Using `.identify` Once: Guest ID vs. User ID Linking Explained

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Hi, can I call .identify once only upon registration without the need to call it each users sign in? If yes would I loose the link of guest id and user id?

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3 comments

Julianne Bozzini
APP
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Hi Sultan- Julianne from Mixpanel Support here. For client-side tracking, the user's disinct_id is stored on the client device. This means that if you only call .identify() upon registration and not on logins, you might lose the ability to link the user's activity across different sessions or devices to the same user ID. For example, if a user registers on Device 1 but later logs in on Device 2, the Device 2 events wouldn't be connected to the user unless you call .identify() on log in. The docs have example user flows that you can reference: Simplified ID Merge and Original ID Merge. Can you share more on why you wouldn't want to call .identify() at sign in?
Sultan A.
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Thanks Julianne B. for your response, I wanted to decrease number of events that are fired from .identify() , since it’s consuming many events, for each user logs in. If there’s a way to do so, let me know. Thanks!
Julianne Bozzini
APP
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Thanks for the response! Since the call is important for correct ID management, 'Identify' events are excluded from billing. This means there isn't a billing impact to call .identify() at login. You can see the full list of excluded billing events here.
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