App Store Connect Reference

Overview

App Store Connect (ASC) provides crash reports, TestFlight feedback, and performance metrics for your apps. This reference covers how to navigate ASC to find and export crash data for analysis.

ASC vs Xcode Organizer

Task Best Tool

Quick crash triage during development Xcode Organizer

Team-wide crash visibility App Store Connect

TestFlight feedback with screenshots App Store Connect

Historical metrics and trends App Store Connect

Downloading crash logs for analysis Either (ASC has better export)

Symbolication Xcode Organizer

Navigating to Crash Data

Path to Crashes

App Store Connect └── My Apps └── [Your App] └── Analytics └── Crashes

Direct URL pattern: https://appstoreconnect.apple.com/analytics/app/[APP_ID]/crashes

Crashes Dashboard Sections

• Filters bar — Platform, Version, Date Range, Compare

• Crash-Free Users graph — Daily percentage trend line

• Crash Count by Version — Bar chart comparing versions

• Top Crash Signatures — Ranked by share percentage, shows exception type and function name

Key Metrics Explained

Metric What It Means

Crash-Free Users Percentage of daily active users who didn't experience a crash

Crash Count Total number of crash reports received

Crash Rate Crashes per 1,000 sessions

Affected Devices Number of unique devices that crashed

Crash Signature Grouped crashes with same stack trace

Filtering Options

Filter Use Case

Platform iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS

Version Drill into specific app versions

Date Range Last 7/30/90 days or custom range

Compare Compare crash rates between versions

Device Filter by iPhone model, iPad, etc.

OS Version Find OS-specific crashes

Viewing Individual Crash Reports

Crash Signature Detail

Each crash signature shows:

• Header — Exception type and affected device/crash share counts, first seen date

• Exception Information — Type (e.g., EXC_BAD_ACCESS), codes, address

• Crashed Thread — Stack frames with binary, function, and offset

• Distribution — Breakdown by iOS version and device model

Downloading Crash Logs

• Click on a crash signature

• Look for Download Logs button (top right)

• Select format:

• .ips (JSON format, iOS 15+)

• .crash (text format, legacy)

• Use crash-analyzer agent to parse: /axiom:analyze-crash

TestFlight Feedback

Path to Feedback

App Store Connect └── My Apps └── [Your App] └── TestFlight └── Feedback

Feedback Entry Contents

Each feedback submission includes:

Field Description

Screenshot What the tester saw (often most valuable)

Comment Tester's description of the issue

App Version Exact TestFlight build number

Device Model iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad Air, etc.

OS Version iOS 17.2.1, etc.

Battery Level Low battery can affect behavior

Available Disk Low disk can cause write failures

Network Type WiFi vs Cellular

Locale Language and region settings

Timestamp When submitted

Feedback Filtering

Filter Use Case

Build Focus on specific TestFlight builds

Date Recent feedback first

Has Screenshot Find visual issues quickly

Limitation: No Reply

TestFlight feedback is one-way. You cannot respond to testers through ASC. For follow-up:

• Contact through TestFlight group email

• Add in-app feedback mechanism

• Include your email in TestFlight notes

Metrics Dashboard

Path to Metrics

App Store Connect └── My Apps └── [Your App] └── Analytics └── Metrics

Available Metrics Categories

Category What It Shows

Crashes Crash-free users, crash count, top signatures

Hang Rate Main thread hangs > 250ms

Disk Writes Excessive disk I/O patterns

Launch Time App startup performance

Memory Peak memory usage, terminations

Battery Energy usage during foreground/background

Scrolling Scroll hitch rate

Terminations (Non-Crash Kills)

The Metrics dashboard shows terminations that don't produce crash reports:

Termination Type Cause

Memory Limit Jetsam killed app for memory pressure

CPU Limit (Background) Exceeded background CPU quota

Launch Timeout App took too long to launch

Background Task Timeout Background task exceeded time limit

Comparing Versions

Use the Compare filter to see:

• Did crash rate improve or regress?

• Which version introduced a spike?

