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mixpanel
Chris Rae
Chris Rae

Reputation: 5675

Mixpanel alias on multiple devices

I'm confused by the way that Mixpanel alias() is supposed to work, despite the fact that Mixpanel have multiple pages attempting to explain it.

According to this page, I should call alias() only once per user, because it will create a one-time mapping from their user ID to the device's generated ID. But shouldn't that mapping be the other way around? Let's say Bob starts my app on his phone and logs in, at which point I call alias() to map all his actions so far to his account. He then goes through the same process on his tablet - I would expect that I can then call alias() on that machine to do the same thing. But the page I mentioned specifically says not to do that, because it will map his user ID to that device's ID now.

I can call identify() on the multiple devices, but that does not link his previous events to his user ID.

I feel like I'm misunderstanding how this whole thing works, but I've now spent a few hours pondering this so I'm hoping it's confused someone else in the past too...

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1003

Answers (2)

Albert Pueyo
Albert Pueyo

Reputation: 86

As they explain on their help documentation: https://mixpanel.com/help/questions/articles/how-should-i-handle-my-user-identity-with-the-mixpanel-javascript-library

Ideal implementation

The ideal integration that will allow you to track users from anonymous browsing all the way through signup and subsequent logins:

  1. When a new user signs up, call (once) mixpanel.alias("YOUR_USER_ID")
  2. When a user logs in, call mixpanel.identify("YOUR_USER_ID")

Applying this to your question, you need to use identify when the user do login with the mobile and another time when he do it with the tablet.

Upvotes: 1

Krystian Cybulski
Krystian Cybulski

Reputation: 11108

I always understood alias() as mapping the identifiers both ways. I've had a similar case as you. I'm almost sure that it does not matter how many times you alias and in which direction you alias the identifiers.

This is not authoritative though, but rather based on past usage and possibly-flawed understanding.

Upvotes: 1

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