Data Collection for the Web SDK

Understand the types of data collected by the Web SDK.

Privacy Manager

Important

You are responsible for informing your end users about data collection, and collecting consent from the End User. The Airship SDK will perform data collection as described in this document on the signals provided by your integration, and you must collect the appropriate consent prior to using SDK features that perform data collection.

When the Airship SDK is loaded, either by inclusion of the snippet or import into a registered service worker, it will create databases and utility records in the browser. While these are non-identifying, if you require consent before any operation is performed, do not load the Airship SDK onto your pages until you have collected that consent.

Data collected by the Airship SDK can be controlled using Privacy Manager flags. Each flag enables additional Airship features within the SDK and controls what data is collected. The flags are for individual or groups of functional features within the SDK. Some Airship features, such as contact tags, require enabling multiple flags.

Privacy Manager Flag	Features
Push	Push notifications
In-App Automation	Scenes
Tags and Attributes	Tags, Attributes, and Subscription Lists
Contacts	Contact Tags, Attributes, and Subscription Lists; Named User; and Associated Channels
Analytics	Associated identifiers, Custom events, Screen tracking, Surveys (questions and NPS surveys in ScenesA mobile app or web experience of one or more screens displayed with fully native UI components in real time, providing immediate, contextual responses to user behaviors. Scenes can be presented in full-screen, modal, or embedded format using the default swipe/click mode or as a Story. They can also contain survey questions.), email address (by using form inputs in Scenes), Feature FlagAn experimentation tool for controlling the availability of content or functionality in your app or website. A flag’s Configurations determine the audience, schedule, and property values to apply when the flag is enabled. Flag properties enable making immediate code updates, bypassing the need for traditional code changes and release processes. interaction
Feature Flags	Feature Flag evaluation and interaction

SDK Data Collection

All SDK features are enabled by default, but the SDK can be configured to disable all or a subset of features on start. If the SDK is initialized without any features enabled, it will not make any network requests. If the SDK features are disabled after being previously enabled, it may make a few network requests to opt the channel out to prevent notifications.

Note

The data collected automatically by the SDK is not used to track users across websites or web applications.

Data	Description	Privacy Manager Features
Channel ID	Airship browser instance identifier	Any
Locale	The browser’s locale, comprised of language and language country	Any
Time zone	The device time zone	Any
SDK version	The Airship SDK version	Any
Notification opt-In status	Notifications and background opt-in status	Any
Contact ID	Internal Airship ID that maps to contact	Contacts
Push Subscription	The VAPID push subscription and endpoints	Push
Push Platform	The push delivery vendor, e.g., Google, Mozilla, Microsoft	Push
Browser Details	The browser name, version, type (desktop/mobile), and user agent	Analytics
App version	The app’s version, when provided by the integration	Analytics, In-App Automation
Session	Browsing session and associated attribution data	Analytics
Notification events	Push notification interaction events	Analytics, Push
In-App Automation events	Events within an In-App display: displays, resolutions, page views, button taps, and survey results	Analytics, In-App Automation

Website Data Collection

In addition to the data automatically collected by the SDK, the website integration can provide data to the SDK for collection:

Data	Description	Privacy Manager Features
Channel Tags	Tags and tag groups set on the channel	Tags and Attributes
Channel Subscription Lists	Subscription Lists set on the channel	Tags and Attributes
Channel Attributes	Attributes set on the channel	Tags and Attributes
Contact Tags	Tags and tag groups set on the contact	Tags and Attributes, Contacts
Contact Subscription Lists	Subscription Lists set on the contact	Tags and Attributes, Contacts
Contact Attributes	Attributes set on the contact	Tags and Attributes, Contacts
Named User	Contact’s external ID	Contacts
Associated Channels	Email and email opt-in data, SMS and SMS opt-in data, etc.	Contacts
Associated Identifiers	Additional analytics identifiers	Analytics
Custom Events	Website’s custom events	Analytics
Screen Tracking	Website’s screen tracking	Analytics
Permission Collection	Additional permissions collected by the SDK	Analytics
Feature Flag Interaction	Events related to Feature FlagsAn experimentation tool for controlling the availability of content or functionality in your app or website. A flag’s Configurations determine the audience, schedule, and property values to apply when the flag is enabled. Flag properties enable making immediate code updates, bypassing the need for traditional code changes and release processes.	Feature Flags, Analytics

When we collect data

The Airship SDK will not send any data to the Airship platform until a channel is created, which occurs using one of the following methods:

Creating a channel through sdk.create
Registering for push notifications through sdk.register
Registering an email, sms, or open channel through the Contact interface
Associating an exiting channel through the Contact interface
Using a plugin for performing registration of a channel or associated channel

Prior to those actions, the SDK may store data within the browser, in accordance with enabled Privacy Manager flags, should you perform specific actions like setting tags or attributes on a channel or contact. However, the values will not be sent to Airship until a channel is created.

