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Is there a guide on how to file a bug report for Stack Exchange app, specifically for its Android app?

Sometimes even if a user can reproduce an error it doesn't mean other users can reproduce it using the same steps. This could mean that the error might only occur in a specific combination of factors e.g. apps installed/active background services/device model & components used/OS & components' firmware version/OS customization/network latency/(forced) network filter & configuration in effect/etc.

How to know which one is the culprit?

I know a log will be useful, but only if it contains enough information, and only if it got sent to the developers. How to enable the log, how to view it, and how to filter it to the relevant event so that the user can submit it to a useful bug report?

Edit: Note that in my case, the Stack Exchange Android app kicked me to desktop (while loading questions) and did not show any crash pop-up, so it might not trigger the automated crash reporting.

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  • As long as you can explain the bug report thoroughly (device model, Android version, app version, what did you do, what did you expect, what happened actually), the error log is optional.
    – Meta Andrew T.
    Feb 12, 2015 at 10:30

1 Answer 1

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You can report bugs by simply posting them here.

If you'd like to attach a bug report, you can use the awesome aLogcat (which now requires root access, or adb logcat if you have a Android development environment) and e-mail the log to androidapp at stackexchange.com -- This is something I've manually told a few people who had weird bugs, so thanks for giving me an official place to put it.

If you don't want to send over the entire log file, all the information relevant to us will be under the identifier com.stackexchange.marvin or StackExchangeAndroid within the logs.

Also note that we have automated crash reporting powered by Crashlytics that auto uploads logs for crashes, alongside lots of other debug info. We also use Crashlytics's concept of "non fatal exception" to post reports in some situations where we know something went wrong in the app but we catch it and react so the app doesn't crash.

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  • Thanks for your answer. If I understand correctly, aLogcat traces both system logs and app logs? So it is okay and even expected for us to shove our logs in whole. Is that correct?
    – aff
    Feb 8, 2015 at 17:53
  • Also, how can I know that the automated crash reporting run correctly in my case? My crashes didn't show any error dialog, they bring me instantly to the desktop. -- See: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/248240/…
    – aff
    Feb 8, 2015 at 17:58
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    Any time you see a crash pop-up from Android, we got it traced already. For situations like yours posting a log after filtering for com.stackexchange.marvin will help greatly.
    – Kasra Rahjerdi
    Feb 8, 2015 at 18:18
  • Can you please add this information to your answer? I find it useful for my kind of case.
    – aff
    Feb 9, 2015 at 2:55
  • Just pointing out that aLogcat is useless in Jelly Bean (and higher) without root access. You need to use adb logcat instead.
    – Kuitsi
    Feb 9, 2015 at 19:03
  • @Kuitsi hah that's what I get for not having any non-rooted phones, I'd be hesitant to recommend people use adb directly since it requires a developer environment. Do no log reading apps work anymore?
    – Kasra Rahjerdi
    Feb 9, 2015 at 19:04
  • @KasraRahjerdi I guess so. There is some more information: groups.google.com/d/msg/android-developers/6U4A5irWang/…
    – Kuitsi
    Feb 9, 2015 at 19:25

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