SKAdNetwork

Apple provides SKAdNetwork as a privacy-safe way for ad networks like AppLovin to track installs.

Before iOS 14, ad networks could attribute campaigns based on a user’s IDFA. But starting with iOS 14, ad networks are less able to use IDFAs as a way of attributing which users have installed based on which ads those users have interacted with. You can no longer rely on IDFA to track ad campaign performance.

Why Should I Implement SKAdNetwork?

If you support SKAdNetwork, a larger number of eligible campaigns can serve on your app. This increases demand and therefore eCPMs.

How Do I Implement SKAdNetwork?

To use SKAdNetwork, for each network that has permission to show ads in your app, check its checkbox in the “Info.plist Generator” below.

Then add each network’s SKAdNetworkIdentifier list to your app’s Info.plist file. These lists are concatenated in the code segment generated by the Info.plist Generator,

For more information, see “SKAdNetwork: Configuring the Participating Apps” in Apple’s StoreKit Developer documentation.

You can integrate SKAdNetwork identifiers for the AppLovin network programmatically, for example in your CI/CD. (This is not the case for the other ad networks that AppLovin mediates.) To do so, you can retrieve the list of identifiers in the JSON or XML structure that is returned from the following URLs:

JSON

https://skadnetwork-ids.applovin.com/v1/skadnetworkids.json

XML

https://skadnetwork-ids.applovin.com/v1/skadnetworkids.xml

If you also need SKAdNetwork identifiers for other mediated ad networks that you integrated with MAX, check those networks in the “Info.plist Generator” below. This updates the Info.plist code segment below the Generator with each of those networks’ SKAdNetworkIdentifier lists. (If you do not check any networks, only the list from the AppLovin network appears in the code segment.)

Info.plist Generator

AppLovin Amazon BidMachine BIGO Ads Chartboost CSJ DT Exchange Google Ad Manager Google Bidding and Google AdMob HyprMX InMobi ironSource Liftoff Monetize LINE Maio Meta Audience Network Mintegral MobileFuse Moloco Ogury Pangle PubMatic Smaato Tencent Unity Ads Verve VK Ad Network Yandex YSO Network

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iOS 15 Global SKAdNetwork Reporting

Starting with iOS 15, Apple allows developers to send a copy of their SKAdNetwork install postbacks to an endpoint of their choice. MAX includes a Global SKAdNetwork Report (MAX > Mediation > Analyze > Global SKA Report). You can use this to access the SKAdNetwork data across all of your network partners in one place.

To leverage the MAX Global SKAdNetwork Report, enable iOS 15 SKAdNetwork reporting. You can do this by changing the app’s Info.plist:

1. In your app’s Info.plist, create a new key named NSAdvertisingAttributionReportEndpoint of type String.
2. Give that key the value: https://postbacks-app.com.

The result should look like this:

⋮
<iPhone>
  <InfoAdditions>
    <![CDATA[
      ⋮
      <key>NSAdvertisingAttributionReportEndpoint</key>
      <string>https://postbacks-app.com</string>
      ⋮
    ]]>
  </InfoAdditions>
</iPhone>

Tip

You can check the value of your app’s SKAdNetwork endpoint by using the Mediation Debugger.

Note

Contact your account team if you want to forward the SKAdNetwork postbacks to one or more third-party endpoints of your choice. Independently of this Apple feature, AppLovin automatically sends a copy of all SKAdNetwork postbacks to the relevant campaign attribution MMP.