Question from Reddit user:
Is there a way to view just mobile application metrics on GA4 under pages and screens?
If it’s not possible, how do I filter to view only metrics for mobile applications? Do I filter it under platforms?
Note: my dimension is Page path and screen class.
Answer from Nabil:
The short answer is:
Yes, you can absolutely filter your GA4 reports to view only mobile application metrics, and you are correct that this is typically done using the Platform dimension, not the Page path and screen class dimension directly.
In GA4, a “mobile application” is usually denoted by the Platform dimension values of iOS and Android.
The simplest way to filter the existing Pages and screens report is to use the comparison feature at the top of the report, setting a comparison to include only users where the Platform dimension is either iOS or Android.
If you need a permanent, dedicated view, you can create a Custom Report or an Exploration using a similar Platform filter.
The long answer is:
Since your dimension is Page path and screen class, which is the canonical way to view content performance across all your streams (website pages and app screens), you need a way to narrow the source of the data down to only mobile app users.
The most reliable method is to filter by the Platform dimension, which is the default way GA4 classifies traffic from your Data Streams.
To do this within the standard Pages and screens report, look for the comparison tool or “Add filter” option near the top of the report.
You would set up a filter that targets the Platform dimension and specifies the values iOS and Android using an “OR” condition.
This will create a temporary comparison column or filter the entire report view down to just your mobile app traffic, ensuring the Page path and screen class dimension reflects only app screens.
Alternatively, for a permanent solution, you can create a Free Form Exploration report, which is much more flexible.
In the Exploration, you can drag the Platform dimension into the filters section and set it to match the values iOS and Android, and then use Page path and screen class as your row dimension.
If your data is exceptionally large and you encounter sampling, or if you require even deeper, unsampled historical analysis that combines app and web data in complex ways, an excellent solution is to leverage the full data ecosystem: BigQuery for storage, the Google Analytics Data API for extraction, and Looker Studio for visualization.
GA4 offers a free export to BigQuery, which houses all your raw, unsampled event data, including every event_name and associated parameter.
You can then use SQL in BigQuery to meticulously filter out web events and calculate metrics solely for app events where the platform column equals ‘IOS’ or ‘ANDROID’.
The Google Analytics Data API or the BigQuery connector can then feed this perfectly cleansed data directly into Looker Studio.
While Google Tag Manager and a server-side environment like Stape or Google Cloud Platform are primarily for enhancing data collection and custom parameters, this complete API and BigQuery strategy provides the ultimate, unsampled control over data analysis and ensures that your mobile application metrics are viewed with 100% accuracy and complete historical context, well beyond the limitations of the standard GA4 interface.
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