What's the difference between crash reporting and bug reporting?

Crash reporting automatically captures crashes the moment they happen, with stack traces and context, no player involvement required, catching even crashes players couldn't describe. Bug reporting collects issues players notice and choose to report, including non-crash bugs (glitches, broken features), depending on player action. One catches what players can't describe (crashes), the other captures what they can (visible bugs). Most games need both.

Do I need both crash reporting and bug reporting?

Usually yes, they catch different things. Crash reporting automatically captures crashes (the severe technical failures players can't describe and mostly won't report), while bug reporting captures the non-crash bugs players notice and can flag (glitches, broken features, confusing behavior). Crash reporting needs no player action; bug reporting captures what only players can surface. Relying on one leaves a gap, so use both for complete coverage of what's wrong in your game.

Isn't crash reporting a type of bug reporting?

They overlap but work differently. Crash reporting is automatic and specialized for crashes, capturing them with stack traces the instant they happen, regardless of whether the player reports. Bug reporting is player-driven, collecting the issues players notice and choose to flag, including non-crash bugs. So crash reporting handles the severe failures players can't describe, while bug reporting handles the visible bugs they can, two complementary methods rather than one being a subset of the other.

Crash Reporting vs Bug Reporting

Quick answer: Crash reporting automatically captures crashes the moment they happen; bug reporting collects issues players notice and report, including non-crash bugs. One catches what players can't describe, the other what they can.

Crash reporting and bug reporting both surface problems in your game, but they work differently and catch different things. Understanding the distinction tells you why you need both. Here's the comparison.

What Crash Reporting Is

Crash reporting automatically captures crashes the moment they happen, with the stack trace, device, and version, no player involvement required. It catches the most severe issues, crashes, including ones players couldn't describe ('it just closed'), and it doesn't depend on the player choosing to report.

Bugnet's crash reporting captures crashes from the field automatically and groups them by signature. The defining trait is automation: crash reporting sees crashes whether or not players say anything, which is essential because most players who crash never report it.

What Bug Reporting Is

Bug reporting collects issues that players notice and choose to report, including non-crash bugs: visual glitches, broken features, confusing behavior, things players can see and describe. It depends on player action (filing a report), ideally made effortless with in-game reporting, and captures the bugs that aren't crashes.

Bugnet's in-game reporting lets players report issues with context attached. Bug reporting catches what crash reporting can't, the non-crash bugs players experience, by giving them an easy way to flag what they notice. Its defining trait is player involvement.

Why You Need Both

They're complementary, catching different things. Crash reporting catches crashes automatically (the severe, technical failures players can't describe); bug reporting catches the non-crash bugs players notice and can describe. Crash reporting needs no player action; bug reporting captures what only players can flag. Relying on one leaves a gap.

Bugnet provides both, automatic crash capture and in-game bug reporting, into one place. So treat them as two halves of complete coverage: crash reporting for the crashes players can't describe and won't report, bug reporting for the visible bugs they can, and use both to see the full picture of what's wrong in your game.

Crash reporting automatically captures crashes (no player needed, catches what players can't describe); bug reporting collects issues players notice and report (non-crash bugs). Most games need both for full coverage.