Important

Performing any action that results in data collection will count the browser profile as a Monthly Unique Visitor for that month, and any subsequent visits from that browser profile will count in the month the visit occurred.

Using Privacy Manager

The Privacy Manager allows setting default enabled features as well as modifying the enabled features at runtime. This table provides a mapping of the flags:

Privacy Manager Flag	String Value
Push	`push`
In-App Automation	`in_app_automation`
Tags and Attributes	`tags_and_attributes`
Contacts	`contacts`
Feature Flags	`feature_flags`
Analytics	`analytics`
All	`all`

Configuring Default Enabled Features

To configure the default set of enabled features, you must pass an array of enabledFeatures in the configuration options in both your snippet and service worker’s initialization of the Airship SDK:

Configuring Enabled Features

...
  'UA', {
    vapidPublicKey: 'vapidPublicKey',
    appKey: 'appKey',
    token: 'token',
    enabledFeatures: [
      'push',
      'in_app_automation',
      'tags_and_attributes'
    ]
  });

When not provided, all features will be enabled. Passing a list of enabledFeatures only specifies the defaults. You may enable additional features at runtime.

Modifying Enabled Features

Features can be enabled or disabled using the PrivacyManager interface:

Enabling Features

const sdk = await UA
await sdk.privacyManager.enable('push', 'in_app_automation')

Disabling Features

const sdk = await UA
await sdk.privacyManager.disable('push', 'in_app_automation')

Disabled Feature Errors

When attempting to use a feature that is disabled, the SDK will raise errors that detail why the feature could not be used. If you plan to call these APIs when the Privacy Manager-enabled features could be in different states, you must catch these errors if you wish for your code to continue:

Handling Disabled Features

const sdk = await UA

try {
  await sdk.channel.editTags()
    .add("device", "cool_tag")
    .apply()
} catch (e) {
  // handle error as desired
}

Legacy SDK Data Collection Flags

Before the Privacy Manager was implemented for the Airship SDK, there were two exposed controls for data collection. These controls have been mapped to the Privacy Manager, retaining their previous behavior. The flags and APIs discussed below are deprecated and will be removed in the next major version.

Configuration

The following configuration values remain available, and are mapped to the Privacy Manager as follows:

disableAnalytics disables the Analytics Privacy Manager flag and disallows it being enabled through the Privacy Manager.
dataCollectionOptInEnabled disables all Privacy Manager flags by default and persists that value to the browser upon visit. Individual features may be enabled or disabled through the Privacy Manager.

Important

It is considered an error to specify enabledFeatures and dataCollectionOptInEnabled simultaneously. Doing so prevents the Airship SDK from initializing.

Runtime

At runtime, we supported disabling data collection and analytics via calls to the Airship SDK. We recommended using the Privacy Manager, and the following describes how they are mapped.

Analytics

Calls to sdk.analytics.setEnabled enable or disable the analytics Privacy Manager feature depending on the value passed to the method.

Disabling Analytics

const sdk = await UA

// legacy call to disable analytics
await sdk.analytics.setEnabled(false)
// equivalent privacy manager call
await sdk.privacyManager.disable('analytics')

Enabling Analytics

const sdk = await UA

// legacy call to enable analytics
await sdk.analytics.setEnabled(true)
// equivalent privacy manager call
await sdk.privacyManager.enable('analytics')

Data Collection

Calls to sdk.setDataCollectionEnabled enable or disable all Privacy Manager features depending on the value passed to the method.

Disabling Data Collection

const sdk = await UA

// legacy call to disable data collection
await sdk.setDataCollectionEnabled(false)
// equivalent privacy manager call
await sdk.privacyManager.disable('all')

Enabling Data Collection

const sdk = await UA

// legacy call to enable data collection
await sdk.setDataCollectionEnabled(true)
// equivalent privacy manager call
await sdk.privacyManager.enable('all')

Feedback

Was this page helpful?