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Connect a desktop app

Use an app SDK to measure active installs, versions and custom app events. Adding a website script does not instrument a desktop app.

Before you start

Not published yet: SDK package and repository addresses are placeholders in these guides. The examples describe the supported interfaces, but package installation cannot be completed from the public registry until Jelto publishes them.

Connect the app

When adding a website, enable This website also has an app to include Set up SDK in the guided setup. You can register the app and copy its SDK prompt there, or skip it and return through Settings later.

  1. Open your product's Settings → Installation → Apps.
  2. Register a short app slug for each app you want to distinguish, such as desktop. Use the exact registered slug in initialization.
  3. Choose Swift, Electron Forge, Electron Vite, Tauri, or .NET.
  4. Initialize once when your app decides telemetry may start. Keep secret server API keys out of desktop binaries.
  5. Register custom events before sending them.

Set up with AI

Open a registered app's SDK setup in Settings → Installation → Apps. Choose Swift, Electron, Tauri, or .NET, then select Copy prompt under Set up with AI. Swift is available for macOS apps. Paste the prompt into a coding assistant with your app project open.

The English prompt includes your public product ID, registered app identifier, tracking endpoint, initialization example and SDK guides. It asks the assistant to inspect your project, preserve telemetry choices, initialize once in the right startup flow, check builds and explain how to verify app activity. It contains no secret server API key.

Installation placeholders are expected for now. The prompt uses uppercase package-address and release placeholders while SDKs are unpublished. Your assistant can prepare the integration, but those values must be replaced before installing the dependency. It should report remaining placeholders and checks that could not run, without claiming installation succeeded.

View prompt shows selectable text for review or manual copying. Install manually shows the selected SDK's initialization example; use the linked SDK guide for package setup. Switching methods keeps your SDK selection. Copying a prompt or passing a build does not verify incoming app activity.

Verify app activity

Launch the app and keep it open long enough to send queued activity. Check app metrics in the correct product and date range. A daily heartbeat and the install claim have different timing: a first install claim can be delayed by up to six hours. Do not repeatedly reset an install ID to test counts.

Version adoption requires known app versions. Retention needs time and a sufficiently mature sample. Read Understand app usage before interpreting an empty or unavailable metric.

Website and app together

You can compare website visits, download clicks and app installs in one product. A download-to-install period ratio does not identify which visitor installed your app. See distribution channels for what each delivery method can report.