No matter how unique your app and your target audience are, there is one common goal that mobile developers can agree on: to deliver a crash-free application.

What can aid you pursuing this so-called perfection?

In order to do that, developers have to recur to tools focused on detecting and warning about any errors or crashes. Many companies have created tools – like Crashlytics, Flurry, Bugsnag, Instabug, HockeyApp and Raygun – with this goal.

Curiously, even though these professional and reliable tools are focused on mobile development, they’re website-based applications, so they don’t provide real-time push notifications.

Developers must either rely on refreshing their web browser or wait for what can be a very long time to an e-mail notification arrive.

As a consequence, your app may spend a long time out in the open with users struggling to dodge a crash – without you even realising it.

Well, not anymore! From now on, you won’t have to go after your app’s crash data.

Our team would like to finally deliver Notificrash: a mobile-first solution that is able to warn you about errors and crashes with push notifications in real-time!

Keep reading to know more about it and how to have your life as a developer changed by becoming a Notificrasher.

The motivation for Notificrash

It all started a year ago, when some of our Cakers were in the US and one of our apps – Camio – had a new feature released on a Friday. The app was running on Android and an update in the server triggered a bunch of crashes during the whole weekend.

At that time, the Cakers used a website-based app to keep track of the crashes. However, the website took at least 24 hours to identify it and list it up, and the notification e-mails were only read on Monday. More than 4,000 crashes related to that same new feature had taken place over the weekend.

Back then there was no available tool with:

• real-time notifications;
• a mobile application;
• no need to rely on another platform – such as a website – to access the info on crashes;
• out-of-the-box settings, so you’re not spammed with error e-mails.

That scenario made our company wish to create a 100% mobile app able to track crashes in a very user-friendly, smart and straightforward way: ergo Notificrash.

What Notificrash does

We all know that errors happen when we’re developing an app, and how important it is to be notified about them as soon as possible. And that’s when our app takes the stage!

The app is comprised by two parts:

• Native Libraries – open source and available on GitHub for Android and iOS;
• Viewer App – you can register an app in Notificrash, subscribe to receive crash notifications from apps, check all past errors and see their details.

This is how Notificrash works:

1. Developers must register their app in Notificrash. After registering it, each app will be identified by a specific serial number, that can be shared with other developers;
2. After getting the serial number, developers can add the Notificrash’s lib in the app they’re developing, so they can be notified whenever a crash takes place;
3. Crashes are recorded in the database of a remote server, including info such as which line the bug happened, traceback, class, etc.;
4. Real-time push notifications are sent for the ones subscribed to receive them, and the full details of the errors can be accessed in the app.

By using Notificrash, you’ll be able to understand what is breaking your app and fix it as soon as possible, providing a better experience for your users in the long run.

We also use Notificrash for our own apps, such as Camio, VSporto and Notificrash itself.

Features

• It’s FREE.
• 100% mobile – no need to use websites or other platforms.
• Real-time push notifications whenever bugs happen.
• Several details of the errors:
  • App version;
  • OS version;
  • Device model;
  • Name;
  • Reason;
  • Time;
  • Stack trace;
  • Class name;
  • Method name;
  • Line number;
  • Quantity.

• Customizable parameters: developers can add other parameters that they would like to be notified about, such as identifying the user that was using the app when it crashed.
• Notification thread – similar error notifications are grouped, so that you are not spammed.
• Available for Android and iOS.

Becoming a Notificrasher

There are two ways of becoming a Notificrash user:

• By request: after downloading the app – available for Android and iOS –, just follow the normal sign up flow. You’ll be part of a waiting list to become one of its users.
• By invitation: after you become a user, you can send invitations up to three friends. They’ll skip the waiting list by having priority over other applicants.

Willing to improve your life as a mobile developer? Download Notificrash here:

No one can send you an invitation and you’d like to skip the waiting list? Don’t worry!

Just post a public message on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter tagging/mentioning us, explaining why you want to become a Notificrasher before everybody else.

Don’t forget to use #Notificrash and we’ll get back to you shortly!