iOS Log Collection

Send logs to Datadog from your iOS applications with Datadog’s dd-sdk-ios client-side logging library and leverage the following features:

• Log to Datadog in JSON format natively.
• Use default and add custom attributes to each log sent.
• Record real client IP addresses and User-Agents.
• Leverage optimized network usage with automatic bulk posts.

Note: The dd-sdk-ios library supports all iOS versions 11+.

Setup

1. Declare the library as a dependency depending on your package manager:

   • Dropdown

   You can use CocoaPods to install dd-sdk-ios:

   pod 'DatadogSDK'
   

   To integrate using Apple’s Swift Package Manager, add the following as a dependency to your Package.swift:

   .package(url: "https://github.com/Datadog/dd-sdk-ios.git", .upToNextMajor(from: "1.0.0"))
   

   You can use Carthage to install dd-sdk-ios:

   github "DataDog/dd-sdk-ios"
   

2. Initialize the library with your application context and your Datadog client token. For security reasons, you must use a client token: you cannot use Datadog API keys to configure the dd-sdk-ios library as they would be exposed client-side in the iOS application IPA byte code. For more information about setting up a client token, see the client token documentation:

Datadog.initialize(
    appContext: .init(),
    trackingConsent: trackingConsent,
    configuration: Datadog.Configuration
        .builderUsing(clientToken: "<client_token>", environment: "<environment_name>")
        .set(serviceName: "app-name")
        .set(endpoint: .us1)
        .build()
)

DDConfigurationBuilder *builder = [DDConfiguration builderWithClientToken:@"<client_token>"
                                                              environment:@"<environment_name>"];
[builder setWithServiceName:@"app-name"];
[builder setWithEndpoint:[DDEndpoint us1]];

[DDDatadog initializeWithAppContext:[DDAppContext new]
                    trackingConsent:trackingConsent
                      configuration:[builder build]];

Datadog.initialize(
    appContext: .init(),
    trackingConsent: trackingConsent,
    configuration: Datadog.Configuration
        .builderUsing(clientToken: "<client_token>", environment: "<environment_name>")
        .set(serviceName: "app-name")
        .set(endpoint: .eu1)
        .build()
)

DDConfigurationBuilder *builder = [DDConfiguration builderWithClientToken:@"<client_token>"
                                                              environment:@"<environment_name>"];
[builder setWithServiceName:@"app-name"];
[builder setWithEndpoint:[DDEndpoint eu1]];

[DDDatadog initializeWithAppContext:[DDAppContext new]
                    trackingConsent:trackingConsent
                      configuration:[builder build]];

Datadog.initialize(
    appContext: .init(),
    trackingConsent: trackingConsent,
    configuration: Datadog.Configuration
        .builderUsing(clientToken: "<client_token>", environment: "<environment_name>")
        .set(serviceName: "app-name")
        .set(endpoint: .us3)
        .build()
)

DDConfigurationBuilder *builder = [DDConfiguration builderWithClientToken:@"<client_token>"
                                                              environment:@"<environment_name>"];
[builder setWithServiceName:@"app-name"];
[builder setWithEndpoint:[DDEndpoint us3]];

[DDDatadog initializeWithAppContext:[DDAppContext new]
                    trackingConsent:trackingConsent
                      configuration:[builder build]];

Datadog.initialize(
    appContext: .init(),
    trackingConsent: trackingConsent,
    configuration: Datadog.Configuration
        .builderUsing(clientToken: "<client_token>", environment: "<environment_name>")
        .set(serviceName: "app-name")
        .set(endpoint: .us5)
        .build()
)

DDConfigurationBuilder *builder = [DDConfiguration builderWithClientToken:@"<client_token>"
                                                              environment:@"<environment_name>"];
[builder setWithServiceName:@"app-name"];
[builder setWithEndpoint:[DDEndpoint us5]];

[DDDatadog initializeWithAppContext:[DDAppContext new]
                    trackingConsent:trackingConsent
                      configuration:[builder build]];

Datadog.initialize(
    appContext: .init(),
    trackingConsent: trackingConsent,
    configuration: Datadog.Configuration
        .builderUsing(clientToken: "<client_token>", environment: "<environment_name>")
        .set(serviceName: "app-name")
        .set(endpoint: .us1_fed)
        .build()
)

DDConfigurationBuilder *builder = [DDConfiguration builderWithClientToken:@"<client_token>"
                                                              environment:@"<environment_name>"];
[builder setWithServiceName:@"app-name"];
[builder setWithEndpoint:[DDEndpoint us1_fed]];

[DDDatadog initializeWithAppContext:[DDAppContext new]
                    trackingConsent:trackingConsent
                      configuration:[builder build]];

To be compliant with the GDPR regulation, the SDK requires the trackingConsent value at initialization. The trackingConsent can be one of the following values:

• .pending - the SDK starts collecting and batching the data but does not send it to Datadog. The SDK waits for the new tracking consent value to decide what to do with the batched data.
• .granted - the SDK starts collecting the data and sends it to Datadog.
• .notGranted - the SDK does not collect any data: logs, traces, and RUM events are not sent to Datadog.

