With SplitMetrics Acquire, you can control all levels of your user acquisition funnel on a single dashboard since our platform receives and displays data from two integration partners: Apple Ads and Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP).
When dealing with discrepancies between Apple Ads and MMP dashboards, the first step is to analyze the Install Rate metric to understand why there may be differences in data.
SplitMetrics Acquire Install Rate shows the difference between Downloads (Apple Ads) and Installs (MMP) and can signal the following:
▪️ There is an issue with MMP's attribution.
For example, the install rate could decrease by half after the SDK version upgrade.
▪️ The SDK version doesn't support the new AdService framework, which means that the MMP will attribute users to the organics until the latest iOS version is implemented.
▪️ Integration failure between application and MMP or MMP and SplitMetrics Acquire.
▪️ Enabled privacy settings that regulate sending events to third-party partners.
💡 If the Install Rate decreases, in-app attribution is likely to decrease, and purchase is expected to increase.
The logic of counting Apple Ads Downloads and MMP installs is significantly different. There is no average value for all apps; different apps and MMPs will have different values.
❗With the release of a new attribution AdService framework that allows the attribution of opt-out users, this difference in attribution logic should decrease.
Below, you'll find the leading causes of data discrepancies between SplitMetrics Acquire and Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) dashboards.
Below are the main points on how Apple Ads and MMP work that help understand why data discrepancies occur.
🔹 Incorrect integration setup
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
Receives events from the MMP unilaterally and pulls everything configured in the integration settings.
If there are no statistics on our platform: - The statistics are missing in the MMP. - The integration is set up incorrectly or isn't set up at all.
| Reasons for the incorrect MMP integration setup:
1. Error in settings: client ID, campaign group ID, the event type are not specified correctly. 2. Enabled privacy settings: events are not sent to the third-party partners unless the client permits the tracking.
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🔹 No SplitMetrics Acquire custom conversions created
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
SplitMetrics Acquire, by default, stores only installs. If you didn't configure custom conversions, in-app events wouldn't be saved and displayed on the dashboard. | In-app events are most often configured separately from installs. All events specified in the integration settings will be automatically sent to the SplitMetrics Acquire.
👈 Note: The events received from MMP will be saved and displayed on our dashboard only after creating custom conversions. |
🔹 Different time zones
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
Data from the MMP comes in UTC and is converted to ORTZ (ORTZ = Apple Ads org timezone) | Display data using their Timezone settings. |
🔹 No active campaigns
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
Receives events from the MMP in real-time. If an app has no active campaigns, there won't be any events that the MMP can send to us.
❗SplitMetrics Acquire doesn't receive events for the past period from MMPs. Depending on your subscription package, it may be possible to upload raw data reports from your MMP to your account. | You should create and enable campaigns and complete integration with Apple Ads for attributing events to Apple Ads. |
🔹 Different install and event record dates
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
The MMP event postback has three time parameters:
SplitMetrics Acquire displays data received from two partners: Apple Ads and MMP. Data from Apple Ads comes to our system in aggregated form and is based on the click (tap) date. Therefore, the MMP data on the SplitMetrics Acquire dashboard is also adjusted to the Apple Ads data format based on the click (tap) date. | MMPs build their dashboards based on the event date, which may cause discrepancies when comparing data with SplitMetrics Acquire.
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💡 Tip. To ensure the data in SplitMetrics Acquire is displayed correctly (taking into account all differences), it can be compared with raw data from your MMP.
Download raw data reports for the date range bigger than set in SplitMetrics Acquire (with the SplitMetrics Acquire account time zone or UTC) and filter by click date. This way, you can calculate the number of events by the same logic as in SplitMetrics Acquire.
🔹 Two activated integrations at a time: partner and custom
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
When two integration partners—partner integration and custom postback— are configured for the same app in the MMP, MMP sends postbacks twice, causing events duplication, although our system checks for duplicates. | SplitMetrics Acquire has a partnership integration with almost all known MMPs. However, each MMP also allows a customized postback with the necessary parameters. It is important to ensure that only one integration is configured within one application: partner or custom. |
🔹 Different Revenue settings
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
Revenue value comes in the event postback containing currency. Once the event is received, the system converts this value to the account's currency.
In the conversion settings, you can configure: - Not to save the revenue value - Set the value standardized for all events. | 1. Some MMPs require separate settings to transfer revenue.
2. An SDK error prevents revenue from being sent, or revenue is sent with a format error.
3. The data on the MMP's dashboard can be displayed in a currency other than Apple Search Ads. |
🔹 No data for the click (tap) date in the Apple Ads responses
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
Apple Ads is a self-reporting network, which means Apple attributes events on its side and then shares this data with MMP.
With the release of a new AdService attribution, there may be no tap (click) date in one of the Apple Ads's payloads (responses).
❗ The install time is used if the event's click time field is empty (when a user didn't permit tracking) since in ~94% of cases, click time and install time take place on the same day. | MMP displays data on a dashboard by the date of the first app opening or the event date. |
🔹 Difference between downloads and installs for the current day (Install rate > 100%)
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
Data from Apple Ads is synchronized once an hour, pulling up data not in real time but at the time of display on the dashboard. From the moment the user interacts with the ad until the conversion data appears on the Apple Ads dashboard, up to 3 hours can pass. These data are then synchronized to SplitMetrics Acquire. | MMPs send data in real time as soon as the event has been attributed to Apple Ads. Once MMP has tracked the app's first launch (the first app opening) and attributed it to Apple Ads, it will immediately send it to SplitMetrics Acquire. |
🔹 Different SplitMetrics Acquire validation logic
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
Validates events on:
- Relevance of the attribution parameters in the ad campaigns structure. For example, if the keyword belongs to the campaign group not synchronized to SplitMetrics Acquire, the system will not save this event
- Duplicates. | At receiving the attribution information, MMP validates it and retains the necessary for the event parameters. It then forms a postback and sends it to the partner based on the partner integration settings.
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🔹 Different data display on the Campaigns/Ad Groups/Keywords levels with Search Match ON.
SplitMetrics Acquire | MMP |
If an event comes without
Therefore, if you compare MMP data with SplitMetrics Acquire data from ad groups with Search Match on, then at the Search Terms level, the data will be absent and displayed only at the higher level. | Apple Ads wouldn't send a keyword ID if the client downloaded the application after clicking a search term.
You can find such events in raw data reports by filtering data by the empty |
To learn more about discrepancies, read Reasons for data discrepancy between Apple Ads and Mobile Measurement Partners.