Meta Not Tracking App Installs?

EthanHK

EthanHK

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Hey guys, i’m working with an ad firm who’s handling all of my meta-ads for my mobile app. I already have SDK set up. We’re about three weeks in and it is showing zero app installs from their campaigns.

They told me today that Meta’s tracking of app installs is inaccurate and recommended using a different middleman company to track that metric.

I guess what I’m asking is Meta’s app installs metric accurate and does it work because they have informed me that it does not or that it’s not accurate at least
 
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EthanHK said:
Hey guys, i’m working with an ad firm who’s handling all of my meta-ads for my mobile app. I already have SDK set up. We’re about three weeks in and it is showing zero app installs from their campaigns.

They told me today that Meta’s tracking of app installs is inaccurate and recommended using a different middleman company to track that metric.

I guess what I’m asking is Meta’s app installs metric accurate and does it work because they have informed me that it does not or that it’s not accurate at least
Click to expand...
it seems quite strange to have three weeks without any installations while receiving traffic, clicks on the ads, etc. first i would veriffy if the event is properly recorded nd if the installs are registered via the app store statistics for the same period of time.
 
meta can miss some attribution, but zero for 3 weeks sounds broken, not just “inaccurate”… i’d ask the agency to show actual installs from App Store/Play Console before paying for another tracker
 
i would try the middleman to see if the results are any better, that can help you decide whether its meta tracking that is the problem
 
Sort of inaccurate, but not inherently. There is defo a discrepancy between actual installs vs what Meta reflects, especially with stuff like iOS privacy/ATT and attribution windows, but if you're getting nil after over 3 weeks, you might want to look at your setup for that.

An MMP (AppsFlyer, Adjust or Singular, etc.) could give you an independent attribution layer. Particularly useful if you're running campaigns across multiple platforms too. Since you're working with an Ad Firm, it'd be ideal if they could explain why Meta's showing zero before just accepting that the tracking is inaccurate as the answer.
Probably worth checking the SDK, install/app events, attribution settings and whether Meta is actually receiving the events first.
 
tbh if you are getting absolutely zero installs in the meta dashboard after three weeks, its almost certainly a setup issue and not just meta being inaccurate. have you checked the events manager directly to see if the sdk is actually sending "app install" events at all? sometimes the sdk is integrated but the events aren't mapped right, so the campaigns can't attribute anything. an mmp is great for attribution but it won't magically fix a broken SDK integration if the events aren't firing to begin with. id check if events are registering in the test events tool first before paying for another tool.
 
EthanHK said:
Hey guys, i’m working with an ad firm who’s handling all of my meta-ads for my mobile app. I already have SDK set up. We’re about three weeks in and it is showing zero app installs from their campaigns.

They told me today that Meta’s tracking of app installs is inaccurate and recommended using a different middleman company to track that metric.

I guess what I’m asking is Meta’s app installs metric accurate and does it work because they have informed me that it does not or that it’s not accurate at least
Click to expand...
That’s right; when running Facebook ads, app install data is often not entirely accurate, so consulting third-party providers to evaluate performance is a wise choice.
 
Its very likely a setup issue.

With Android there should not be any problem when it comes to attribution / tracking installs. For iOS it can take 2-3 days to FULLY show up.

If you run app install campaigns you should definitely see installs. One way to see if tracking is correctly setup is just make a campaign targeting tier 3 countries, you should definitely see installs.

If you make in-app event campaigns targeting purchases or subscriptions, it can be true, because they will only target the best possible installs and the algo needs time to learn, especially if your app has almost no history/app events.

If you wanna track purchases/subscriptions correctly, its better to setup Appsflyer or Adjust, or also server based tracking.
 
Meta's app install tracking can definitely work, but it's not perfect. If you're seeing zero installs after 3 weeks, I wouldn't just accept "Meta tracking is inaccurate" as the explanation.

I'd first check the SDK/events in Events Manager and compare Meta's numbers with your actual store/backend installs. A third-party MMP like AppsFlyer or Adjust can give you another attribution source, but it shouldn't be needed just to explain a complete zero.

Also worth checking the campaign setup, optimization event and whether the install event is actually being received by Meta. In agency campaigns I've seen, tracking/setup issues can look like a campaign problem when they're actually separate.
 
They should check the SDK events and SKAN setup first. iOS tracking can be limited, but zero installs after three weeks usually points to a setup or attribution issue.
 
meta’s app install tracking can work but zero installs after three weeks is definitely worth investigating rather than assuming the metric is inaccurate i’d compare Meta Events Manager with the SDK events and your app store or MMP data to see where the numbers are dropping
 
EthanHK said:
Hey guys, i’m working with an ad firm who’s handling all of my meta-ads for my mobile app. I already have SDK set up. We’re about three weeks in and it is showing zero app installs from their campaigns.

They told me today that Meta’s tracking of app installs is inaccurate and recommended using a different middleman company to track that metric.

I guess what I’m asking is Meta’s app installs metric accurate and does it work because they have informed me that it does not or that it’s not accurate at least
Click to expand...
i would suggest proceeding with caution regarding the above mentioned reasoning. tracking might not always be accurate but a consstant zero over the past three weeks is definitely worth looking into. ask the agency to show u how the install event is triggering and reaching Meta nd then compare the two figures with ur own store statistics. if there’s a difference, using a third party tracker will shed some light on the situation.
 
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