Android install referrer

Android install referrer lives in the Marketing area of the dashboard, under Attribution.

At a glance#

What it does#

Google Play install-referrer captures. The SDK emits one install-referrer event per install, and this page reports how many were captured and what they contained.

The install referrer is Android's answer to the attribution problem, and it is a good one: Play Store passes the referrer string through the install, so the attribution survives the store visit without any fingerprinting or probabilistic matching.

When to use it#

To verify that Android attribution is actually working, and to diagnose it when a campaign's installs are landing as unattributed. The referrer is the mechanism behind most Android attribution — if these events are missing, that is the cause.

Workflow#

1. 1

   Compare capture count against your install count

   A large gap means the referrer is not being read. That is an SDK or timing problem, not an ad-platform one.

2. 2

   Check what the referrer strings contain

   A referrer with no campaign parameters attributes nothing. That is on the link, not on capture.

3. 3

   Verify with a test install from a tagged link

   End-to-end from a real Play Store install is the only test that proves the chain works.

Permissions and prerequisites#

Android only, and Play Store installs only. Requires the SDK's install-referrer support.

Limits and edge cases#

• The referrer is only as informative as the link. An untagged link produces a referrer with nothing in it.

• iOS has no equivalent — see SKAdNetwork.

• One per install. A reinstall produces a new one; an app update does not.

Troubleshooting#

Few referrers relative to installs. SDK initialisation is likely too late on first launch, or a large share of your installs are not coming from Play.

Referrers captured but campaigns unattributed. The referrer strings have no campaign parameters. Fix the links — see Links.

Where the data comes from#

The Play install referrer can be read only once, shortly after installation — so the SDK has to initialise early enough on first launch to catch it. It cannot be recovered later.

From the SDK

• Install

Served by

• Tracking

Related#

• Attribution

• Links

• Campaign landing perf.

• Click fraud

• Self-attributing networks

• Postbacks

• Partner event mapping

• Marketing overview