10-01 | [Announcement] Removal of Monitoring from Ionic Appflow

 

 

Announcement Date

October 1st, 2019

 

Removal Date

December 1st, 2019

 

What does this announcement mean?

As of October 1st, 2019

• The Ionic team will no longer be making updates to the Monitoring service in Ionic Appflow.

Starting December 1st, 2019

• Ionic Appflow customers will no longer have access to the Ionic Monitoring service.

 

What is the Ionic Monitoring service?

Ionic's Monitoring service (also known as Error Monitoring or just "Monitoring") is a service provided to Ionic Appflow customers. This service allows customers to upload their generated application source maps to Appflow and provides a user interface to receive and provide information about errors that users may experience when using customer applications.

 

Why is the Ionic team removing the Monitoring service from Appflow?

The Ionic team has performed an analysis of the Monitoring service, taking into account the extent to which it has been adopted by our existing customers, the breadth of similar alternatives, and future product priorities driven by ongoing discovery with our customers. We have decided that it is the best decision at this time to remove the Monitoring service from our Appflow product offering.

 

Am I affected?

Is the Monitoring service listed for your application in the Ionic Appflow Dashboard?

Not all Ionic Appflow accounts have access to the Monitoring service. If you do not see Monitoring in the list of services for your app(s), you will not be affected by this change to Appflow. However, you may still need to make changes to your application code to remove or modify your use of the @ionic/pro client - please read the section below on determining if Monitoring is being used in your Ionic application.

I do see Monitoring listed in the Appflow Dashboard for my app(s). Am I affected by this change?

If you do see Monitoring listed, then yes, your Appflow Dashboard interface will no longer show the Monitoring service as of the date listed above. However, you may or may not need to make code changes to remove Monitoring from your Ionic application.

How do I know if I am using Monitoring in my Ionic application?

There are two signs that you should look for to determine if you are using Monitoring in your Ionic application:

1. You have the @ionic/pro package listed in your package.json file AND
2. You are calling methods using Pro.monitoring somewhere in your code (most likely in app.module.ts). This is usually accompanied with code defining an IonicErrorHandler.

I can confirm that both of the above are true - what do I need to do in my Ionic application?

If both of the above apply to your application, you should plan to:

• Remove any of the error handling code surrounding Pro.monitoring and IonicErrorHandler from your application prior to the Monitoring service removal date.
• (Optional, but recommended) Remove the @ionic/pro client

We have a general guide on removing the Monitoring service and @ionic/pro client from your application here.

Please note that implementations do differ between apps, so you will need to investigate your own application to determine everything that may need to be refactored or changed as part of this removal.

Note for users of the Ionic Deploy API: Removing the @ionic/pro package may cause errors in your application if you are using the Deploy API with an outdated version of the Deploy plugin. You can update to the latest version of the Deploy plugin (cordova-plugin-ionic) and update your implementation to use the Deploy API directly from the plugin moving forward - see the Deploy API documentation for details.

 

What will happen if I do not take any action or make the code changes above?

• On the removal date, the Monitoring service will be shut down and the UI removed for customers in the Ionic Appflow Dashboard.
• Any API calls to the Monitoring service will no longer return errors from your app; these calls will instead return error codes.
• Eventually, the Ionic team will entirely remove the code for the Monitoring service. At that time, you may begin to receive errors if using the old Monitoring APIs in your application.
  • It is highly recommended that you remove the Monitoring service from your application as noted so that you are unaffected by this change in the future.

 

I need an alternative to Monitoring for my application(s). Can you recommend any other services?

If you are currently using the Appflow Monitoring service and require a similar service for your application, it is recommended that you look into an alternative service for error and/or crash monitoring. 

Common alternatives include Sentry.io and Firebase Crashlytics. A number of our clients have reported positive experiences with Sentry in particular, which has built an entire product around error monitoring as a service. Both services come with generous free-tier offerings for smaller applications, with paid tiers after a certain amount of usage.

 

TL;DR: What do I need to do if I’m using Monitoring?

• If your Ionic application still includes the @ionic/pro package, it is recommended to remove it from your application. If you are also using the Deploy API, make sure you are on the latest version of cordova-plugin-ionic and update your imports and code per the documentation.
  
  
• If your application still includes references to Pro.monitoring and/or IonicErrorHandler, remove the associated code from your application prior to the deprecation date.
  
  
• If you require an error handling/monitoring service for your application, it is recommended that you look into an alternative service like Sentry.io or Firebase Crashlytics.

 

Questions?

If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to us via email at [e-mail].