Developers

Getting Started

Follow these simple steps to add Helpshift in-app support to your Android app right away

Start using Helpshift
Minimum supported Android version
Next up

Gradle based projects

Add the following dependencies to your build.gradle file inside the dependencies section.

dependencies {
    implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:28.0.0'
    implementation 'com.helpshift:helpshift-sdkx:10.2.0'
}

Helpshift SDK comes with built-in support for 47 languages. An api to change sdk language is provided, you can check here.

Helpshift is now ready to help you have conversations with your users!

Start using Helpshift

Helpshift is now integrated in your app and ready to provide customer support and collect meaningful data about your users.

Version Requirements

Helpshift SDK Version	minSDKVersion	compileSDKVersion	buildToolsVersion
>= 10.2.0	21	33	33
>= 10.0.2	21	31	31
>= 10.0.0	21	29	29

Initialize Helpshift in your App

First, create an app on the Helpshift Dashboard show me
Create an app with Android as a selected Platform show me

Helpshift uniquely identifies each registered App with a combination of 2 tokens:

Domain Name: Your Helpshift domain. E.g. happyapps.helpshift.com
Platform ID: Your App's unique platform id (App's App Id on dashboard is your platform Id)

You can find these by navigating to Settings>SDK (for Developers) in your agent dashboard. Select your App and check Android as a platform from the dropdowns and copy the 2 tokens to be passed when initializing Helpshift. show me

Initialize SDK by calling com.helpshift.Helpshift.install() method.

public class MainApplication extends Application {
@Override
  public void onCreate() {
    super.onCreate();
    // Add install configs in the config map
    Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
    //...
    // Install call
    try {
        Helpshift.install(this,
                  "<App Id from the Helpshift Dashboard>",
                  "<Domain name from the Helpshift Dashboard>",
                  config);
    } catch (UnsupportedOSVersionException e) {
        // Android OS versions prior to Lollipop (< SDK 21) are not supported.
    }
  }
}

Placing the install call

You should not place the install call anywhere other than Application.onCreate Placing it elsewhere might cause unexpected runtime problems.

HelpshiftInitializationException

Calling any API before the install call would throw an unchecked HelpshiftInitializationException in debug mode.

UnsupportedOSVersionException

Calling install() below android SDK version 21 will throw this checked exception. All the APIs will be non operable.

Minimum supported Android version

The Helpshift SDK X for Android requires minimum API level to be 16. However, all the Helpshift's public apis will be non-operable below android SDK version 21.

Next up

If you've successfully installed Helpshift SDK, it's time to dive into these advanced topics -

Helpshift APIs

Discover ways to do customer support via Helpshift.

Design

Theming and Skinning your SDK to look like your App.

Going International

Localizing & Internationalizing your in-app Support.

Notifications

Configure Push and In-app notifications.

Tracking

Track events and user actions. Attach custom metadata to every conversation.