Step 1: Register SKAdNetwork postbacks for the relevant iOS versions
Visit Apple's documentation for more information. For customers using the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK, the SDK registers this automatically on the app's behalf and you can skip this step.
Step 2: Ensure you are receiving and decoding SKAdNetwork postbacks
Visit Apple's documentation for more information. If you have not set up a SKAdNetwork endpoint, you'll need to do so by following Apple's documentation.
If you've already set up an endpoint with a Google-approved App Attribution Partner (AAP) or an in-house solution, you can skip to step 3 which walks you through the process of directing results to Google Analytics using Measurement Protocol.
Step 3: Direct postback results to Google Analytics using Measurement Protocol
This is done by sending a custom campaign_details event to Google Analytics through Measurement Protocol using the following schema (codelab example).
Google Analytics 4 SKAdNetwork Measurement Protocol implementation
Request level parameters
| Parameter | More information |
| firebase_app_id: {gmp_app_id} |
|
| api_secret: {api_secret} |
|
| timestamp_micros: {timestamp of received SKAN postback} |
|
| app_instance_id: {...} |
Required. Generate a unique string of random numbers. This specific ID string will be discarded for an actual app instance IDs once this data is used in conversion modeling. |
GA Event
| Event | More information |
| campaign_details | Custom event. |
GA parameters (existing)
| Parameter | More information |
| source: {source} |
These are parameters that are used in manual tagging. Google Analytics 4 reporting is structured using the Google Analytics 4 Default Channel Groupings. We suggest using these as a guide to categorize each parameter. Send these parameters for all non-Google postbacks. For example: Facebook postback:
For Google postbacks, we will decode campaigns based on your property's integration with Google Ads. Therefore, the above parameters are optional for Google postbacks. You must ensure that your Google Analytics 4 property is linked to your Google Ads advertising accounts. Note: It’s important to send all your SKAdNetwork postbacks, not just the non-Google ones, to Google Analytics 4. |
| medium: {medium} | |
| term: {term} Optional | |
| content: {content} Optional | |
| campaign_id: {campaign_id} | Value from SKAdNetwork postback. |
| campaign: {campaign} optional but without it, will show as (not set) |
For Google Ads campaigns, we will decode the ID and provide the campaign name based on your Google Analytics and Google Ads link and update the source and medium parameters. If your accounts are not linked, we will not decode Google campaign IDs and will use the specified source and medium parameters. For non-Google Ads campaigns you can decode and provide campaign names. If you don’t know it, you can copy your SKAdNetwork campaign_id. Note: If not provided, it will surface as (not set). |
| source_platform: “apple_skan” | Important: You must specify this string exactly, respecting capitalization and _. |
| app_id: {app_id} |
Value from SKAdNetwork postback. This would be your app bundle id. |
| transaction_id: {transaction_id} | Value from SKAdNetwork postback. |
Required new parameters
Note: These new parameters can be set up in the Google Analytics 4 user interface; however, it is not required. If you would like to see specific custom dimension reporting based on these parameters, then they will need to be registered in Google Analytics 4.
| Parameter | More information |
| version: {version} | Value from SKAdNetwork postback |
| conversion_value: {conversion_value} | Value from SKAdNetwork postback |
| fidelity_type: {fidelity_type} | Value from SKAdNetwork postback. |
| attribution_signature: {attribution_signature} |
Value from SKAdNetwork postback. Note: This is a security feature. SKAdNetwork postbacks are cryptographically signed. |
| redownload: {redownload} | Value from SKAdNetwork postback. |
| source_app_id: {source_app_id} |
Value from SKAdNetwork postback. Note: This is the ID of the app where the ad was clicked that led to the install. |
| did_win: {did_win} |
Value from SKAdNetwork postback. Note: Advertisers only receive winning postbacks. Where AdTechs will receive their winning postbacks and runner-up/assists postbacks.
|
|
ad_network_id: {ad_network_id} Where {ad_network_id} represents the value in the postback. |
Value from SKAdNetwork postback. This shows the ad network that surfaced your ad. This will be useful information for the “source” traffic dimension as well. |
Step 4: Verify that Marketing Platform hits are being received
The campaign_details events are not directly shown in Google Analytics. Instead, SKAdNetwork postbacks are turned into events and integrated into first_open key events and event reporting. They can be segmented out by adding the dimension source platform (source platform = SKAN).
If you want to confirm that hits are being sent we recommend that you log test events by duplicating the campaign_details events using a different event name (i.e., campaign_details_skan_test). You can then verify that the test events appear in the Google Analytics 4 Realtime report. If you register the test event and parameters, they will show up in ad hoc reporting in addition to realtime.
- If you want all of your SKAdNetwork postbacks to show in reporting, in addition to sending each as a
campaign.detailsevent, you must register the duplicate event and parameters as mentioned above. If you opt to do this, SKAdNetwork postbacks must still be sent using thecampaign.detailsevent. Otherwise Google Analytics won’t recognize them and won’t be able to perform conversion modeling to improve your iOSfirst_openreporting. - SKAdNetwork postbacks need to sent within 4 days of receiving them in order for Google Analytics to leverage them in conversion modeling and reporting.
Learn more about general verification steps.