iOS 14 is coming and with it, huge changes to the way app install campaigns are conducted for Apple devices. Apple’s consumer-privacy focus and strict guidelines will change the way app install marketers do business, and it’s important to lay those changes out ahead of time.
We don’t know exactly when iOS 14 will launch into the hands of the public, but based on previous release cycles, we can hazard a guess that some time in September there will be the “gold master” version, followed by the full release, usually a week later.
Digital Turbine & SKAdNetwork
As one of the original App Store app developers, Digital Turbine has evolved with the App Store since 2008. Today is no different. Rather than focusing on short-term workarounds, Digital Turbine is committed to providing long-term solutions for our partners. We are committed to giving our advertisers a privacy-safe and trusted advertising solution for our partners.
We fully support SKAdNetwork on iOS — We believe it offers the greatest long-term stability for the user acquisition industry within Apple’s ecosystem and the least medium-term risk to our advertisers’ campaign success.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a variety of different approaches and visions for data measurement and aggregation in the post-iOS 14 world from various vendors in the industry. We look forward to finding ways to work with some of our longest-standing partners in new and interesting ways within Apple’s Terms of Service.
What is SKAdNetwork?
SKAdNetwork allows third-party ad networks (like Digital Turbine) to attribute installs without ever exposing the IDFA. Fundamentally, this framework is Apple’s way of providing ad attribution without compromising a user’s privacy. Apple also made it clear in their specifications and developer Terms of Service any other methods (inferred, aggregated, fingerprinted, etc.) that attempt to track users who do not opt-in run the risk of being shut off at any moment, without warning, by Apple.
All great news for privacy-minded consumers and Digital Turbine is committed to supporting SKAdnetwork for all app-to-app attribution.
How does SKAdNetwork work?
SKAdNetwork works by marking the ad tap (click) with a unique signature so that when the user installs the app, Apple verifies the ad network signature is legitimate and registered with Apple, and alerts the ad network that an install occurred without the ad network ever needing to look at the IDFA.
Digital Turbine will forward the SKAdNetwork postback directly to advertisers or supported MMPs.
Apple’s documentation for using SKAdNetwork, including what your app development team needs to do in order for it to work can be found on Apple’s developer website. We’ll also be publishing four action items to get your campaigns ready early next week.
