UserVOD has announced a new tool to help developers testing out their apps. Their SDK can record videos of user sessions, showing where the user taps on the screen. The purpose of this is to facilitate app testing, by showing developers just how users are using their app, and to help figure out what exactly users are doing when an app crashes. UserVOD claims their video recording only has a minimal effect on app performance.

There’s a test app on the App Store that shows off userVOD’s technology, called UserVOD Draw Fast. The app has the user draw something quickly, and then gives a code that can be entered online to watch the video. In this test, the recording was available almost instantaneously on the website when testing. My attempt can be watched here. It does show that the technology works, and that Apple is willing to approve apps with their SDK set up. UserVOD claims in their FAQ that they don’t use any private APIs, and that they only implement native frameworks for video recording.

Now, one of the concerns with UserVOD has to be privacy. After all, if an app can record all of a user’s inputs, there’s obviously a risk of users having their data put at risk. The creators claim that they can hide sensitive information that they define from recordings. As well, password fields and live camera views are automatically hidden. UserVOD also claims that many of the same security risks exist in other advanced analytics services, and they recommend that developers say in their privacy policy that user sessions could be recorded, or send an alert saying something similar.

UserVOD is currently in beta, and is currently free for developers recording their first 100 videos. Information on their SDK can be found at their website.

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