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Reference library · Digital attribution
Mobile / App Install Attribution (MMP)
Mobile app install attribution is the process of crediting an app install, and the post-install events that follow it (registration, first purchase, trial start), to the specific ad click or impression that drove it. A mobile measurement partner (MMP, e.g. AppsFlyer, Adjust, Kochava) sits as a neutral third party between the advertiser and every ad network, matching device or SKAdNetwork signals from click to install so no single network can self-report and mark its own homework.
Worked example
A campaign runs on Meta and Google App Campaigns in the same week. The MMP logs 40,000 total installs. Under last-click attribution with a 7-day click-through window, 24,000 installs match a Meta click, 11,000 match a Google click, and 5,000 have no matched click or impression and are logged as organic. Meta spent €14,880 that week, so its MMP-attributed cost per install is €14,880 / 24,000 = €0.62. If the click window is cut to 24 hours, fewer late conversions match Meta's earlier clicks, installs shift toward Google or organic, and Meta's CPI rises even though nothing about the campaign changed.
How it is used
Planners set the MMP's attribution model (last-click, or a multi-touch/probabilistic model) and the click and view-through window lengths once, then hold every network to the same rules so spend can be compared on equal terms. On iOS, SKAdNetwork postbacks replace device-level matching with delayed, aggregated, privacy-thresholded conversion values, which means the granularity available on Android does not exist for iOS campaigns. The common mistake is comparing a network's self-reported install numbers (from its own ads dashboard) against the MMP's numbers as if they should match, or changing attribution windows mid-flight and reading the resulting shift in network share as a real performance change.
The common mistake
Always optimize and report from the MMP's attributed numbers, not the ad network's self-reported install count, since the network has an incentive to claim credit for installs it did not cause.