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SKAdNetwork

Apple provides SKAdNetwork as a privacy-safe way for ad networks like AppLovin to track installs. Until 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 to attribute which users have installed based on which ads they have interacted with.

Why Should I Implement SKAdNetwork?

You can no longer rely on IDFA to track ad campaign performance. If you support SKAdNetwork, this increases the number of eligible campaigns that may serve on your app. This increases demand and therefore eCPMs.

How Do I Implement SKAdNetwork?

To use SKAdNetwork, determine the set of networks that have permission to show ads within your app, and check their checkboxes in the Info.plist Generator below. Then add each network’s SKAdNetworkIdentifier list, as shown in concatenated form in the code segment generated by the Info.plist Generator, to your app’s Info.plist file.

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

If you need a programmatic way to integrate SKAdNetwork identifiers for the AppLovin network (not for any of the other ad networks that AppLovin mediates), for example, in your CI/CD, you can also retrieve that list in the JSON or XML structure that is returned if you request one of the following URLs:

  • https://skadnetwork-ids.applovin.com/v1/skadnetworkids.json (JSON)
  • https://skadnetwork-ids.applovin.com/v1/skadnetworkids.xml (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 will update the Info.plist code segment in the Generator by adding each of those networks’ SKAdNetworkIdentifier lists. (If you do not check any networks, only the SKAdNetworkIdentifier list from the AppLovin network will appear in the code segment.)

Info.plist Generator

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 provides a Global SKAdNetwork Report (MAX > Mediation > Analyze > Global SKA Report) for developers to access the SKAdNetwork data across all their network partners in one place.

To leverage the MAX Global SKAdNetwork Report, enable iOS 15 SKAdNetwork reporting by using the app’s Info.plist:

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

The final result should look something like this:

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

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

To forward the SKAdNetwork postbacks to one or more third-party endpoints of your choice, please contact your account team. Note that independent of this Apple feature, AppLovin automatically sends a copy of all SKAdNetwork postbacks to the relevant campaign attribution MMP.