Measuring performance of ads on the App Store
Following its registration with AdAttributionKit, Apple Ads customers are able to use two freely available and complementary methods for analyzing ad attribution while preserving user privacy: the AdServices attribution API, and measurement in AdAttributionKit.
Apple Ads registration
with AdAttributionKit
Apple Ads registered with AdAttributionKit on April 10, 2025 to provide a more comprehensive picture for its developer customers, so they can determine the app conversion and associated post-install activity that comes from running ads on the App Store. The same attribution logic applies to Apple Ads as is used for every other AdAttributionKit-registered ad platform.
With the registration of Apple Ads, AdAttributionKit expanded its scope of registered and known ad platforms, increasing visibility into user actions across even more marketing channels. This has helped AdAttributionKit more accurately attribute conversions to the last-clicked ad.
How to use AdAttributionKit to view attributed installs for Apple Ads
Apple Ads is currently registered with SKAdNetwork versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 for click-through attribution. Apple Ads will register at a later date with the AdAttributionKit API.
Apple Ads is identifiable as “com.apple.ads”. Placements are mapped to the following campaign IDs:
- Search results = “10”
- Search tab = “20”
- Today tab = “30”
- Product pages = “40”
AdServices attribution API
The AdServices attribution API provides a privacy-centric solution that supports campaign, placement, ad group, and keyword-level attribution. This attribution data can be used in addition to the data that is separately provided in AdAttributionKit, and it’s particularly valuable for smaller developers who may receive limited information back from AdAttributionKit due to its crowd anonymity thresholds.
How the AdServices attribution
API works
AdServices attributes app conversions for ads that run on the App Store that are created using Apple Ads. The AdServices attribution API only uses Apple’s first-party data and does not have information about whether or not a user viewed or clicked on an ad outside of the App Store.
AdServices sends attribution information to the advertiser when a user opens the advertised app, which is known as a payload. The payload returned does not provide information that identifies a user or device. The payload returned is dependent on the use of age or gender settings. If the ad group does not use age or gender settings, an attribution payload of true will be sent, while if the ad group does use age or gender settings, an attribution payload of false will be returned.
Sample AdServices API payloads
Age or Gender Settings Off
{
"attribution": true,
"orgId": 40669820,
"campaignId": 542370539,
"conversionType": "Download",
"claimType": "Click",
"clickDate": “2026-04-08T17:17Z",
"adGroupId": 542317095,
"countryOrRegion": "US",
"keywordId": 87675432,
"adId": 542317136,
"supplyPlacement": "APPSTORE_SEARCH_RESULTS"
}
Age or Gender Settings On
{
"attribution": false,
}
AdServices attribution API
and privacy
In addition to the overall privacy safeguards Apple Ads has in place, the AdServices attribution API provides the following privacy safeguards:
- The attribution payload returned through the AdServices attribution API has limited granularity and does not explicitly identify a user or device. For example, the clickDate is rounded to the minute.
- To ensure user privacy, payloads will not be returned for ad groups that use age or gender settings.
- The AdServices attribution API only uses Apple’s first-party data. Note that this may cause discrepancies with AdAttributionKit — for example, AdAttributionKit may be able to register a click from a third-party network that AdServices is, by design, unaware of, so both the third-party network and AdServices could claim the conversion in that instance. AdAttributionKit provides the official last-click amongst registered ad platforms.
Any advertising platform can provide supplemental attribution information based on the data they — as the platform owner — possess.