No visits recorded
Each question below is one possible cause, from the most common to the least. Most stores find theirs in the first two.
Where can I see what Whence reports?
In the web app, open Setup, then Install. The banner at the top tells you where you stand:
- Whence is recording: visitors are on your store right now.
- Whence is installed: “Last visit recorded” and the time. Nothing left to do.
- No visit recorded yet: “Follow the steps below. This banner turns green on its own as soon as the first visit comes in.” Click Check again after each fix.
In the Shopify app, the home screen shows one line, such as “Whence is on, waiting for the first visit.” or “Visits are not arriving. Open Details to see what Whence last received.” Under Details, the tracking status lists Visitor tracking, Cart tracking, Checkout tracking and Order tracking, each with its last event:
- Running: something arrived in the last 72 hours.
- Waiting for first event: the piece is in place, but nothing recent arrived.
- Off: the piece that feeds this line is not in place. For visits, that is the theme app embed.
Is the app embed on? (Shopify)
Whence records nothing until its app embed is on in your theme. Until then, the Shopify app shows Turn on Whence in your theme.
Step 1: Open the theme editor
Click Open theme editor. Your live theme opens with the Whence app embed selected.
Step 2: Switch it on
In App embeds, turn on Visit analytics, then click Save.
Step 3: Check again
Back in the app, click Check again, then visit your store in a normal browser window.
If you changed themes, turn the embed on in the new theme too. On other platforms, check that the block from the Install screen is on every page, and that you pasted the whole block (or, for the WordPress plugin, the site key alone). See Install guides.
Are visitors declining cookies?
A visitor who declines your cookie banner is not recorded (unless you turned on Record even when a visitor declines), and Whence records only after visitors allow statistics. So it is normal to see fewer visits in Whence than in your store’s own analytics, especially with many European visitors.
The Consent block on the Install screen shows what Whence found:
- Using your store’s cookie banner: Whence reads it correctly.
- We could not find a cookie banner on your store: “Visits are arriving, but no visitor has answered a cookie banner yet.” Whence does not show a banner of its own: turn on Shopify’s cookie banner (Shopify admin, Settings, Customer privacy) or a consent app. Elsewhere, add a consent tool such as Cookiebot, OneTrust or Google Consent Mode. See Which cookie banner Whence reads.
- Whence will read your store’s cookie banner: no visit has arrived yet, so there is nothing to check.
Use one banner only. More in Which banner and Record without consent.
Are my own visits excluded?
- Under Settings, Exclusions, Never record me gives a link that stops recording the browser where you open it. If you opened it, your own visits never appear. To record that browser again, open the same link ending in
?whence=on. - Blocked visitors, Blocked IP addresses and blocked sources are not recorded either. An office IP blocks everyone on that network.
- Under Settings, Recording & privacy: Record visits must be on; Respect “Do Not Track” (on by default) skips browsers that ask not to be followed; Pages to leave alone lists pages that are never recorded.
Test from a private window on your phone’s mobile data to rule these out.
Is my plan or store paused?
- Visit limit reached: the banner “Recording has stopped for this month” means the month’s visits are used. Recording resumes on the 1st, or when you move up a plan. See Plans and prices.
- Store paused: after the free month, the Free plan keeps 1 store recording and pauses the others. See When the free month ends.
- Account canceled: recording stops when a paid subscription ends. See Cancel or close your account.
- Payment failed: while the last payment has not gone through, recording is paused. Plan shows “The last payment did not go through”. Update the card in Manage payment and recording starts again.
- Shopify app uninstalled: the store is paused. Reinstall the app and turn the embed on again.
Does the domain match?
For security, Whence only accepts visits from the domains registered for your store. You can see them under Settings, Store, Domains allowed to send data. If your store is served from another address (a new domain, a different subdomain), visits from it are ignored. This list cannot be edited in the app yet: contact support with the address your visitors use.
Do ad blockers stop Whence?
On Shopify, the tracker loads and sends through your store’s own domain, at /apps/whence, so ad blockers do not cut it. If you changed the app proxy path in Shopify (Settings, Apps, Whence), set it back to apps/whence; otherwise Whence falls back to its own domain, which some blockers stop. The First-party tracking block on Install shows the share of visits that came through your domain. See First-party tracking.
Still nothing after these checks? Contact support with your store address and what the Install screen or the Shopify app shows.