Touch-Based iOS Analytics Tool Heatma.ps Launches Out Of Beta

On the web, there are solutions that show you where users click on your website, providing a path analysis that gives you clues about where best to place key components and what qualifies as high-traffic areas. On mobile, Warsaw-based startup Heatma.ps provides a similar tool, but aimed at divining key insights like where users touch first and most often, what gestures people try to use interacting with your app, and in what orientation things work best from a user’s perspective.

The tool is a remarkably useful one for mobile development, and Heatma.ps basically has this nascent market cornered. They’ve received high praise from other mobile analytics providers, including Flurry, who recognize that the startup is offering something valuable not covered by existing platforms. Why don’t they cover this sort of thing? Because unlike on the web, where you can track mouse movement and other factors that suggest where people consider clicking, with iOS apps you can only track positive touch input, meaning other path analysis tools are often seen as adequate.

But adequate isn’t the same as truly beneficial to the development process, and that where Heatma.ps goes further, by analyzing even touch input that doesn’t necessarily result in an action. It can tell developers not only how users are using an app, but how they want to use it. That kind of insight, particularly when used in A/B testing, can provide key insights that direct feedback might not be able to glean, shortening development cycles and making sure apps get better, faster.

“Our idea is not to be fighting with other analytics tools; we want to complement them,” Heatma.ps CEO Cyprian Ciećkiewicz explained in an interview. “They’re very focused on the numbers, like how many people use the app, where they’re from and which countries. We really wanted to focus on the other part, usability and quality, so how they use it instead of how many use it.”

Heatma.ps in this way hopes to be complementary to analytics firms like Flurry and Distimo that are looking at mobile engagement from more traditional angles, including downloads, time spent in app, etc. If successful, it could turn potential competitors into promotional partners, developing a mutually beneficial relationship to help provide a more complete analytics picture for app publishers and developers. Of course, that also makes Heatma.ps a prime acquisition target for established analytics firms looking to add a unique angle to their product.

Heatma.ps is launching with over 100 developers already on board from its beta, and will be pricing the solution based on volume needs, beginning at around $95 per month. The startup has raised $400,000 in seed funding from private investors so far, and has used that funding to pay for product development and marketing. Now, Heatma.ps hopes to start generating positive revenue with its public launch, and also wants to catch the eye of additional investors.

What the startup offers is a fairly unique take on mobile analytics and testing, but one that also seems obvious in hindsight. Whether it’s through strategic acquisition like the one that saw TestFlight snapped up by Burstly, or the additional investment Heatma.ps is looking for, I see big things in the future for this Polish startup and its tool.