Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about BuddyPress Statistics.
General Questions
Section titled “General Questions”What is BuddyPress Statistics?
Section titled “What is BuddyPress Statistics?”BuddyPress Statistics is an analytics plugin for BuddyPress and BuddyBoss communities. It records member activity, shows engagement and retention metrics, and helps administrators understand community health through an admin dashboard and optional Statistics tabs on member profiles and groups.
Is BuddyPress Statistics compatible with BuddyBoss?
Section titled “Is BuddyPress Statistics compatible with BuddyBoss?”Yes. BuddyPress Statistics works with both BuddyPress and BuddyBoss Platform. On BuddyBoss, the Users tab also shows photo, video, and document counts.
Does the plugin work with Youzify?
Section titled “Does the plugin work with Youzify?”Yes. BuddyPress Statistics includes styling and activity support for Youzify.
What metrics can I track?
Section titled “What metrics can I track?”BuddyPress Statistics tracks:
- Member logins and registrations
- Activity posts, comments, and replies
- Group joins and group activity
- Friend requests and acceptances
- Profile updates
- Activity favorites, likes, and reactions
- Private messages
- Retention rates and user health segments
What BuddyPress components does it require?
Section titled “What BuddyPress components does it require?”The plugin works with whichever BuddyPress components you have active. The Activity component is needed for most charts, Groups for group statistics, Messages for message reports, Friends for friend counts, and Extended Profiles for profile field charts. When a report needs a component that is off, it shows a notice telling you which component to enable.
Installation Questions
Section titled “Installation Questions”What are the requirements?
Section titled “What are the requirements?”- WordPress 6.5 or higher
- PHP 8.0 or higher
- BuddyPress or BuddyBoss Platform, installed and active
Where do I find the plugin settings?
Section titled “Where do I find the plugin settings?”Go to WB Plugins > BP Statistics. The dashboard has six tabs: Overview, Analytics, Users, Activity Log, Settings, and License. Settings has three sub-tabs: General, Display, and Maintenance.
Will it slow down my site?
Section titled “Will it slow down my site?”The plugin is built to stay light:
- Statistics and widget data are cached to reduce database queries
- Full historical indexing runs in small batches
- Old activity log entries are removed daily, and the log table is optimized weekly
Does it work with caching plugins?
Section titled “Does it work with caching plugins?”Yes. The plugin works with page caching plugins such as WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, and LiteSpeed Cache, and with object caching.
Data Questions
Section titled “Data Questions”How long is data stored?
Section titled “How long is data stored?”By default, activity log entries are kept for 90 days. Change this on Settings > Display > Activity log retention to any value from 1 to 730 days. Values below 7 are treated as 7 days.
Older entries are removed automatically by a daily cleanup job.
Is it GDPR friendly?
Section titled “Is it GDPR friendly?”BuddyPress Statistics includes privacy features:
- IP anonymization, on by default: the last part of an IPv4 address is replaced with 0 (for example
192.168.1.100becomes192.168.1.0); for IPv6 the last 80 bits are zeroed - A configurable retention period for activity log entries
- A Reset all logs button on Settings > Maintenance
- No data is sent to any external service
Can I export the data?
Section titled “Can I export the data?”Yes. The Users tab has Export CSV, Export Excel, and Print Report buttons. The Activity Log tab has Export CSV, Export Excel, and Print buttons. The Top 10 Contributors and Top 10 Groups tables on Analytics > Advanced Analytics also export to CSV, Excel, and Print.
On the Activity Log, exports include the rows currently shown in the table. To export more rows, choose a larger number of entries per page (or All) before exporting.
What happens to my data if I delete the plugin?
Section titled “What happens to my data if I delete the plugin?”Deleting the plugin from the Plugins screen removes its activity log, its settings, and its scheduled jobs. Your BuddyPress members, groups, and activity are not affected. Deactivating the plugin keeps everything.
Feature Questions
Section titled “Feature Questions”What is the User Health Breakdown?
Section titled “What is the User Health Breakdown?”The Analytics > Retention view groups members into four segments based on their last login:
| Segment | Definition |
|---|---|
| Active | Logged in within 7 days |
| At Risk | Last login 8-30 days ago |
| Dormant | Last login 31-90 days ago |
| Inactive | No login in 90+ days |
What are Top Contributors?
Section titled “What are Top Contributors?”Top Contributors ranks your most active members by their activity. You’ll find them on the Overview tab, in the Top 10 Contributors table on Analytics > Advanced Analytics, and optionally on group Statistics tabs.
Can members see their own stats?
Section titled “Can members see their own stats?”Yes, if you enable it:
- On Settings > General, tick “Show a Statistics tab on every member profile”.
- On Settings > Display, tick the member roles that should get the tab, then click Save changes.
