When you create a Remote Settings key-value pair in the Unity Analytics Dashboard, the Unity Analytics Service stores that setting in the Configuration for your project that you have specified (either the Release or the Development configuration). Whenever a player starts a new session of your application, Unity makes a network request for the latest configuration from the Analytics Service. Unity considers a new session to have started when the player launches the application, or returns to an application that has been in the background for at least 30 minutes. Unity requests the Release configuration when running regular, non-development builds of your application, and requests the Development configuration when running development builds. Play mode in the Unity Editor counts as a development build.
Note: For Unity to request the Development configuration, you must build the application with Unity version 5.6.0p4+, 5.6.1p1+, 2017.1+, or Unity 5.5.3p4+, and tick the Development Build checkbox on the Build Settings window. If you build the game with an older version of Unity, Unity always requests the Release configuration.
When the network request for the Remote Settings configuration is complete, the RemoteSettings object dispatches an Updated event to any registered event handlers, including those registered by Remote Settings components.
If the computer or device has no Internet connection and cannot communicate with the Analytics Service, Unity uses the last configuration it received and saved. The RemoteSettings object still dispatches an Updated event when using a saved configuration. However, if Unity has not saved the settings yet (such as when a player has no network connection the first time they run your game), then the RemoteSettings object does not dispatch an Updated event, and so does not update your game variables. Requesting the Remote Settings configuration over the network is an asynchronous process that might not complete before your initial Scene has finished loading, or might not complete at all, so you should always initialize your game variables to reasonable defaults.
Note: The web service from which Unity downloads the Remote Settings configuration is read-only, but is not secured. This means that the configuration could be read by third-parties. You should not put sensitive or secret information into your Remote Settings. Similarly, the saved settings file could be read and modified by end-users (although any modifications are overwritten the next time a session starts with an available Internet connection).
2017–05–30 Page published with editorial review
2017–05–30 - Service compatible with Unity 5.5 onwards at this date but version compatibility may be subject to change.
New feature in 2017.1