Android (Kotlin)

The FeedbackJar Android SDK is a data layer plus an optional prebuilt board. Use just the data layer if you’re building your own UI, or drop in FeedbackJarView / FeedbackJarBoard for a complete list → detail → new feedback flow with voting and comments already wired up.

• Coordinates: com.feedbackjar:sdk
• Min SDK: 21 (Android 5.0)
• Repository: Maven Central · github.com/feedbackjar/kotlin-sdk

Coming from an iOS-only tool like WishKit? See the WishKit alternative for Android for a side-by-side comparison.

Installation

Add Maven Central (most projects already have it) and the dependency.

settings.gradle.kts:

dependencyResolutionManagement {
    repositories {
        google()
        mavenCentral()
    }
}

build.gradle.kts (app module):

dependencies {
    implementation("com.feedbackjar:sdk:1.7.0")
}

The SDK declares the INTERNET permission itself — nothing to add to your manifest.

Setup

Initialize once before use — typically in your Application.onCreate():

import com.feedbackjar.sdk.FeedbackJar

class MyApp : Application() {
    override fun onCreate() {
        super.onCreate()
        FeedbackJar.init(this, "your-widget-id")
    }
}

Get your widget ID from Settings → Widgets in your FeedbackJar project.

Prebuilt board (optional)

Skip building your own screens — the SDK ships a complete board on both view systems.

Views — no RecyclerView, no ConstraintLayout, no Material, no other AndroidX UI dependency:

import com.feedbackjar.sdk.ui.FeedbackJarView
import com.feedbackjar.sdk.ui.FeedbackJarActivity

// Full-screen, register-free
startActivity(FeedbackJarActivity.intent(this))
// optional accent:
startActivity(FeedbackJarActivity.intent(this, Color.parseColor("#e5484d")))

// Or embed the view directly
val board = FeedbackJarView(this)
board.setAccentColor(Color.parseColor("#e5484d")) // optional
setContentView(board)

Compose — compileOnly in the published .aar, so it only resolves if your app already uses Compose:

import com.feedbackjar.sdk.ui.compose.FeedbackJarBoard
import androidx.compose.ui.graphics.Color

FeedbackJarBoard(
    accentColor = Color(0xFFE5484D), // optional, defaults to FeedbackJar red
    boardId = "board-id",            // optional: restrict to one board
)

Either one gives you the full loop — list, upvote, detail, comments, and a new-feedback form — built only on the API methods below. Nothing throws; failures render inline.

Identify the submitter (optional)

Remember a name/email so later submit, vote, and addComment calls attribute to the same person, and so their name/email are synced to the server against this install’s anonymous id:

FeedbackJar.setIdentity(name = user.name, email = user.email)
val identity = FeedbackJar.getIdentity()

// On logout:
FeedbackJar.clearIdentity()

Skip this and submissions stay fully anonymous — setIdentity is optional, not required.

Verified identity (signed-in users)

If your app has its own signed-in users, attribute their votes/comments to a real, verifiable account — consistent across every device they use — instead of the unverified name/email above. Your backend computes the signature:

// Your backend, once the user is authenticated:
//   timestamp = System.currentTimeMillis()
//   signature = HMAC-SHA256(orgSecretKey, "$userId:$email:$timestamp")
// (org secret key is in the FeedbackJar dashboard)

FeedbackJar.setIdentity(
    userId = user.id,
    email = user.email,
    signature = signatureFromYourBackend,
    timestamp = timestampFromYourBackend,
)

Once set, vote, addComment, submit, and hasVoted all attach to this real user on every device — immediately, and any votes/comments already made anonymously on this device are folded in automatically. timestamp must be the exact value your backend signed, and expires after 7 days — call setIdentity again on each sign-in.

Submit feedback

Each submission automatically includes device metadata (Android version, device model, screen size, app version, locale).

lifecycleScope.launch {
    val result = FeedbackJar.submit(userText)
    result
        .onSuccess { response ->
            Log.d("FeedbackJar", "Submitted: ${response.postId}")
        }
        .onFailure { error ->
            Log.e("FeedbackJar", "Failed to submit", error)
        }
}

A callback variant is available when you are not using coroutines:

FeedbackJar.submit(userText) { result ->
    result.onSuccess { response -> /* ... */ }
    result.onFailure { error -> /* ... */ }
}

Pass email/userName for a headless submission where identity isn’t already known, and properties for your own key/value context merged into the auto-collected app metadata:

FeedbackJar.submit(
    userText,
    properties = mapOf("plan" to "pro", "flavor" to BuildConfig.FLAVOR),
)

List feedback

Fetch the public feedback feed with optional pagination:

lifecycleScope.launch {
    val result = FeedbackJar.listFeedback(limit = 20)
    result.onSuccess { page ->
        page.posts.forEach { post ->
            println("${post.title} — ${post.upvotes} upvotes")
        }
    }
}

Pass boardId to filter by board, or cursor for pagination.

FeedbackJar.getPost(postId) fetches a single public post the same way.

Voting

Guest upvoting as this install’s anonymous guest — idempotent, and gated by the project’s Allow guest votes setting (WidgetConfig.allowVotes, see Get widget config):

lifecycleScope.launch {
    FeedbackJar.vote(postId)          // upvote
    FeedbackJar.unvote(postId)        // remove the upvote
    val state = FeedbackJar.getVoteState(postId) // current count + hasVoted
}

Comments

Anonymous, two-level threads — gated by Allow guest comments (WidgetConfig.allowComments):

lifecycleScope.launch {
    val comments = FeedbackJar.listComments(postId, limit = 20)

    // Reply to a post, or to a root comment via parentId (replies-to-replies aren't allowed)
    FeedbackJar.addComment(postId, "Same issue here!", parentId = null)
}

name/email fall back to the remembered identity (setIdentity) when omitted.

Get widget config

Check whether the org asks for name/email, and whether voting/comments are enabled, before building your own UI around them:

val config = FeedbackJar.getConfig().getOrNull()
if (config?.collectEmail == true) { /* show an email field */ }
if (config?.allowVotes == true) { /* show your vote button */ }

API reference

All suspend methods have a callback overload (callback: (Result<T>) -> Unit) safe to call from the main thread.

Notes

• Submission, voting, and comments are all anonymous by default — setIdentity attaches a name/email, it does not require a full account or portal login.
• Voting and commenting only work when the project has them enabled — check getConfig() before showing that UI.
• The server rate-limits submissions (5 per 15 minutes per IP).
• Private boards and non-public posts are never returned by listFeedback.