What causes a funnel broken after renaming a step event?

A funnel step event was renamed in a new build, so the dashboard's funnel definition still references the old name and counts zero for updated clients.

How do I catch this when it only happens for some players?

Capture it automatically from the player's device with the full stack trace, the device and OS, the build, and a breadcrumb trail of what they did. That turns a vague complaint into a specific, reproducible issue you can fix without owning the hardware it happens on.

How to Fix a Funnel Broken After Renaming a Step Event

Quick answer: Update the funnel to accept both the old and new step names (an alias), or normalize the names at ingestion, until all clients have updated.

After renaming step_2 to choose_avatar, the funnel reads zero for that stage on new builds while old builds still send step_2, making it look like everyone churns. Aliasing both names restores it.

How to fix it

1. Alias old and new names

Define the funnel step to match either the old or new event name during the transition. Both client versions then count toward the same stage.

2. Normalize at ingestion

Map deprecated names to the current name as events land so downstream funnels only ever see one canonical name. This avoids editing every dashboard that references the step.

3. Roll forward, then retire

Keep the alias until old client versions fall below a negligible share, then drop the legacy name. Removing it too early reopens the gap for laggard installs.

Catching the ones you can't reproduce

The hardest version of this to fix is the one you can't reproduce — it only happens on a player's hardware, OS, driver, or save state, under conditions that simply aren't present on your machine. A report that says “it crashed” or “it froze” gives you nothing to act on, so the bug survives release after release while quietly costing you players.

Automatic error capture closes that gap. Each failure arrives with its full stack trace, the device and OS, the build number, and a breadcrumb trail of what the player did right before it broke, so even a failure you have never seen becomes a specific, reproducible issue. Fold identical failures into one signature ranked by how many players each hits, and your worklist sorts itself worst-first instead of arriving as a stream of vague complaints.

This is where a tool like Bugnet earns its place. Its SDK captures every error automatically with the full stack trace plus device, OS, memory, build, and game-state context, folds duplicates into one grouped issue with an occurrence count, and ties each to the build it first appeared on — so you fix the problem that hurts the most players first and confirm it is gone when its signature disappears from the next release.

The errors you never hear about are the ones quietly costing you players. Visibility turns them into a worklist.