kapa.ai
We are currently working on a Mixpanel project migration and would like to better understand the correct approach for identity handling.
Our old project was NOT using the Simplified ID Merge system.
Historically, a single user_id may have been associated with many different $device_id values over time.
This happened because of scenarios such as:
users logging in across multiple devices
app reinstalls generating new $device_id
different platforms (web/mobile)
anonymous activity before login
Now we are rebuilding and re-importing historical events into a new Mixpanel project.
Our main question is:
When migrating historical events into a new project that uses Simplified ID Merge, do we need to also migrate ALL historical $device_id values associated with each user_id?
e.g.
user_id = "12345"
associated device ids:
- device_a
- device_b
- device_c
When importing historical events:
Should old events preserve their original $device_id values?
Or can we safely send only the user_id for all events?
If multiple $device_id values are required, what is the recommended migration strategy?
We are concerned about:
broken historical funnels/journeys
anonymous-to-authenticated event stitching
Additionally:
Is there a recommended order for importing anonymous vs authenticated events?
Should we generate explicit $identify events during migration?
Are there any best practices specifically for migrating from a legacy/non-simplified identity setup into Simplified ID Merge?