More information about Azure Monitor's solution to Visual Studio's app center repalcement

Question

Hi team,

While i was exploring ways to monitor mobile app, I came across this announcement in vs app center:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/appcenter/retirement

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we have partnered with the Azure Monitor team to build mobile platform support for Analytics capabilities directly within the Azure Monitor product. This will allow customers to choose Azure Monitor as an alternative solution to App Center.

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Could you please share more information about this new solution/feature in azure monitor?

Answer 1

Hello Vallapuri, Sai Srinivas,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

What Microsoft Has Officially Announced

Based on the Microsoft Learn retirement notice for Visual Studio App Center:

1. Azure Monitor will add native mobile analytics support

Microsoft has confirmed that the Azure Monitor team is actively building mobile platform support for Analytics directly inside Azure Monitor. This new capability is designed as an alternative to App Center Analytics, enabling customers to send mobile telemetry into Azure Monitor without relying on App Center.

2. Feature is NOT released yet

The documentation explicitly states:

• Azure Monitor team is still implementing the new mobile analytics support.
• The announcement of its availability will be made separately.
• Expected timeline: App Center Analytics & Diagnostics remains available until June 30, 2026, giving Microsoft time to finish building the Azure Monitor integration.

Until the new feature is released

You must continue using App Center Analytics & Diagnostics normally. Nothing changes until June 2026.

So what exactly will the new Azure Monitor mobile analytics look like?

Microsoft has not yet published technical details, but based on the announcement and Azure Monitor architecture, here is what is reasonably expected:

Expected Features (Based on Azure Monitor Capabilities)

Although not officially confirmed, the upcoming mobile analytics will likely support:

✔ SDKs for iOS/Android apps

Similar to App Center, but using Azure Monitor ingestion pipelines.

✔ Event logging

• Custom events
• Screens/views
• User actions

✔ Device-level telemetry

• OS/device info
• App version
• Crashes / errors

✔ Log ingestion into Azure Monitor / Log Analytics

Mobile telemetry may end up in:

• Application Insights (existing workload)
• or possibly a new Mobile Analytics resource type

✔ Integration with existing Azure Monitor tools

Once data lands in Azure Monitor, you get:

• KQL queries
• Workbooks
• Alerts
• Dashboards (Azure Monitor Workbooks / Grafana)
• Integration with Sentinel, Logic Apps, Storage, etc.

 

What is NOT yet available

Microsoft has not yet published:

• SDK documentation
• Sample code
• Schema for mobile telemetry
• Pricing model
• Exact release dates
• Migration tooling from App Center

The retirement page is currently the only official source.

What You Should Do Now (Recommended)

Since you manage enterprise-scale cloud environments and prefer detailed, actionable guidance, here’s a practical plan:

1. Continue using App Center Analytics & Diagnostics until June 2026

You have guaranteed support until then.

2. Plan for eventual migration

Expect SDK changes and pipeline migration.

3. Monitor Azure Updates for release announcements

The release will likely appear on:

• Azure Updates site
• Azure Monitor GitHub repos
• Application Insights documentation

4. Evaluate Azure Native ISV monitoring alternatives (temporary or permanent)

Microsoft lists alternatives for advanced mobile analytics:

• Datadog
• Dynatrace
• New Relic

If you need immediate, production-grade mobile monitoring, these are currently more complete than waiting for Azure Monitor’s new feature.

Reference:

Visual Studio App Center Retirement - Visual Studio App Center | Microsoft Learn

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Answer 2

Azure Monitor is being positioned as an alternative solution for mobile platform support for Analytics capabilities that were previously available in Visual Studio App Center. This partnership aims to integrate mobile analytics and diagnostics directly into Azure Monitor, allowing users to monitor their applications more effectively.

Azure Monitor is a comprehensive monitoring solution that collects, analyzes, and responds to monitoring data from both cloud and on-premises environments. It helps maximize the availability and performance of applications and services by providing insights into application performance and system events. Users can expect to leverage Azure Monitor for a more integrated monitoring experience that covers their entire stack, from devices to backend infrastructure.

Additionally, the support for App Center's Analytics & Diagnostics feature will continue until June 30, 2026, giving users time to transition to Azure Monitor once the new capabilities are fully implemented.

For more detailed information on Azure Monitor and its features, you can refer to the Azure Monitor overview documentation.