Android

Manual capture only. Logs are emitted by your code. The SDK does not autocapture system log streams (Log.d, Logcat, Timber).

Minimum version: com.posthog:posthog-android@3.46.0 or later. Bump the dependency in your build.gradle (or build.gradle.kts) and re-sync.

1. 1

   Install posthog-android

   Required

   If you haven’t installed posthog-android yet, follow the steps below. For full details, see the Android SDK guide (opens in a new tab).

   The best way to install the PostHog Android library is with a build system like Gradle (opens in a new tab). This ensures you can easily upgrade to the latest versions.

   All you need to do is add the posthog-android module to your App’s build.gradle or build.gradle.kts:

   PostHog AI

   app/build.gradle

   Copy

   dependencies {
     implementation 'com.posthog:posthog-android:3.+'
   }

   app/build.gradle.kts

   kotlinCopy

   dependencies {
     implementation("com.posthog:posthog-android:3.+")
   }

   Configuration

   The best place to initialize the client is in your Application subclass.

   Kotlin

   PostHog AI

   kotlinCopy

   import android.app.Application
   import com.posthog.android.PostHogAndroid
   import com.posthog.android.PostHogAndroidConfig
   class SampleApp : Application() {
       companion object {
           const val POSTHOG_API_KEY = "<ph_project_token>"
           // usually 'https://us.i.posthog.com' or 'https://eu.i.posthog.com'
           const val POSTHOG_HOST = "https://us.i.posthog.com"
       }
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. 2

   Configure logs in your PostHogAndroidConfig

   Required

   Configure Logs through config.logs before calling PostHogAndroid.setup(...). All fields are optional; defaults are tuned for mobile (cellular bandwidth, battery, app lifecycle).

   Kotlin

   PostHog AI

   kotlinCopy

   import com.posthog.android.PostHogAndroid
   import com.posthog.android.PostHogAndroidConfig
   class SampleApp : Application() {
       override fun
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

3. 3

   Capture logs

   Required

   Use PostHog.logger for the per-level convenience API.

   Kotlin

   PostHog AI

   kotlinCopy

   import com.posthog.PostHog
   import com.posthog.logs.PostHogLogSeverity
   // Per-level convenience methods
   PostHog.logger.info("checkout completed", mapOf("order_id" to "ord_789", 
   
   
   
   

4. 4

   Test your setup

   Recommended

   1. Capture a test log from your app:

      Kotlin

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      kotlinCopy

      PostHog.logger.info("hello from Android")
      PostHog.flush()

   2. Open the PostHog Logs UI (opens in a new tab).

   3. Filter by service.name = 'my-app' (or whatever value you set above).

   You should see your record arrive within a few seconds.

   View your Logs in PostHog

5. 5

   Tune buffering, rate cap, and resource attributes

   Optional

   The logs config has knobs for high-volume apps:

   Kotlin

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   val config = PostHogAndroidConfig(apiKey = "<ph_project_token>").apply {
       logs.serviceName = "my-app"
       logs.flushIntervalSeconds =
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

6. 6

   Filter or redact with beforeSend

   Optional

   beforeSend runs synchronously before the rate cap, so dropped records don’t consume the per-window budget. Use it for redaction, sampling, or filtering by level. Each hook receives an immutable PostHogLogRecord and returns either a (possibly modified) record or null to drop it.

   Kotlin

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   config.logs.addBeforeSend { record ->
       // Drop debug logs in production
       if (record.level == PostHogLogSeverity.DEBUG) return@addBeforeSend null
       // Redact secrets in the body
       record.
   

7. Next steps

   Checkpoint

   What you can do with your logs

   Action	Description
   Why you need logs (opens in a new tab)	What logs show you that nothing else does
   Search logs (opens in a new tab)	Use the search interface to find specific log entries
   Filter by level	Filter by INFO, WARN, ERROR, etc.
   Link session replay

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These resource attributes are captured at setup(...) and apply to every batch. Mutating config.logs.serviceName, environment, serviceVersion, or resourceAttributes after setup has no effect.

Available severity levels: TRACE, DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL.

Records are buffered, batched, persisted to disk, and flushed automatically – every 30 seconds, when the buffer hits the threshold, when the app moves to the background, or on PostHog.flush(). flush() drains events, Session Replay, and Logs together.

Each record is automatically tagged with the current distinct ID, session ID, current screen, app foreground/background state, and active Feature Flags at the moment of capture.

From Java:

Java

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Full configuration reference:

serviceName, serviceVersion, environment, resourceAttributes, flushAt, and maxBatchSize are captured at setup(...); mutating them later has no effect. flushIntervalSeconds, maxBufferSize, and rate-cap fields are re-read at runtime. Defaults are tuned for cellular-aware mobile apps. Raise rateCapMaxLogs and maxBufferSize for high-volume scenarios.

Call addBeforeSend multiple times to compose a chain – hooks are evaluated left-to-right (registration order). Returning null from any hook short-circuits and drops the record. A hook that throws is treated the same as returning null (the record is dropped, the exception is logged via the SDK’s internal debug logger). Returning a record with a blank body also drops the record.

addBeforeSend and removeBeforeSend are live – added or removed hooks take effect on the next captureLog call.

From Java, register a PostHogBeforeSendLog SAM:

Java

PostHog AI

Troubleshoot common issues (opens in a new tab)