The Hidden Challenges of Adobe Analytics in Ionic Capacitor Apps

As a mobile developer working with hybrid applications, I recently spent several weeks battling one of the most frustrating integration challenges I've encountered: implementing Adobe Analytics in an Ionic Capacitor Angular app. This can be applied though to Cordova or any Hybrid Webview app. What seemed like a straightforward analytics integration at first, and of course I underestimated the hours dearly to the customer..., turned into a deep dive into native mobile networking, privacy controls, and the subtle complexities of hybrid app initialization.

This is the story of those challenges, the dead ends I hit, and the solutions that finally worked. Since I did grossly underestimate the implementation, I wanted to publish this article to hopefully help the next Architect out there.

The Initial Challenge: When Your App Won't Start

It started innocently enough. Our hybrid mobile app had been working fine with Adobe Analytics on the web, but when we wrapped it in Capacitor for iOS and Android, users began reporting that the app would hang on the splash screen for nearly 30 seconds before becoming responsive.

The first clue came from the device logs:

> ADBMobile Error: ID Service - Unable to retrieve response (The request timed out.)

This error was appearing consistently, about 23 seconds after app launch. What we discovered was that the Adobe Mobile Services SDK was making automatic network calls to `https://dpm.demdex.net/id` during app initialization, trying to sync with Adobe Audience Manager's ID service. These calls were timing out, blocking our entire app startup.

The Demdex Problem: When Adobe Calls Home

The demdex calls were particularly problematic because they were happening at the native iOS/Android level, before our JavaScript code even had a chance to run. This meant that traditional JavaScript-based solutions wouldn't work - the plugin was making these calls during the native initialization phase.

Here's what was happening during app startup:

1. 0-23 seconds: Native Adobe plugin attempts to reach demdex.net, times out

2. 0-16 seconds: WebView processes launch in parallel

3. 23+ seconds: Timeout error finally allows JS to start running

4. ~40 seconds: App finally becomes responsive

Users were staring at a splash screen for nearly 40 seconds, which is completely unacceptable for a mobile app.

Failed Approaches: The Dead Ends

Approach 1: Configuration Changes

My first instinct was to try removing or modifying the Adobe Audience Manager configuration. I tried:

- Removing the `audienceManager` section from `ADBMobileConfig.json`

- Setting empty or null values for AAM endpoints

- Disabling various Adobe services

None of this worked because the demdex calls weren't coming from explicit AAM configuration - they were coming from the Experience Cloud ID Service, which makes these calls automatically to sync identities across Adobe services.

Approach 2: JavaScript Stubbing

I tried stubbing the Adobe objects in JavaScript to prevent calls:

```

// This didn't work - calls were already happening at native level

window.ADB = {

visitorSyncIdentifiers: () => {},

visitorAppendToURL: () => {},

// ... other stubs

};

```

This approach failed because the problematic network calls were happening in native code before JavaScript executed.

Approach 3: Extended Splash Screen (Temporary Workaround)

As a temporary measure, I extended the splash screen duration to cover the entire timeout period:

```typescript

// capacitor.config.ts

{

plugins: {

SplashScreen: {

launchShowDuration: 45000, // 45 seconds

launchAutoHide: false

}

}

}

// app.component.ts

ngOnInit() {

setTimeout(() => {

this.hideSplashScreenHandleStatusBar();

}, 40000); // Hide after Adobe timeout completes

}

```

This worked as a band-aid but was obviously not a real solution - users still waited 40 seconds, they just saw a splash screen instead of a blank screen.

The Breakthrough: Privacy Controls

The solution came from an unexpected angle: Adobe's privacy controls. I discovered that Adobe's SDK respects privacy settings, and when set to "opted out," it won't make automatic network calls.

Here's the approach that finally worked:

Step 1: Set Privacy Default to Opted Out

In all Adobe configuration files (`ADBMobileConfig.json`), I set:

```json

{

"version": "4.21.2",

"analytics": {

"server": "your-analytics-server.sc.omtrdc.net",

"reportSuiteId": "your-report-suite",

"offlineEnabled": true,

"lifecycleTimeout": 300,

"privacyDefault": "optedout"

}

}

```

The key is `"privacyDefault": "optedout"` - this prevents all automatic network calls during initialization.

