Alex L.

Ansh A., thank you!

kapa.ai Are there any platform limitations regarding events, user properties, or other features if we do not call mixpanel.identify from the client and continue to send events as anonymous users? If so, could you please list them?

kapa.ai I’ve checked with our developers, and it turns out they are calling mixpanel.identify using the distinct_id value that is already formatted as $device:123.... As a result, in the Mixpanel dashboard, we see many users where distinct_id is set to $device:123...but the $device_id field remains empty. These users have existed for almost two months, with the last events dated early December 2025. This confirms that the $device_id field is not being populated automatically. Could you clarify if calling identify with an anonymous ID is the reason why the $device_id field stays empty?

Ansh A. Am I correct that the $device_id field will be populated only after I call mixpanel.identify from my client code? So, until I do that, the $device_id property will remain empty, and distinct_id will continue to be formatted as $device:123.... Is that right?