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Android Attribution

While the mobile advertising world has been focused on Apple's SKAdNetwork, Google is implementing its own privacy-focused changes for Android with the Privacy Sandbox.

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The transition to the Privacy Sandbox is ongoing and will take time. In the meantime, Appstack is working on providing attribution leveraging the Google Play Install Referrer API.

The State of Android Attribution Today​

Traditionally, attribution on Android has relied on the Google Advertising ID (GAID), a unique identifier that allowed for deterministic, user-level tracking. This is similar to how Apple's IDFA used to work.

However, with the Privacy Sandbox, Google is moving away from user-level identifiers towards more private, aggregated reporting.

Introducing the Privacy Sandbox for Android​

The Privacy Sandbox includes a set of new technologies for advertising use cases, including:

  • Attribution Reporting API: This is Google's parallel to SKAN. It allows for measurement of ad conversions without relying on cross-app user identifiers. It provides event-level and aggregate reports.
  • Topics API: Enables interest-based advertising without tracking user behavior across apps.
  • Protected Audience API: An on-device solution for custom audience targeting and remarketing without sharing user data.