Integrating apps with AppsFlyer

Notes on the use of postview attribution

To use postview attribution in your ad campaigns, please use normal tracking links for postclick attribution.

There is no need to start separate trackers and tracking links for postview-attribution for your ad campaigns and use them when creating adverts.

Support for postview attribution is already built in at the integration level between AppMetrica and VK Ads and requires no additional actions from advertisers.

How to integrate an app

Before setting up the integration, add your app to AppsFlyer and integrate the AppsFlyer SDK into your mobile app. Learn more in the AppsFlyer Help Center.

To integrate your app with AppsFlyer, you will need to:

Sign in to AppsFlyer
Go to the settings of the app you want to integrate.
Select Collaboration → Partner Marketplace if you are activating the integration for the first time, or Collaboration → Active Integrations if you need to make changes.
Find VK Ads (myTarget, Mail.ru) in the list of partners and select it.
Go to the integration settings and turn on the Activate partner toggle. This toggle must remain enabled while you are working with VK Ads.
Enter the code you received when you first connected the app in VK Ads in the App ID field. You can also find the code in the Mobile Apps section.
The code is used only once, during the initial connection, to verify ownership of the app. You do not need the code for any other purposes.
Required settings:

In the Default postbacks section, enable the Install event postback. To improve advertising performance, we recommend enabling Install event postbacks with the All media sources, including organic option, and enabling the transmission of Install events with view-through attribution.
In the In-app event settings section, enter the code received in VK Ads again in the App ID field.
To improve advertising performance and enable optimization based on in-app events, turn on In-app events postback and configure your in-app events. To improve advertising performance, in the Sending options section, select All media sources, including organic; under Send revenue, select Values and revenue; and enable the transmission of events with view-through attribution.

In the In-app events postback URL, add the af_siteid parameter or change it to the following format: af_siteid = {{site_id}}

8. Generate and save the tracking link — you will need it when creating an advertising campaign in VK Ads.

OneLink links are not supported by VK Ads. For retargeting, use standard attribution links.

9. Click Save Integration at the bottom of the section to save your changes.

All done! You have successfully integrated your advertising account with the tracker.

Android App Attribution Across Multiple App Stores

App owners who promote their Android apps across multiple app stores can use either a Single Dashboard, which consolidates data from all stores, or a separate dashboard for each store (Dashboard per Store, also known as Multi-Dashboard or Multidash).

Please note that the Single Dashboard and Dashboard per Store setups have different requirements for configuring the package name and the af_store parameter in the APK.

For more information, see the AppsFlyer documentation:
Single Dashboard — Preparing the APK
Dashboard per Store — Preparing the APK

When using a Single Dashboard, make sure to add the af_r parameter to the tracking link. For more information, see the AppsFlyer documentation on tracking links

If you use a Dashboard per Store, leave the Channel Name field empty to ensure that installs and in-app events are attributed correctly for Google Play. For alternative app stores (RuStore, AppGallery), set the following values in the Channel Name field:

Channel name = rustore (for the RuStore store)
Channel name = appgallery (for the AppGallery store)

In the Out-of-store app URL section, enter the link to the app listing in RuStore or AppGallery. For example: https://www.rustore.ru/catalog/app/com.vkontakte.android.

For more information, see the tracker configuration documentation.

Also add the rustore.ru domain to the redirect allowlist.
For more information, see the tracker configuration documentation.

How to add an attribution window restriction

To specify an attribution window restriction, add parameters to the tracking link:

for post-click attribution: af_click_lookback={target value}d
for post-view attribution: af_viewthrough_lookback={target value}h

For post-view attribution, the parameter needs to be added to the tracking link you will use in the VK Ads.

If no parameters are added, the tracker will use the default value for each of them: af_viewthrough_lookback – 24 hours, af_click_lookback – 7 days.