• Performance trends over releases

Exporting Data

Manual Export

• Navigate to Crashes or Metrics

• Use date range filter to select period

• Click Export (if available) or download individual crash logs

App Store Connect API

For automated export, use the App Store Connect API:

Get crash diagnostic insights

GET /v1/apps/{id}/perfPowerMetrics

Authentication requires API key from ASC

Users and Access → Keys → App Store Connect API

API capabilities:

Endpoint Data

perfPowerMetrics

Performance and power metrics

diagnosticSignatures

Crash signature aggregates

diagnosticLogs

Individual crash logs

betaTesters

TestFlight tester info

betaFeedback

TestFlight feedback entries

MCP-Powered Access

If asc-mcp is configured, you can access ASC data programmatically from Claude Code:

Manual ASC Action asc-mcp Tool

View crash metrics metrics_app_perf , metrics_build_diagnostics

Download crash logs metrics_get_diagnostic_logs

List TestFlight testers builds_get_beta_testers

View app reviews reviews_list , reviews_stats

Respond to reviews reviews_create_response

Check build status builds_get_processing_state

Export sales data analytics_sales_report (requires vendor_number)

Setup and workflows: /skill axiom-asc-mcp

Xcode Cloud Integration

If using Xcode Cloud, crash data integrates with CI/CD:

• View crashes per workflow run

• Compare crash rates between branches

• Automated alerts on crash spikes

Best Practices

Daily Monitoring

• Check crash-free users percentage

• Review any new crash signatures

• Monitor for version-to-version regressions

Crash Triage Priority

Priority Criteria

P0 - Critical

1% of users affected, data loss risk

P1 - High

0.5% affected, user-facing impact

P2 - Medium <0.5% affected, workaround exists

P3 - Low Rare, edge case, no impact

Correlating with Releases

After each release:

• Wait 24-48 hours for crash data to populate

• Compare crash-free rate to previous version

• Investigate any new top crash signatures

• Check TestFlight feedback for user reports

Common Questions

Why don't I see crashes in ASC?

Cause Fix

Too recent Wait 24 hours for processing

No users yet Need active installs to report

User opted out Requires device analytics sharing

Build not distributed Must be TestFlight or App Store

Why are crashes unsymbolicated?

ASC crashes should auto-symbolicate if you uploaded dSYMs during distribution. dSYM files contain the debug symbols that map memory addresses back to function names and line numbers.

Verify dSYMs were uploaded:

• Xcode → Window → Organizer → Archives → select build

• Right-click → "Show in Finder" → right-click .xcarchive → "Show Package Contents"

• Check dSYMs/ folder contains .dSYM bundles

Manual symbolication workflow:

1. Download .ips file from ASC (Crashes → signature → Download Logs)

2. Find the binary UUID from the crash report

grep --after-context=2 "Binary Images" crash.ips

Look for: 0x100000000 - 0x100ffffff MyApp arm64 <UUID>

3. Locate matching dSYM on your machine

mdfind "com_apple_xcode_dsym_uuids == <UUID>"

4. Symbolicate an address

atos -arch arm64 -o MyApp.app.dSYM/Contents/Resources/DWARF/MyApp
-l 0x100000000 0x100045abc

Output: -[UserManager currentUser] (UserManager.m:42)

Common symbolication failures:

Symptom Cause Fix

All addresses unsymbolicated dSYMs not uploaded Re-upload from Xcode Organizer

Only your code unsymbolicated dSYM UUID mismatch Rebuild from same commit

System frameworks unsymbolicated Normal for device-specific Use atos with device support files

Bitcode builds unsymbolicated Apple recompiled binary Download dSYMs from ASC: Xcode → Organizer → Download Debug Symbols

See crash-analyzer agent for automated parsing: /axiom:analyze-crash

ASC vs Organizer: Which stack trace is better?

Both show the same data, but:

• Organizer integrates with Xcode projects (click to jump to code)

• ASC better for team-wide visibility and historical trends

Field Diagnostics with MetricKit

For device-level crash diagnostics, hang call stacks, and custom telemetry beyond ASC's aggregated dashboards, see axiom-metrickit-ref .

Key difference: ASC shows aggregated trends for team visibility. MetricKit provides per-device diagnostics you can correlate with your own telemetry.

Related

Skills: axiom-testflight-triage (Xcode Organizer workflows), axiom-asc-mcp (programmatic ASC access via MCP)

Agents: crash-analyzer (automated crash log parsing)

Commands: /axiom:analyze-crash

Resources

WWDC: 2020-10076, 2020-10078, 2021-10203, 2021-10258

Docs: /app-store-connect/api, /xcode/diagnosing-issues-using-crash-reports-and-device-logs