Frequently asked questions

Quick answers about speed, privacy, data, plans and the AI.

Will Heatwave slow down my store?

The script is under 8 KB and loads after your page has loaded, when the browser is idle. Shoppers won’t notice it.

Do I need to edit my theme code?

No. Heatwave runs as an app embed that you switch on in the theme editor. It never touches your theme files, and you can switch it off from the same place. It works with every Online Store 2.0 theme.

Does Heatwave record checkout?

No. Shopify checkout pages and customer account pages are never recorded. Heatwave receives checkout steps (started, payment submitted, completed) from Shopify’s own customer events, so you can still see whether a visit ended in a purchase.

Can I see who a visitor is?

No. Visitors are anonymous. Heatwave never stores names, email addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses or IP addresses, and it isn’t linked to your Shopify customers. Only the visitor’s country is kept.

Yes. Where visitors are asked for consent, nothing is collected until they allow analytics. Browsers that send Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track are never tracked. See Privacy and consent.

Why are my visit numbers lower than in Shopify?

Heatwave only counts shoppers who allow analytics, and on busy stores your plan may track a share of visitors rather than everyone. Some ad blockers also stop analytics scripts.

Is a recording a video of the shopper’s screen?

No. It’s a replay of your page’s structure plus the shopper’s scrolling, clicks and mouse movement. Anything typed, email addresses, phone numbers and address and account areas are hidden before the data leaves the shopper’s browser. See Session recordings.

How soon will I see results?

Visits appear within about a minute. Heatmaps and Analytics fill in as traffic comes in. Behaviour patterns are added about 30 minutes after each visit ends. AI recommendations unlock once a page type has 200 views on a device.

What are the 29 behaviour patterns?

Named situations Heatwave detects in every finished visit, such as a failed add to cart, angry repeated clicks, a shopper bouncing straight back from a product, or a slow page. See Behaviour patterns for the full list.

Which AI does Heatwave use, and is my data used for training?

Heatwave uses Anthropic’s Claude models. Your data isn’t used to train AI models. Every suggestion must cite real numbers and visits from your store, or it’s dropped before you see it. See AI recommendations.

What happens if I go over my plan’s limit?

With the default Automatic setting, Heatwave spreads your allowance over the month by tracking a share of visitors, so you don’t run out early. If traffic spikes far beyond that, tracking pauses until the monthly reset. Your existing data stays. See Plans and billing.

Can I try Heatwave for free?

Yes. The Free plan includes 1,000 tracked sessions and 100 recordings a month, 30 days of data and one AI analysis a month.

Can I hide parts of my pages or stop tracking some pages?

Yes. In Settings > Privacy you can list extra elements to hide in recordings and pages that should never be tracked. See Settings.

What happens to my data if I uninstall?

Tracking stops immediately. Shopify notifies Heatwave 48 hours later, and all data collected for your store is then deleted. You can also delete everything yourself at any time in Settings > Your data. See Your data and deletion.