What should I do when users log out?

Question

I am setting Mixpanel up, and I found out that if I log in with a user (and identify that user), log out and then re-register as a new user, the new user's details overwrite the previously logged in user (presumably when I call alias). How can I tell mixpanel that a user has logged out and to reset the identity token (make it anonymous again)?

score 14 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 27 '14 at 05:29

14

I ran into the same issue, and after some sleuthing I discovered that you can manually clear the mixpanel cookies with mixpanel.cookie.clear().

However, you need to make sure that the mixpanel library has loaded, so I ended up putting it in a stupid timeout:

var id = window.setInterval(function() {
  if (mixpanel.cookie && mixpanel.cookie.clear) {
    mixpanel.cookie.clear();
    window.clearInterval(id);
  }
}, 50);

And then, since I didn't want to do this on every page, I added a query string parameter onto my logout redirect URL. So after visiting /logout it would redirect them to /home?_ref=logout, at which point I would clear the mixpanel cookie only if that query string parameter existed.

It was pretty annoying, but it seemed to work.

answered Feb 27 '14 at 05:29

tmont

2,562
20
15

5

For those with a single page app where you may never refresh, be sure to re-initialize immediately after you clear your cookies. `mixpanel.cookie.clear(); mixpanel.init("GARBAGE");` – kevinnuut Mar 03 '15 at 23:51
To be 100% sure Mixpanel loaded, you can use the `loaded` option in the `init` where you pass a function for it to run after it loads: `mixpanel.init("YOUR_TOKEN", { "loaded": function() { ... your clear code goes here ... } } );` – Anton Jun 12 '15 at 12:28
@kevinnuut why do we need to reinitialize again ? – gaurav5430 Sep 07 '21 at 07:25

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 13 '16 at 20:59

11

It was released on Mixpanel Javascript version v2.8.0 the mixpanel.reset() function, so that's officially what should be called on user logout. See https://github.com/mixpanel/mixpanel-js/issues/67 .

answered Jul 13 '16 at 20:59

Ricardo Nacif

508
4
12

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 13 '15 at 13:36

9

for android on logout you can use this MixpanelAPI.reset()

answered Oct 13 '15 at 13:36

Omar Abdan

1,901
17
29

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 22 '18 at 15:04

Call clearSuperProperties() to remove any Super Properties in local storage.
Set new_distinct_id = UUID.randomUUID().toString());
Call .identify(new_distinct_id) and .getPeople().identify(new_distinct_id)

This should wipe the device clean for a fresh user that can then register and be aliased to another distinct_id.

The best way to do this with javascript is to delete the cookie. The name of the cookie is mp_{mixpanel_token_id}_mixpanel

What should I do when users log out?

4 Answers4