Step 2: Programmatically Enable Analytics After Launch

After the Adobe Launch script loads, I programmatically enable analytics:

```typescript

// analytics.service.ts

enableAnalyticsWithoutAAM(): void {

try {

if (typeof ADB !== 'undefined' && ADB.setPrivacyStatus) {

// Set privacy status to opted in (1 = opted in)

ADB.setPrivacyStatus(1);

console.log('Adobe Analytics enabled with privacy status: opted in');

}

} catch (error) {

console.error('Error enabling Adobe Analytics:', error);

}

}

onScriptLoad(): void {

console.log('Adobe Launch script loaded successfully');

// Enable analytics after script loads

this.enableAnalyticsWithoutAAM();

// Continue with other initialization

this.initializeAdobeAnalytics();

}

```

Step 3: Restore Normal Splash Screen Timing

With the blocking network calls eliminated, I could restore normal splash screen behavior:

```typescript

// capacitor.config.ts

{

plugins: {

SplashScreen: {

launchShowDuration: 3000, // Back to 3 seconds

launchAutoHide: false

}

}

}

```

The ECID Persistence Challenge

Once the startup hanging was resolved, I discovered another issue: the Experience Cloud ID (ECID) wasn't persisting between app sessions. Each time users launched the app, they were getting a new ECID, which breaks analytics continuity and user journey tracking.

Understanding ECID Generation

Once the startup hanging was resolved, I discovered another issue: the Experience Cloud ID (ECID) wasn’t persisting between app sessions. Each time users launched the app, they were getting a new ECID, which breaks analytics continuity and user journey tracking.

The ECID is typically generated through network calls to Adobe’s ID service. Since Cordova/Capacitor no longer has this native support built in for Mobile Operating systems in 2025, we have to make sure all this functionality is delivered through the Web View experience using Adobe Launch (Data Collection). In our privacy-controlled approach, these calls were being prevented during initialization, so ECIDs weren’t being generated on the splash screen. Even if they did, they wouldn't be persisting!

The Solution: Manual ECID Management

I can hear the comments now, "wHy diDn'T yoU uSe a Cdp???" Well not every client out there can have the ability or the budget to implement a CDP with the MAUs that this customer has. So I hope that this alternative can be useful to you! I implemented a comprehensive ECID persistence system:

```typescript

// analytics.service.ts

private readonly ECID_STORAGE_KEY = 'adobe_mid';

async restoreStoredECID(): Promise<void> {

try {

const storedECID = await this.storage.get(this.ECID_STORAGE_KEY);

if (storedECID && typeof s !== 'undefined' && s.visitor) {

// Restore the stored ECID to Adobe visitor object

s.visitor.setCustomerIDs({

'mid': storedECID

});

console.log('Restored stored ECID:', storedECID);

}

} catch (error) {

console.error('Error restoring stored ECID:', error);

}

async getECIDWithTimeout(): Promise<string | null> {

return new Promise((resolve) => {

const timeout = setTimeout(() => {

console.warn('ECID retrieval timed out after 1 second');

resolve(null);

}, 1000);

try {

if (typeof s !== 'undefined' && s.visitor && s.visitor.getMarketingCloudVisitorID) {

s.visitor.getMarketingCloudVisitorID((ecid: string) => {

clearTimeout(timeout);

if (ecid) {

console.log('Successfully retrieved ECID:', ecid);

this.persistECID(ecid); // Save for next session

resolve(ecid);

} else {

resolve(null);

}

});

} else {

clearTimeout(timeout);

resolve(null);

}

} catch (error) {

clearTimeout(timeout);

console.error('Error getting ECID:', error);

resolve(null);

}

});

private async persistECID(ecid: string): Promise<void> {

try {

await this.storage.set(this.ECID_STORAGE_KEY, ecid);

console.log('ECID persisted to storage');

} catch (error) {

console.error('Error persisting ECID:', error);

}

}

async retrieveMID(): Promise<string> {

// Check storage first

const storedECID = await this.storage.get(this.ECID_STORAGE_KEY);

if (storedECID) {

return storedECID;

}

// Fall back to Adobe method if no stored ECID

try {

if (typeof ADB !== 'undefined' && ADB.visitorAppendToURL) {

const urlWithMID = ADB.visitorAppendToURL('');

const midMatch = urlWithMID.match(/adobe_mc=([^&]+)/);

if (midMatch && midMatch[1]) {

const decodedMID = decodeURIComponent(midMatch[1]);

const ecidMatch = decodedMID.match(/MCMID\|([^|]+)/);

if (ecidMatch && ecidMatch[1]) {

const ecid = ecidMatch[1];

this.persistECID(ecid); // Store for future use

return ecid;

}

}

}

} catch (error) {

console.error('Error retrieving MID from ADB:', error);

}

return '';

}

