Free App Analytics has the unique ability to process all data associated to a marketer’s app and their user acquisition or user engagement efforts. With our position in this space, there are opportunities for common discrepancies that occur among Free App Analytics, App Store metrics and also with Self-Attributing Networks (SANs).
Free App Analytics vs. App Store
Google Play Store:
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| Download vs. Launch | The Google Play Store has insight into downloads of an App from the App Store while Free App Analytics sees first launches of the app. This can lead to discrepancies as not all users who download launch the app. |
| Users vs. Devices | The Google Play Store counts downloads based on a Google Play Store ID. Free App Analytics counts individual devices. In the case a user with a single Google Play Store ID, downloads and launches an App on two separate Android devices, the Google Play Store counts a single download, but Free App Analytics counts two. |
Apple App Store:
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| Download vs. Launch | iTunes Connect has insight into downloads of the app from the app store while Free App Analytics will see first launches of the app. This can lead to discrepancies as not all users who download launch the app. |
| Users vs. Devices | By default, iTunes Connect counts downloads based on Apple App Store IDs. Free App Analytics counts individual devices. In the case a user with a single Apple App Store ID, downloads and launches an App on both an iPad and an iPhone, iTunes Connect counts a single download, and Free App Analytics counts two downloads. |
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| Claims | Free App Analytics has insight into all campaigns currently being run through Free App Analytics, whereas individual networks have insight into only the campaigns they run. When a SAN claims an install, Free App Analytics compares that to all other campaigns for the App. If there is an eligible click or impression from a different network that is more recent than the click/impression reported by the SAN, Free App Analytics awards attribution to the true winner. This causes an install to surface in the SAN partner but a claim to surface in Free App Analytics. This also impacts all subsequent post-install events, as Free App Analytics surface them under the true winner, while Facebook will report these as Facebook-driven events. |
| Events | Kochava has the ability to set a minimum time to reengagement window for events. If the event postback is set to send all we will only record the claims from Facebook for events that passed the minimum time threshold set for that event. The default setting for events is 24 hours from the last attribution that has occurred for a device. This has the potential to show a higher number of events in Facebooks dashboard when compared to Kochava. |
| Install Time vs. Click Time | Facebook reports the install date as the time of the click, whereas Free App Analytics reports the install date as the time of the install. For example, if a user clicks an ad on July 4th, then launches the App for the first time July 5th, the install will surface in Facebook as occurred on July 4th and in Free App Analytics on July 5th. |
| Facebook SDK | If an App is tracking events using the Facebook SDK, any event postbacks from Free App Analytics can cause a discrepancy in the event counts because the Facebook system receives events from both Free App Analytics and the Facebook SDK. Using both Free App Analytics and the Facebook SDK can also cause a discrepancy in the install count in cases of latent data. |
NOTE: For more information about integrating with Facebook, refer to our Create a Facebook Campaign support documentation.
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| Claims | Free App Analytics has insight into all campaigns currently being run through Free App Analytics, whereas individual networks have insight into only the campaigns they run. When a SAN claims an install, Free App Analytics compares that to all other campaigns for the App. If there is an eligible click or impression from a different network that is more recent than the click/impression reported by the SAN, Free App Analytics awards attribution to the true winner. This causes an install to surface in the SAN partner but a claim to surface in Free App Analytics. This also impacts all subsequent post-install events, as Free App Analytics surface them under the true winner, while Google will report these as Google-driven events. |
| Install Time vs. Click Time | Google reports the install data as the time of the click, whereas Free App Analytics reports the install date as the time of the install. For example, if a user clicks an ad on July 4th, then launches the App for the first time July 5th, the install will surface in Google as occurred on July 4th and in Free App Analytics on July 5th. |
| Events | Kochava has the ability to set a minimum time to reengagement window for events. If the event postback is set to send all we will only record the claims from Google for events that passed the minimum time threshold set for that event. The default setting for events is 24 hours from the last attribution that has occurred for a device. This has the potential to show a higher number of events in Google’s dashboard when compared to Kochava. | Google Search iOS | Google Search iOS operates differently from all other Google properties. Google does not report installs from Google Search-specific campaigns on iOS. This leads to discrepancies as the installs will surface in Google but not in Free App Analytics. |
NOTE: For more information about integrating with Google, refer to our Google Ads support documentation.
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| Claims | Free App Analytics has insight into all campaigns currently being run through Free App Analytics, whereas individual networks have insight into only the campaigns they run. When a SAN claims an install, Free App Analytics compares that to all other campaigns for the App. If there is an eligible click or impression from a different network that is more recent than the click/impression reported by the SAN, Free App Analytics awards attribution to the true winner. This causes an install to surface in the SAN partner but a claim to surface in Free App Analytics. This also impacts all subsequent post-install events, as Free App Analytics surface them under the true winner, while Twitter will report these as Twitter-driven events.
