Troubleshooting

Fixes for the most common problems: no data, password pages, consent banners, ad blockers, heatmaps and recordings.

Most problems come down to one of a few causes. Work through the section that matches what you see. If you’re still stuck, email support@wearepixelfox.com.

No data is arriving

Check these in order:

Is the app embed on? Go to Settings > Tracking. If it says “App embed is off”, click Turn on in theme editor, switch on Heatwave analytics under App embeds, and click Save. The Heatmaps page also shows a red banner, “Heatwave isn’t turned on in your theme”, when it’s off.
Is it on in your live theme? The app embed is set per theme. If you published a different theme, switch Heatwave on there too.
Did you accept analytics cookies? Where visitors are asked for consent, Heatwave waits until they allow analytics. When you test, accept the cookie banner.
Does your browser send a privacy signal? Heatwave never tracks a browser that sends Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track. Some privacy-focused browsers and extensions turn these on. Test in a browser without them.
Are you testing in the theme editor? Heatwave doesn’t run inside the theme editor preview. Open your real storefront in a private window instead.
Is the page excluded? Pages listed under Settings > Privacy > Pages never tracked collect nothing.
Was your visit picked? If Heatwave tracks only a share of visitors to fit your plan, your own test visit may not be included. Settings > Data collection shows the current share. Try again in a new private window, which starts a new visit.
Have you reached your monthly limit? If the Plans page shows “monthly limit reached”, tracking is paused until the reset date shown there.

When everything works, a visit shows up within about a minute. The setup guide (Settings > Help > Run the setup guide again) has a step that checks for your first visit every few seconds.

My store is password protected

Shoppers who enter the password are tracked as usual. But Heatwave’s own browser also needs to open your pages to take the pictures that heatmaps are drawn on, so it needs the password too.

Go to Settings > Password-protected store.
Enter the storefront password, the one shoppers type, not your admin login.
Click Save password.
Open a heatmap and click Take picture or Retake picture.

Remove the saved password once your store is open.

Few visits even though I have traffic

Consent. Only shoppers who allow analytics are counted. If many shoppers decline on your cookie banner, Heatwave sees fewer visits than Shopify’s own reports.
Sampling. On a busy store, your plan may track only a share of visitors. The Plans page shows your coverage right now.
Ad and tracking blockers. Some browser extensions block analytics scripts. Visits from those shoppers can’t be measured. There’s nothing to fix on your side.

The heatmap looks misaligned

The picture is out of date. If you’ve changed the page since the picture was taken, click Retake picture. The button shows the date of the current picture.
Wrong device. Phones, tablets and computers have different layouts. Check the device selected above the map.
A page type, not a single page. “All product pages” is drawn on a picture of your most visited product. Products with longer descriptions or more photos will differ. Pick a specific page from the Page list for an exact match.
Content that moves or opens. Sliders, menus, pop-ups and tabs may not be in the same state on the picture as when shoppers clicked. In the Top clicks list, such elements are marked “not on this picture”.
“Take a picture of this page to draw the heatmap on it.” No picture exists yet. Click Take picture and wait 10 to 20 seconds.

A recording won’t play

“This visit has no recording: its pages weren’t recorded, or the recording has expired.” Only a share of visits is recorded, and recordings are deleted at the end of your plan’s retention period.
“This recording has no playable data yet.” Recordings arrive a few seconds after the shopper browses. Very short visits may not have enough to replay. Try again shortly, or pick another visit.
Moments marked “Not recorded” in the Timeline. These happened on pages that are never recorded, such as customer account pages, checkout or pages you excluded.
Grey boxes in the replay. These are elements hidden on purpose, by Heatwave’s built-in masking or your own rules in Settings.

Recommendations don’t appear

Not enough views yet. A page type needs 200 views on a device. The Data readiness card on the Recommendations page shows progress.
Manual analyses used up. The page shows how many you have left this month. Wait for the next automatic run, or upgrade for more. See Plans and billing.
“Nothing new to analyse.” Either an analysis is already running, or no page type has enough visits yet. This doesn’t use up a manual analysis.