```

The Complete Initialization Flow

Here's how the final implementation works:

```typescript

async initializeAdobeAnalytics(): Promise<void> {

try {

console.log('Initializing Adobe Analytics...');

// Step 1: Set up Adobe App ID

this.setupAnalyticsAppID();

// Step 2: Restore any stored ECID from previous sessions

await this.restoreStoredECID();

// Step 3: Try to get current ECID (with timeout)

const ecid = await this.getECIDWithTimeout();

if (ecid) {

console.log('Adobe Analytics initialized with ECID:', ecid);

} else {

console.log('Adobe Analytics initialized without ECID');

}

} catch (error) {

console.error('Error initializing Adobe Analytics:', error);

}

}

```

Performance Results

The final solution delivered dramatic improvements:

Before (with demdex calls):

- Startup time: 40+ seconds

- WebView loading: 15.5 seconds (networking), 12.0 seconds (GPU)

- User experience: App appears hung

After (with privacy controls):

- Startup time: 3-4 seconds

- WebView loading: 13.9 seconds (networking), 9.6 seconds (GPU)

- User experience: Smooth, responsive startup

Key Lessons Learned

1. Native Plugin Behavior Can Override JavaScript

In hybrid apps, native plugins can and will make network calls before your JavaScript code runs. Always investigate native-level behavior when debugging initialization issues. Especially with the instance of the legacy Cordova SDK that was deprecated several years ago.

2. Privacy Controls Are Powerful Tools

Adobe's privacy controls aren't just for compliance - they can be used strategically to control when and how Adobe services initialize. In a world where most tagging is always asynchronous, its nice to know that when you are coding middleware for mobile apps with timestamp optional, we can use it to our advantage.

3. ECID Persistence Requires Manual Management

In controlled initialization scenarios and if you don't have a CDP Solution at your disposal, you need to manually handle ECID persistence. Don't assume Adobe's automatic mechanisms will work.

4. Test Real Network Conditions

Many of these issues only appeared under real network conditions. Local development environments may not reveal timeout issues. Always do a field test and deploy your app to a physical device under varying network conditions!

5. Monitor Multiple Metrics

We tracked both startup time and individual WebView performance metrics to understand the full impact of our changes.

Implementation Checklist

If you're implementing Adobe Analytics in an Ionic Capacitor app, here's an overall checklist to follow so that hopefully you avoid hitting the walls I encountered with each problem I solved:

Configuration

- [ ] Set `"privacyDefault": "optedout"` in all `ADBMobileConfig.json` files

- [ ] Configure splash screen with manual control (`launchAutoHide: false`)

- [ ] Set reasonable splash screen duration (3-5 seconds)

Code Implementation

- [ ] Implement `enableAnalyticsWithoutAAM()` method to programmatically enable analytics

- [ ] Add ECID persistence using Ionic Storage

- [ ] Implement `restoreStoredECID()` for session continuity

- [ ] Add timeout handling for all Adobe network calls

- [ ] Create fallback mechanisms when Adobe objects aren't available

Testing

- [ ] Test on real devices with various network conditions

- [ ] Monitor startup times and WebView performance

- [ ] Verify ECID persistence across app sessions

- [ ] Confirm analytics data is being collected correctly

Conclusion

Implementing Adobe Analytics in hybrid mobile apps presents unique challenges that don't exist in traditional web or native implementations. The combination of native plugin behavior, network timeouts, and identity persistence creates a complex puzzle that requires both strategic thinking and tactical implementation.

The solution I've outlined - using privacy controls to prevent problematic network calls while manually managing ECID persistence - has proven robust across thousands of app sessions. It eliminates the startup hanging issues while maintaining full Adobe Analytics functionality.

Most importantly, this approach is maintainable and doesn't rely on workarounds that might break. By working with Adobe's intended privacy mechanisms rather than against them, we've created a solution that's both technically sound and future-proof.

I'd be remiss though if I didn't point out though that this is __NOT A SOLUTION THAT ADOBE WILL HELP WITH__. This means that you can't call up Adobe Customer Care and get their help on this. It's also worth mentioning, if not already obvious, the other big drawback with this approach is that this new custom solution will now be "your baby" and will likely need to be built upon to meet your needs so long as your customer does not move to Adobe's latest Mobile SDK on a supported Framework.

If you're facing similar challenges with Adobe Analytics in your hybrid mobile app, I hope this deep dive helps you avoid some of the dead ends I encountered and gets you to a working solution faster.

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Have you encountered similar issues with Adobe Analytics in hybrid mobile apps? I'd love to hear about your experiences and solutions in the comments below.