Systems | Development | Analytics | API | Testing

Anyone who has tried to build a recommendation engine or a churn predictor knows the moment the excitement fades. The prototype looks good in the notebook, but the training data contains typos, half-missing properties, and events that somehow morphed between different devices. The model stumbles, engineers lose faith, and everyone wonders where all that AI magic went.

It’s not every day you get to zoom out and talk about the why behind what you’re building. That’s exactly what Countly’s CEO, Onur Alp Soner, did recently on The SaaS Podcast—a conversation that turned into part reflection, part therapy, and part roadmap. The episode dives into the early days of Countly—when it was just a Hacker News post, a stubborn belief in data ownership, and a string of long nights spent building in open source.

Have you ever felt personally offended by a 4-star review, even after giving 110% to your customers? You’re not alone. Even the smallest product hiccup can spark a Reddit thread or a sarcastic TikTok. Getting customer engagement right is more challenging and important than ever. You will likely face ongoing challenges in customer engagement with new and evolving expectations, and meeting these needs is vital to fostering brand loyalty.

Are you leading the development or marketing of an app or website that involves protected health information (PHI)? If you have not heard the term before, PHI involves information related to an individual’s health status, healthcare, and healthcare payments. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects said individuals and their health-related information, which you must comply with before progressing further with your product or service.

If you’re building AI systems—whether for personalization, fraud detection, or predictive analytics—you already know the brutal truth: your models are only as good as the data you feed them. Enter Countly, an analytics platform that doesn’t just collect user data but transforms it into rocket fuel for AI. This isn’t about explaining what Countly does (AI can do that for you).

On March 3, 2025, we released version 25.03 of our product analytics platform, delivering a focused set of updates that refine how we handle data, improve our user interface, and expand compatibility with cutting-edge technologies. While our major new functionality—Journeys and Content Builder—was already introduced in a separate article (read it here), this release brings additional enhancements worth exploring.

If you are on the verge of launching a new app or service that involves the collection of children’s data, you might have missed one essential consideration: securing your COPPA compliance. If so, we recommend you immediately stop collecting and sharing children's data. Service providers not following the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rules will face major monetary and legal repercussions.

Today, we are thrilled to unveil what our CEO Onur Alp Soner calls "not just a new version, but a new path forward" for Countly. As a leading digital analytics platform, we’re launching our most significant release to date, featuring two transformative tools—Journeys and Content Builder—crafted to redefine how you engage and personalize experiences for your customers. ‍

Event tracking is critical to product analytics, providing deep insights into how users interact with your product. It involves monitoring and analyzing specific actions (events) users take within your application or website. These insights are pivotal for enhancing user experience, improving product features, and driving growth.

Neglecting data privacy in your business is like forgetting to lock your house doors and then leaving the country to enjoy your holidays. Sooner or later, someone will take advantage and break in. Similarly, if your business collects, stores, and analyzes customer data on a daily basis but neglects data privacy and security, you’re immediately exposed to several risks and large legal penalties. And in the process, you’ll experience financial loss and lose the trust of your customers.