Measuring Apple Search Ads campaigns without IDFA

There are many tools like Google’s Firebase or SKAdNetwork that help developers and advertisers collect useful data. When this data is integrated into Apple Search Ads, it can guarantee the success of your ad campaign.

Web-to-App Advertising: Practical Use Cases – Apphud Blog

The new AdServices framework lets you retrieve device attribution tokens, that can be used to measure and attribute downloads in your Apple Search Ads campaigns. The token that the framework returns is a string and has a 24-hour TTL. Apple Ads Attribution API is a REST API that retrieves attribution data from Apple Search Ads campaigns.

Interaction between Apple Ads Attribution API and AdServices framework

Depending on user ATT consent, there will be a detailed or standard payload.

Here is an example of a detailed attribution response:

{  
  "attribution": true,  
  "orgId": 40669820,  
  "campaignId": 542370539,  
  "conversionType": "Download",  
  "clickDate": "2020-04-08T17:17Z",  
  "adGroupId": 542317095,  
  "countryOrRegion": "US",  
  "keywordId": 87675432,  
  "creativeSetId": 542317136  
}  

And this is an example of standard response:

{  
  "attribution": true,  
  "orgId": 40669820,  
  "campaignId": 542370539,  
  "conversionType": "Download",  
  "adGroupId": 542317095,  
  "countryOrRegion": "US",  
  "keywordId": 87675432,  
  "creativeSetId": 542317136  
}

As you can see, the only difference is clickDate. But, since installation date can be easily determined by App Store receipt or just first launch date, we can admit that attribution works for all downloads regardless of ATT consent. Pretty cool, isn't it?

By default, the attribution payload contains just IDs: campaignId, adGroupId, keywordId. To retrieve human-readable names, you will need to make additional API calls using OAuth authorisation.

The flow is as follows:

• Create and invite a new user to the Apple Search Ads dashboard with API user role.
• Generate public-private key pair.
  
• Upload public key in Apple Search ads setting under the user with API role.
  
• Copy Client Secret, Team ID, Key ID.
  
• Get Access Token with given fields.
  
• After all of that, you can make API calls to get campaign names, keyword names, etc.

Integrating new Apple Search Ads API in Apphud is super easy, as we do most of the work for you:

• Apphud generates a public key for you, just copy the value and insert it into the Apple Search Ads settings under the user with API user role.
• Automatically retrieves access token and campaign names.
  
• Displays human-readable attribution data on a user page.
  
• Shows charts segmented by campaign, ad set group, and even by keyword.
  
• Works in real-time.
  
• There’s no need to set up SKAdNetwork and call updateConversionValue – Apple Search Ads and SKAdNetwork can work without each other perfectly well.
  

User page in Apphud that came from Apple Search Ads campaign

Analyze your Apple Search Ads campaigns in Apphud

All you need to do in the app - is retrieve the attribution token and pass it to Apphud SDK.

import AdServices  
import iAd // optional  
​  
private func trackAppleSearchAds() {  
        if #available(iOS 14.3, *) {  
            DispatchQueue.global(qos: .default).async {  
                if let token = try? AAAttribution.attributionToken() {  
                    DispatchQueue.main.async {  
                        Apphud.addAttribution(data: nil, from: .appleAdsAttribution, identifer: token, callback: nil)  
                    }  
                }  
            }  
        } else {  
        // optional: send old Search Ads attribution data from older iOS versions  
            ADClient.shared().requestAttributionDetails { data, _ in  
                data.map { Apphud.addAttribution(data: $0, from: .appleSearchAds, callback: nil) }  
            }  
        }  
    }

More details about integration can find in our documentation.

To get more insights regarding subscription app revenue growth read the Apphud Blog.

Ren

Co-founder at Apphud

Ex iOS app and game developer. 11 years in the industry since iOS 3. More than 50 apps are in the background with 4 exits. Entrepreneur and traveler.