To change the tracking consent value after the SDK is initialized, use the Datadog.set(trackingConsent:) API call. The SDK changes its behavior according to the new value. For example, if the current tracking consent is .pending:

• if changed to .granted, the SDK will send all current and future data to Datadog;
• if changed to .notGranted, the SDK will wipe all current data and will not collect any future data.

Before data is uploaded to Datadog, it is stored in cleartext in the cache directory (Library/Caches) of your application sandbox, which can’t be read by any other app installed on the device.

When writing your application, enable development logs to log to console all internal messages in the SDK with a priority equal to or higher than the provided level.

Datadog.verbosityLevel = .debug

DDDatadog.verbosityLevel = DDSDKVerbosityLevelDebug;

3. Configure the Logger:

let logger = Logger.builder
    .sendNetworkInfo(true)
    .printLogsToConsole(true, usingFormat: .shortWith(prefix: "[iOS App] "))
    .build()

DDLoggerBuilder *builder = [DDLogger builder];
[builder sendNetworkInfo:YES];
[builder printLogsToConsole:YES];

DDLogger *logger = [builder build];

4. Send a custom log entry directly to Datadog with one of the following methods:

logger.debug("A debug message.")
logger.info("Some relevant information?")
logger.notice("Have you noticed?")
logger.warn("An important warning…")
logger.error("An error was met!")
logger.critical("Something critical happened!")

[logger debug:@"A debug message."];
[logger info:@"Some relevant information?"];
[logger notice:@"Have you noticed?"];
[logger warn:@"An important warning…"];
[logger error:@"An error was met!"];
[logger critical:@"Something critical happened!"];

5. (Optional) - Provide a map of attributes alongside your log message to add attributes to the emitted log. Each entry of the map is added as an attribute.

logger.info("Clicked OK", attributes: ["context": "onboarding flow"])

[logger info:@"Clicked OK" attributes:@{@"context": @"onboarding flow"}];

Advanced logging

Initialization

The following methods in Logger.Builder can be used when initializing the logger to send logs to Datadog:

Global configuration

Find below methods to add/remove tags and attributes to all logs sent by a given logger.

Global Tags

Add Tags

Use the addTag(withKey:value:) method to add tags to all logs sent by a specific logger:

// This adds a tag "build_configuration:debug"
logger.addTag(withKey: "build_configuration", value: "debug")

[logger addTagWithKey:@"build_configuration" value:@"debug"];

Note: <TAG_VALUE> must be a String.

Remove Tags

Use the removeTag(withKey:) method to remove tags from all logs sent by a specific logger:

// This removes any tag starting with "build_configuration"
logger.removeTag(withKey: "build_configuration")

[logger removeTagWithKey:@"build_configuration"];

Learn more about Datadog tags.

Global Attributes

Add attributes

By default, the following attributes are added to all logs sent by a logger:

• http.useragent and its extracted device and OS properties
• network.client.ip and its extracted geographical properties (country, city)
• logger.version, Datadog SDK version
• logger.thread_name, (main, background)
• version, client’s app version extracted from Info.plist
• environment, the environment name used to initialize the SDK

Use the addAttribute(forKey:value:) method to add a custom attribute to all logs sent by a specific logger:

// This adds an attribute "device-model" with a string value
logger.addAttribute(forKey: "device-model", value: UIDevice.current.model)

[logger addAttributeForKey:@"device-model" value:UIDevice.currentDevice.model];

Note: <ATTRIBUTE_VALUE> can be anything conforming to Encodable (String, Date, custom Codable data model, …).

Remove attributes

Use the removeAttribute(forKey:) method to remove a custom attribute from all logs sent by a specific logger:

// This removes the attribute "device-model" from all further log send.
logger.removeAttribute(forKey: "device-model")

[logger removeAttributeForKey:@"device-model"];

Further Reading

Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles:

dd-sdk-ios Source codeGITHUB Learn how to explore your logsDOCUMENTATION