What is a Session?
A Session is one period of time a person is actively using a mobile app. It is initiated as soon as the app is opened and ends when the user either leaves the app or is inactive in the app for a designated amount of time.
If the user returns later, a new session is established. Understanding “what is a session?” is crucial for anyone evaluating how users are engaging with mobile apps.
Session Meaning
We can describe the meaning of a session like this: you walk into the store, you look around, you buy something, then you leave. That’s one session. In the same way, each time a user opens an application and uses it for some time, they start one session. After closing the application, if they return another time, even on the same day, that should be counted as another session.
Why Sessions Matter
Sessions give app owners insight into how users interact with their app. Users can see how frequently users use the app, how long they tend to stay, and whether or not they return. All of this is helpful for app owners to improve their app’s design, content and performance.
Monitoring sessions allow app owners to better understand user engagement and potentially identify problems that could be causing users to leave the app prematurely.
Session Duration
Session duration is the total time spent in the app in one session. For example, if a user opens a music app and listens to songs for twelve minutes, the session duration is twelve minutes. If they reached the end of the app and took a long break away from the app, that would be the end of that session.
If they were to come back and use the app again, this would be a new session, and the timer would start over.
What is Session in Mobile Analytics?
In mobile analytics, understanding what constitutes a session helps app developers and marketing experts in measuring engagement. For example, long session times suggest that users find the app useful of entertaining. Short session times and infrequent return usage suggest bugs, poor content, or a confusing user experience.
How Sessions Are Being Tracked?
A session typically begins when a user opens an app. A session ends when:
- The app is closed
- The user has stopped interacting with the app for some time (generally more than 30 seconds).
- The app has been in the background for too long
As for the exact timeout which ends a session, this will differ across the platform or tool, but usually comes in around 30 seconds to a few minutes of inactivity.
Rules That Define a Session
Common rules for defining a session include:
- Timeout-based: After a user has not interacted with the app for a defined amount of time (e.g., 30 seconds), the session is considered to have ended.
- App close and reopen: If a user closes an app and subsequently reopens it, a new session starts.
- Backgrounding: If a user steps away to another app and does not return in a short amount of time, it is possible a session ends simply due to inactivity.
These rules matter because they allow us to derive how long and often people are using an app.
What does Session Data Tell You?
By tracking session data, app creators can assess:
- Are users re-engaging with the app?
- Are users spending enough time in the app?
- Are the features pushed to the user increasing session time?
- Are users leaving the app too quickly?
Overall, this data provides useful insights into optimizing user experience with the app, boosting retention, and supporting sound business decisions.
Session vs. Event
A session encompasses all of the time a user is in the app. An event is a single action, largely speaking, like clicking a button or making a purchase. There can be many events in a session, but a session is the container of time in which those events occur.
Session Frequency
This is a measure of how often a user opens and uses the app. A high session frequency often indicates that an app is engaging and valuable. A low frequency likely indicates that users are not finding the app useful or entertaining.
Summary
A session is a single full-duration visit to the app. By measuring how our users operate as well as our app’s performance in a session, we can track if our app goes above and beyond the call of an app. Tracking session count, session length, and number of sessions per day/week/month, we gain insight into how users could or would engage with our mobile apps.
So, the next time you hear someone ask, “What is a session?” – now you know it is one of the most basic and most powerful ways to understand app usage.