iOS and Android are the two giants ruling the smartphone market for now. Mobile app installs attribution in iOS and Android, which has been crucial to the success of any mobile app or marketing strategy. Understanding the various changes with iOS and Android users is necessary to ensure maximum returns from mobile marketing strategies. Proper attribution also ensures the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. No matter which OS you are focusing on, you should choose the right mobile measurement partner for appropriate analysis of data and tracking. Apptrove is the right choice regardless of the industry in which your brand is working. The need for attribution is an essential question that one must face in this industry, let us find the answer to this.

Advantages of Mobile App Install Attribution

There are many advantages to app install attribution. Some of the major advantages are :

1. Improved Marketing - Mobile app attribution helps the business know the effectiveness of the marketing efforts and which channels are more efficient. This will ultimately lead to higher ROI. Resource allocation can also be properly done with this.

2. User Insights - Mobile app install attribution helps the business to know how the user interacts with the brand. It provides insights into the various touchpoints, platforms, and user segmentation.

3. Fraud Detection and Prevention - Another major benefit of attribution is fraud detection and prevention. In this era, fraudulent activities are not so unusual thing, using proper attribution we can find unusual behavioral patterns from the users. With proper safety measures, we can also prevent such activities.

Now let us move into the challenges of cookie-based attribution which was a popular method used till recently.

Limitations of Cookie-Based Attribution

Cookie-Based Attribution was one of the fundamental methods of tracking user behavior. This method has many limitations due to which they are not much used in today’s scenario. Let us explore some of them.

1. Privacy Concerns - There have been several rules and regulations implemented by various governments across the globe regarding the user’s consent and data collection. Since in many cases websites should obtain user’s consent to track them, many users opt out of this and make it difficult for advertisers.

2. Limited Scope - Cookies are stored in individual devices and browsers making it difficult to track multiple devices. When users switch their devices, it is also possible that the cookies give us fragmented data regarding attribution.

3. Accuracy and Reliability - Users can use extensions to avoid cookies and can also delete them as they wish. This causes a major difficulty in tracking user behavior. Using multiple browsers on the same device can also be challenging.

Now we have seen why cookie-based attribution is replaced by other models in both Android and iOS. Let us now focus on the present attribution models.

IOS Mobile Attribution

We know that Apple is one of the most popular mobile companies in the world. It is also known for its privacy features and data confidentiality, and iOS is the operating system used on Apple mobiles. Now let us look into some of the major iOS app install attribution models. With the update of IOS 14.5, three main models have become game changers. They are:

1. SKAd Network - This is the major solution for Apple’s privacy preservation updates implemented recently. This model aggregates and anonymizes data, preventing advertisers from tracking users.

2. Probabilistic Model - This method is also known as fingerprinting. This model does not use unique identifiers like the IDFA. Non-unique data points are collected and probability is estimated in this model.

3. Deterministic Model - This model depends on Identifiers for Advertisers (IDFA) for attribution. With the implementation of the 14.5 update in iOS, user consent is necessary for attribution. This model is very effective for advertisers because of the precise attribution.

Now we have seen the important attribution models of the iOS platform, let us now move on to the Android platform’s attribution models.

Android Mobile Attribution

Apart from Apple, Android is a major operating system used across the globe. Android uses different models like last-click attribution, first-click attribution, and multi-touch attribution for the effective tracking of installs. Let us explore the various models used in Android.

1. Google Play Install Referrer - This model is very efficient in tracking the source of app installs directly from the Google Play Store. Precision is the advantage of this model. The limitation of this is that it is limited only to the Google Play Store.

2. GAID - Google Advertising ID - This is a unique identifier provided by Google that enables tracking across different platforms and ad networks. Users can reset or disable GAID which may limit tracking capabilities.

3. Deferred Deep Linking - This allows users to navigate into certain sections of the app even if they have not installed the app. This method can increase user engagement and track the whole journey of the user. The high technical knowledge required can be a possible difficulty for this model.

Now we have looked into both iOS and Android mobile attribution.

In conclusion, both iOS and Android mobile tracking offer brands a clear-cut idea about user engagement, user behavior, and the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. Optimization of strategies is also a major byproduct of proper tracking. A major factor to consider is a proper mobile measurement partner for your brand. A partner like apptrove will benefit your business in every way possible and make sure you have a good position in the market. Apptrove with its unique features and dashboard will help your brand to conquer new heights of success. The usage of a good partner like apptrove and proper tracking can ensure a success in mobile marketing.