diff --git a/src/App.native.tsx b/src/App.native.tsx
index d0ea72e685..9b895eeabf 100644
--- a/src/App.native.tsx
+++ b/src/App.native.tsx
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import {RootStoreModel, setupState, RootStoreProvider} from './state'
 import {MobileShell} from './view/shell/mobile'
 import {s} from './view/lib/styles'
 import notifee, {EventType} from '@notifee/react-native'
-import {segmentClient} from './lib/segmentClient'
+import * as analytics from './lib/analytics'
 import * as Toast from './view/com/util/Toast'
 
 const App = observer(() => {
@@ -26,9 +26,10 @@ const App = observer(() => {
   // init
   useEffect(() => {
     view.setup()
-    setSegment(segmentClient)
+    setSegment(analytics.segmentClient)
     setupState().then(store => {
       setRootStore(store)
+      analytics.init(store)
       SplashScreen.hide()
       Linking.getInitialURL().then((url: string | null) => {
         if (url) {
diff --git a/src/lib/analytics.ts b/src/lib/analytics.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..65e9507185
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/analytics.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+import {AppState, AppStateStatus} from 'react-native'
+import {createClient} from '@segment/analytics-react-native'
+import {RootStoreModel, AppInfo} from '../state/models/root-store'
+// import {createLogger} from './logger'
+
+export const segmentClient = createClient({
+  writeKey: '8I6DsgfiSLuoONyaunGoiQM7A6y2ybdI',
+  trackAppLifecycleEvents: false,
+  // Uncomment to debug:
+  // logger: createLogger(),
+})
+
+export function init(store: RootStoreModel) {
+  // NOTE
+  // this method is a copy of segment's own lifecycle event tracking
+  // we handle it manually to ensure that it never fires while the app is backgrounded
+  // -prf
+  segmentClient.onContextLoaded(() => {
+    if (AppState.currentState !== 'active') {
+      store.log.debug('Prevented a metrics ping while the app was backgrounded')
+      return
+    }
+    const context = segmentClient.context.get()
+    if (typeof context?.app === 'undefined') {
+      store.log.debug('Aborted metrics ping due to unavailable context')
+      return
+    }
+
+    const oldAppInfo = store.appInfo
+    const newAppInfo = context.app as AppInfo
+    store.setAppInfo(newAppInfo)
+    store.log.debug('Recording app info', {new: newAppInfo, old: oldAppInfo})
+
+    if (typeof oldAppInfo === 'undefined') {
+      segmentClient.track('Application Installed', {
+        version: newAppInfo.version,
+        build: newAppInfo.build,
+      })
+    } else if (newAppInfo.version !== oldAppInfo.version) {
+      segmentClient.track('Application Updated', {
+        version: newAppInfo.version,
+        build: newAppInfo.build,
+        previous_version: oldAppInfo.version,
+        previous_build: oldAppInfo.build,
+      })
+    }
+    segmentClient.track('Application Opened', {
+      from_background: false,
+      version: newAppInfo.version,
+      build: newAppInfo.build,
+    })
+  })
+
+  let lastState: AppStateStatus = AppState.currentState
+  AppState.addEventListener('change', (state: AppStateStatus) => {
+    if (state === 'active' && lastState !== 'active') {
+      const context = segmentClient.context.get()
+      segmentClient.track('Application Opened', {
+        from_background: true,
+        version: context?.app?.version,
+        build: context?.app?.build,
+      })
+    } else if (state !== 'active' && lastState === 'active') {
+      segmentClient.track('Application Backgrounded')
+    }
+    lastState = state
+  })
+}
diff --git a/src/lib/segmentClient.ts b/src/lib/segmentClient.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 4286f74ad1..0000000000
--- a/src/lib/segmentClient.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-import {createClient} from '@segment/analytics-react-native'
-// import {createLogger} from './logger'
-
-export const segmentClient = createClient({
-  writeKey: '8I6DsgfiSLuoONyaunGoiQM7A6y2ybdI',
-  trackAppLifecycleEvents: true,
-  // Uncomment to debug:
-  // logger: createLogger(),
-})
diff --git a/src/state/models/navigation.ts b/src/state/models/navigation.ts
index e2610a2f5c..cbb33fe098 100644
--- a/src/state/models/navigation.ts
+++ b/src/state/models/navigation.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import {RootStoreModel} from './root-store'
 import {makeAutoObservable} from 'mobx'
 import {TABS_ENABLED} from '../../build-flags'
-import {segmentClient} from '../../lib/segmentClient'
+import {segmentClient} from '../../lib/analytics'
 
 let __id = 0
 function genId() {
diff --git a/src/state/models/root-store.ts b/src/state/models/root-store.ts
index fe7dac8f7c..8806184937 100644
--- a/src/state/models/root-store.ts
+++ b/src/state/models/root-store.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {AtpAgent} from '@atproto/api'
 import {createContext, useContext} from 'react'
 import {DeviceEventEmitter, EmitterSubscription} from 'react-native'
 import BackgroundFetch from 'react-native-background-fetch'
+import {z} from 'zod'
 import {isObj, hasProp} from '../lib/type-guards'
 import {LogModel} from './log'
 import {SessionModel} from './session'
@@ -17,8 +18,17 @@ import {LinkMetasViewModel} from './link-metas-view'
 import {MeModel} from './me'
 import {OnboardModel} from './onboard'
 
+export const appInfo = z.object({
+  build: z.string(),
+  name: z.string(),
+  namespace: z.string(),
+  version: z.string(),
+})
+export type AppInfo = z.infer<typeof appInfo>
+
 export class RootStoreModel {
   agent: AtpAgent
+  appInfo?: AppInfo
   log = new LogModel()
   session = new SessionModel(this)
   nav = new NavigationModel(this)
@@ -42,8 +52,13 @@ export class RootStoreModel {
     return this.agent.api
   }
 
+  setAppInfo(info: AppInfo) {
+    this.appInfo = info
+  }
+
   serialize(): unknown {
     return {
+      appInfo: this.appInfo,
       log: this.log.serialize(),
       session: this.session.serialize(),
       me: this.me.serialize(),
@@ -55,6 +70,12 @@ export class RootStoreModel {
 
   hydrate(v: unknown) {
     if (isObj(v)) {
+      if (hasProp(v, 'appInfo')) {
+        const appInfoParsed = appInfo.safeParse(v.appInfo)
+        if (appInfoParsed.success) {
+          this.setAppInfo(appInfoParsed.data)
+        }
+      }
       if (hasProp(v, 'log')) {
         this.log.hydrate(v.log)
       }