Amplitude for deeper analysis
Amplitude is a product analytics platform you can connect to your Apollos app for deeper insights than the built-in Dashboard provides — custom charts, funnels, retention analysis, and member segmentation.
How it works
The Apollos Dashboard gives you high-level metrics: total people, sessions, media engagement, and daily habit stats. Amplitude lets you go further:
- Event segmentation — count exactly how many members performed a specific action (completed daily habits, joined a community, gave a gift) and break it down by member properties like campus.
- Funnel analysis — see where members drop off in multi-step journeys like signup, giving, or joining a community.
- Retention tracking — measure how often members come back over time (1-day, 7-day, 30-day retention).
- Session analysis — understand session length and frequency, and which actions lead to longer engagement.
- Custom dashboards — combine charts into shareable dashboards for your leadership team.
Apollos already tracks the engagement events Amplitude needs (see Understanding engagement metrics). Once connected, those events flow into Amplitude automatically — there's nothing to instrument.
Note: the Go plan includes limited Amplitude access; the Max plan includes full access.
Note: Amplitude's menu names, chart options, and plan limits change over time, so some labels may look slightly different than described here. For depth on any feature, use Amplitude's own documentation.
Concepts and plan limits
A few Amplitude terms you'll meet immediately:
| Concept | Plain-English meaning |
|---|---|
| Event | A single action a member takes (e.g. Donation Completed) — the raw material of every chart |
| Event property | Extra detail sent with an event (e.g. the fund a gift went to) — lets you slice events |
| User property | A fact stored about the member (e.g. campus) — powers segmentation |
| Monthly Tracked User (MTU) | A distinct member who triggers at least one event in a calendar month — the free plan's main limit |
| Project | A container for your data; charts only show events from their project |
Amplitude's free Starter plan is enough for most churches. Its key limits:
- 50,000 Monthly Tracked Users
- 10 saved charts per organization
- 5 projects
- 1 year of data retention
- No public link sharing (Growth plan and above) — share by inviting teammates to your workspace instead
It's fine to outgrow these caps — Amplitude will simply ask you to upgrade when you hit them. Current details are on Amplitude's pricing page.
Connect Amplitude to Apollos
- Create a free account at amplitude.com.
- In Admin, go to Data > Catalog.
- Find the Amplitude integration and connect it using your Amplitude API key (copy it from Amplitude's Settings).
- Apollos begins sending app events to Amplitude automatically.
You can confirm events are arriving in Data > Status in Admin, or by watching Amplitude's Data > Event Stream.
Find your way around Amplitude
| Area | What lives there | First thing to try |
|---|---|---|
| Charts (default home) | Individual charts and analyses | Click New > Event Segmentation |
| Dashboards | Collections of charts | Create a blank dashboard to fill later |
| Data | Live event stream and schemas | Open Event Stream and watch events arrive |
| Settings | API keys, user management | Copy your project API key |
Handy keyboard shortcuts in charts: Shift + E adds an event, Shift + F adds a property filter, Shift + S saves the chart.
Build your first charts
Three chart types cover most day-to-day questions:
Event Segmentation (the Swiss-army knife):
- New chart > Event Segmentation.
- In the events panel, select Any Event to see overall activity — or pick a specific event like Daily Habits Completed.
- Set Measured as to Unique Users to count people rather than actions.
- Run, then Save (saved charts count toward the Starter plan's 10-chart quota).
Funnel (where do people drop off?):
- New chart > Funnel.
- Choose the steps in order — for example Signup Completed → Daily Habits Completed → Community Joined → Donation Completed.
- Amplitude calculates the conversion percentage at each step automatically. This signup-to-engagement funnel is a great first view of your app's health.
Retention (who comes back?):
- New chart > Retention.
- Set both the first event and the returning event to App Opened.
- Choose "N-day" mode to view 1-, 7-, and 30-day retention.
See Amplitude's chart-building docs for the full walkthrough.
Segment, group, and compare
Amplitude's segmentation tools let you zoom in on a subset of members:
- Filter by property in an event block — affects only that event.
- Add Segment in the segmentation panel — compare two groups side by side, e.g. members who completed a daily habit in the last 7 days versus those who didn't.
- Group by — split a chart by a property, e.g. campus, to compare engagement across locations.
A few church-specific ideas:
- Segment by campus. Multi-campus churches can spot where the app is thriving and where it needs attention.
- Compare prayer engagement to session length. Churches that promote daily prayer through the app consistently see much higher overall engagement — sessions that include a prayer action tend to run longer.
- Use the most common interaction events as your top-of-funnel. Button and screen events fire for almost every tap, which makes them useful for understanding what members explore before completing a key action.
Charts show the top 5 breakdowns by default — toggle others on in the data table below the chart. Details: Amplitude's segmentation docs.
Build and share dashboards
- Create > Dashboard (or + Add to from any saved chart).
- Name it — it saves immediately.
- Add Content to pull in charts; drag and drop to reorder, and use Add Row to organize the layout.
- To share, open the dashboard and click Share — enter teammates' emails or copy the URL. Teammates must belong to your Amplitude workspace.
A simple dashboard with 3–5 key engagement metrics is a great way to keep your pastoral team aligned — they'll see signups, habits, community, and giving at a glance.
On the Starter plan you can't create public links (those require Growth and above) — export a PNG/PDF or invite people to the workspace instead.
Troubleshooting
Why isn't data showing up in Amplitude?
Check Data > Status in Admin to confirm the integration is connected and events are flowing. Then check Amplitude's Data > Event Stream — if events appear there, your charts may just be filtered to the wrong project or date range.
Why can't I save another chart?
The free Starter plan allows 10 saved charts per organization. Archive stale charts and dashboards to stay under the limit, or upgrade your Amplitude plan.
Why can't I create a public link to my dashboard?
Public links require Amplitude's Growth plan or above. On Starter, invite viewers to your workspace or export the dashboard as a PNG/PDF.