Example of a tracking link with attribution window restriction parameters:

https://app.appsflyer.com/yourbestapp?pid=mail.ru_int&c={{campaign_name}}&af_siteid={{site_id}}&af_c_id={{campaign_id}}&af_adset_id={{banner_id}}&clickid={clickid}&sub1=&sub2={{gender}}&sub3={{age}}&af_viewthrough_lookback=12h&af_click_lookback=20d

How to transfer campaign spending

Advertisers who use the AppsFlyer tracker in their mobile apps can set up spend transfer for their ads campaigns in VK Ads via the InCost API. It is possible to independently control the switching on and off of spend transfer.

Once configured in the AppsFlyer interface, the VK Advertising system will be marked with the “Cost” icon. It means that VK Ads supports spend transfer.

To enable spend transfer of advertising campaigns in AppsFlyer:

Enable spend transfer in VK Ads.
Enable the spend receipt feature in AppsFlyer.

If you enable the setting only in one product (for example, only in AppsFlyer) but not in another, spend transfer will not work.

Setting up in AppsFlyer

To enable cost transfer in AppsFlyer:

Go to the “Integrated Partners” menu → the “Cost” tab
Activate the “Get cost data” switch

In order to pass on costs in an AppsFlyer agency account, the app owner must authorize it.

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Setting up in VK Ads

To enable the transfer of spending in VK Ads:

Go to the “Mobile Apps” section. Find your app in the list and press “Settings” in the row with it.
On the “Events” tab, you will see a banner asking you to activate spend transfer. Spend transfer is only available for apps that have the AppsFlyer tracker connected.
Click the “Enable” button on the banner. Then click “Transfer Spend” to confirm the activation of spend transfer.

If ad campaign spend is transferred to the AppsFlyer agency account, click the “I have an AppsFlyer agency account” checkbox and then specify your agency name (parameter af_prt) → “Transfer spend”.
Enter the Unique App ID from the AppsFlyer tracker. If you use a separate dashboard for each app store (Dashboard per store), note that you must use the full identifier, including the “Channel name”. Example: com.abc.def-rustore.

This will then turn on spend transfer for campaigns created with this app.

To turn off spend transfer:

Go to the “Mobile Apps” section. Find your app in the list and tap “Settings” in the row with it.
Click on the “Events” tab.
Tap the “Disable” button on the banner.

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Ad campaign spend data will be transmitted every day for the previous 7 days from the date of inclusion, including the current day.

Example

You launched a campaign on January 1, and on January 20, you enabled spend transfer.

On January 20, you will be able to see your spending for the previous 7 days, including the day you activated the spend transfer: January 14-20.
January 27 - for the period January 21-27.

It is impossible to transfer data on expenses for the period older than 7 days: i.e. on January 27 you will not be able to transfer expenses for January 19.

Aggregated Advanced Privacy (AAP) postbacks for iOS apps

Aggregated Advanced Privacy (AAP) is an attribution method where campaign performance results are provided by the tracker in an aggregated form.

This attribution model is used for Apple devices running iOS 14.5+. You can enable it in the tracker. Read more about the method in the tracker help

VK Ads supports not only regular postbacks, but also AAP postbacks. Some fields in AAP will be limited. Full list of available fields

Enable transfer of AAP postbacks at the application level in the tracker, so that the VK Ads account will display attributed installs.

This way you will get more complete campaign stats in tracker and account, and AppsFlyer and VK Ads stats will have the same metrics.

List of authorised agencies VK Ads in Appsflyer. How to add an agency account

To prevent unauthorised actors from misusing the integration, mobile tracker Appsflyer introduces a mandatory step: pre-approval of agency accounts.

This means that VK Ads needs to approve the value of the af_prt parameter used in tracking links.

How to add an agency account to the list of authorised agencies

Agency representatives should contact their manager to add the agency to the list of authorised agencies in VK Ads.

What happens if you don't add an agency to the authorised list

From 14 July 2024, AppsFlyer will only register and measure traffic from agencies authorised by advertising networks.
Read more