When a Twitter user has opted out of sharing their data and targeted advertising, Twitter will make those claims on their end, but not share them with their MACT partners (Free App Analytics). As a result, this will contribute to higher numbers in the Twitter platform than in Free App Analytics. |
| Install Time vs. Click Time | Twitter reports the install data as the time of the click, whereas Free App Analytics reports the install date as the time of the install. For example, if a user clicks an ad on July 4th, then launches the App for the first time July 5th, the install will surface in Twitter as occurred on July 4th and in Free App Analytics on July 5th. |
| Lookback Windows | When Twitter trackers are created in the Free App Analytics dashboard, lookback windows are set within Free App Analytics and the Twitter dashboard. These lookback windows should align or Twitter can surface installs in their platform but not report those installs to Free App Analytics based off the lookback windows set in Free App Analytics. |
NOTE: For more information about integrating with Twitter, refer to our Create a Twitter Campaign support documentation.
Apple Search Ads
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| Claims | Kochava has insight into all campaigns currently being run through Kochava, whereas individual networks have insight into only the campaigns they run. When a SAN claims an install, Kochava compares that to all other campaigns for the App. If there is an eligible click or impression from a different network that is more recent than the click/impression reported by the SAN, Kochava awards attribution to the true winner. This causes an install to surface in the SAN partner but a claim to surface in Kochava. This also impacts all subsequent post-install events, as Kochava will surface them under the true winner, while Apple Search Ads will report these as Apple -driven events. |
| Download vs. Launch | Apple considers a conversion when someone downloads the App, while Kochava defines a conversion when a user downloads the app AND opens/launches it. Thus, there are instances where a user has downloaded the app but has yet to launch it; Apple would surface this as a conversion, but Kochava would not. |
| Deduplication | Kochava de-duplicates installs; therefore, if a user had ever downloaded the App organically and then clicked on the Apple Search Ad, Apple would log this as a conversion in their system while Kochava would not. Also, even if the user had deleted the App, clicked the ad and then reinstalled the App again, Kochava would de-duplicate this install and that device ID would remain tied to the organic install in our system. |
NOTE: For more information about integrating with Apple Search Ads, refer to our Create an Apple Search Ads Campaign support documentation.
Doubleclick
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| DoubleClick Search | DoubleClick does not claim installs from Search campaigns. This will lead to discrepancies as the installs will surface in DoubleClick but not in Free App Analytics. |
NOTE: DoubleClick integration uses the install received time (not the install occurred time) for attribution purposes. The result may look like the Click or Impression that won attribution occurred AFTER the point the user package install began. This is more likely to occur on Android when GRIT is enabled.
NOTE: For more information about integrating with Google DoubleClick, refer to our Google DoubleClick Integration support documentation.
Verizon Media
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| Claims | Kochava has insight into all campaigns currently being run through Kochava, whereas individual networks have insight into only the campaigns they run. When a SAN claims an install, Kochava compares that to all other campaigns for the App. If there is an eligible click or impression from a different network that is more recent than the click/impression reported by the SAN, Kochava awards attribution to the true winner. This causes an install to surface in the SAN partner but a claim to surface in Kochava. This also impacts all subsequent post-install events, as Kochava will surface them under the true winner, while Verizon Media will report these as Verizon Media-driven events. |
| Install Time vs. Click Time | Verizon Media reports the install data as the time of the click, whereas Kochava reports the install date as the time of the install. For example, if a user clicks an ad on July 4th, then launches the App for the first time July 5th, the install will surface in Verizon Media as occurred on July 4th and in Kochava on July 5th. |
| Lookback Windows | When Verizon Media trackers are created in the Kochava dashboard, lookback windows are set within Kochava; lookback windows are also set within the Verizon Media dashboard. These lookback windows should align or Verizon Media can surface installs in their platform, but not report those installs to Kochava based off the lookback windows set in Kochava. |
NOTE: For more information about integrating with Verizon Media, refer to our Create a Verizon Media Campaign support documentation.
Snapchat
| Discrepancy | Common Cause |
|---|---|
| Claims | Free App Analytics has insight into all campaigns currently being run through Free App Analytics, whereas individual networks have insight into only the campaigns they run. When a SAN claims an install, Free App Analytics compares that to all other campaigns for the App. If there is an eligible click or impression from a different network that is more recent than the click/impression reported by the SAN, Free App Analytics awards attribution to the true winner. This causes an install to surface in the SAN partner but a claim to surface in Free App Analytics. This also impacts all subsequent post-install events, as Free App Analytics surface them under the true winner, while Snapchat will report these as Snapchat-driven events. |
| Lookback Windows | Snapchats default lookback logic will display conversions based on a 28 day click 1 day view lookback window. Snapchat will claim conversions to Free App Analytics using 28 day click and 28 day view lookbook windows. This can lead to the Free App Analytics dashboard showing a greater amount of conversions than the default view within the Snapchat platform depending on the lookback windows chosen in the Free App Analytics dashboard. |
NOTE: For more information about integrating with Yahoo Gemini, refer to our Create a Snapchat Campaign support documentation.