Members with a ticked role see a Statistics tab on their own profile, with their impact, day streak, journey, and any charts you selected. Administrators can see the tab on every member’s profile. Members can’t see each other’s Statistics tabs.
Why can’t members see the Statistics tab, even though it’s switched on?
Section titled “Why can’t members see the Statistics tab, even though it’s switched on?”Check Settings > Display > Who Sees the Profile Statistics Tab. Only the roles ticked there get a Statistics tab on their own profile, and if every role is unticked only administrators see member Statistics tabs. Tick the roles you want and click Save changes. Members also need to be logged in.
Does the profile Statistics tab need charts selected?
Section titled “Does the profile Statistics tab need charts selected?”No. Since 2.0.1 the profile tab shows even when no chart is ticked under Charts shown on profiles. It then shows the Your impact, day streak, and Your journey sections only.
Can I show statistics on group pages?
Section titled “Can I show statistics on group pages?”Yes. On Settings > General, tick “Show a Statistics tab on every group” and select at least one chart under Charts shown on groups. The group tab stays hidden while no group chart is selected. On Settings > Display, choose which group roles and group privacy levels show the tab. Only members of a group see its Statistics tab.
Is there a shortcode?
Section titled “Is there a shortcode?”Yes. [bp_stats_modern_widget] displays the Member Activity Summary card anywhere on your site. It accepts user_id (auto, current, a user ID, or a username) and title. See Modern Member Widget.
Translation Questions
Section titled “Translation Questions”Is the plugin translation-ready?
Section titled “Is the plugin translation-ready?”Yes. The plugin ships one translation template, buddypress-stats.pot, in its languages folder. Every text string in the plugin uses the buddypress-stats text domain, so you can translate it with Loco Translate, Poedit, or any similar tool.
Loco Translate says the plugin is “Partially configured”. What do I do?
Section titled “Loco Translate says the plugin is “Partially configured”. What do I do?”Update to BuddyPress Statistics 2.0.1 or later. Version 2.0.0 shipped two translation templates, and the one Loco Translate uses was missing some newer text (for example the profile impact, streak, and journey wording). Since 2.0.1 the plugin ships a single complete template, buddypress-stats.pot, and Loco Translate detects the plugin as fully configured.
Save your translation files with the buddypress-stats name, for example buddypress-stats-de_DE.po, so WordPress loads them.
I created a translation from the old bp-stats.pot. Do I need to start again?
Section titled “I created a translation from the old bp-stats.pot. Do I need to start again?”No. After updating to 2.0.1:
- Go to Loco Translate > Plugins > Wbcom Designs - BuddyPress Statistics.
- Open your language.
- Click Sync. Loco updates your translation against the new
buddypress-stats.pottemplate and keeps the strings you already translated. - Translate any new strings and click Save.
Technical Questions
Section titled “Technical Questions”Does it create database tables?
Section titled “Does it create database tables?”Yes. The plugin creates one table to store its activity log. The table is created on activation and removed when you delete the plugin. Reset all logs on Settings > Maintenance empties the table but keeps it.
Can I extend it with custom code?
Section titled “Can I extend it with custom code?”Yes. BuddyPress Statistics provides hooks and filters, for example to control who can view member statistics, change the Statistics tab label, position, and address, and adjust default settings. See the Developer Guide.
Does it have a REST API?
Section titled “Does it have a REST API?”Yes. The dashboards, Statistics tabs, and widgets load their data through the plugin’s own REST API. Access follows the same permission rules as the screens that use it.
Troubleshooting Questions
Section titled “Troubleshooting Questions”Why is my dashboard empty?
Section titled “Why is my dashboard empty?”Statistics only appear after members take part in the community. If your dashboard is empty:
- Check that BuddyPress or BuddyBoss Platform is active
- Allow a day or two for data to build up from real member activity
- Run Full historical indexing on Settings > Maintenance to add data from before the plugin was activated
Why does “Last active” or “Last Login” show “Never”?
Section titled “Why does “Last active” or “Last Login” show “Never”?”Logins are recorded from the moment the plugin is active. Members who haven’t logged in since then show “Never” until their next login.
Why are some members counted as Inactive in the health segments?
Section titled “Why are some members counted as Inactive in the health segments?”Health segments use the last login the plugin recorded. Members who registered before the plugin was activated and haven’t logged in since count as Inactive until they log in.
See also Troubleshooting.
Support
Section titled “Support”Where can I get help?
Section titled “Where can I get help?”- Documentation: docs.wbcomdesigns.com
- Support: wbcomdesigns.com/support
How do I report a bug?
Section titled “How do I report a bug?”Open a support ticket at wbcomdesigns.com/support.
Include:
- WordPress version
- BuddyPress or BuddyBoss version
- BuddyPress Statistics version
- Steps to reproduce
- Any error messages