DebugView displays the events and user properties that Analytics collects from a user in real time, allowing you to troubleshoot issues as you install your tags or step through an external user's live activity. You must enable debug mode to use DebugView.
Enable debug mode
You can enable debug mode for the events from your personal device or for the events from all user devices. When troubleshooting your tag installation, it's best to enable debug mode for your personal device so you can easily identify your device from Debug Device in DebugView.
This section describes how to enable debug mode for a website. To enable debug mode for an Android or iOS app, see this article instead.
Enable debug mode for yourself
To enable debug mode for your personal device, either:
- Install the Google Analytics Debugger Chrome extension
Once installed, enable the extension and refresh the page.
- Use the Google Tag Assistant, through tagassistant.google.com or preview mode
Tag Assistant adds a parameter to your website address to enable debug mode.
Enable debug mode for everyone
To enable debug mode for all user devices, you will need to update your configuration.
Google tag (gtag.js)
Monitor all events
To monitor all the events on a page, add a 'debug_mode':true parameter to your config command, as follows:
gtag('config', 'G-12345ABCDE', { 'debug_mode':true });
Monitor some events
To monitor certain events only, add a 'debug_mode':true parameter to just those events, for example:
gtag('event', 'xyz', { 'debug_mode':true });
Disable debug mode
To disable debug mode, exclude the 'debug_mode' parameter; setting the parameter to false doesn't disable debug mode.
Google Tag Manager
Monitor all events
To monitor activity from all website users, set debug_mode to true in your Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration tag.
Monitor some events
To monitor activity for certain events only, set debug_mode to true in your Google Analytics: GA4 Event tag.
Disable debug mode
To disable debug mode, exclude the 'debug_mode' field. Setting the field to false won't disable debug mode.
Monitor the events in DebugView
Once you enable debug mode on your devices, go to Admin > DebugView in the left navigation. Start using your website or app and monitor the events as they're triggered.
The Seconds stream (the middle column) shows the events that have been logged in the last 60 seconds. The Minutes stream (the left column) shows a series of archives of events in the last 30 minutes. The right column shows the Top Events logged in the 30-minute period and the user properties for the currently selected device.
Seconds stream
By default, you see a list of events logged in the last 60 seconds. Each event displays a timestamp that corresponds to the time of its logging on the development device. Click an event to see a list of associated parameters. As user property values change during the course of app usage, you see events appear in the stream, the newest ones appearing at the top.
Minutes stream
This stream shows a series of circles, one circle for each of the most recent 30 minutes. The number in the circle indicates the count of events received in that minute. Clicking on one of these circles populates the Seconds stream with events that were logged during that minute of time.
Top Events and Current User Properties
The Top Events table shows the top events that were logged during the 30-minute period. The Current User Properties table shows the latest state of the set of User Properties for the currently selected development device.
Device selector
If you've enabled debug mode on multiple devices, use the Device selector to choose the specific device on which the DebugView report will focus. This lets multiple developers focus on their own instrumentation and validation efforts without impacting one another. The device-selector menu is in the upper left of the report, labeled DEBUG DEVICE.
Attribution data
Like the Realtime report, the DebugView report performs limited attribution analysis to ensure responsive reporting. We recommend that you refer to the Acquisition reports for the most accurate attribution information.
What's next
It's important to filter out traffic while debug mode is on so the data you collect doesn't negatively impact the data in your reports. You can filter out developer traffic so the data you collect when debug mode is enabled doesn't impact your report data. Learn more