Videos
It's quite simple actually. You click on the link with a referral (Google calls them Campaing Attribution) and this link is passed to the Google Play Store app. Then, when you install the app, the Play Store also forwards this data (campaign name, source, &c) to the app itself.
The app just needs to have a particular BroadcastReceiver (with an intent-filter for the com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER action) declared in its Manifest for this to work.
It's well explained in the Google Play Campaign Attribution section of the Google Analytics documentation.
Here is an example how you can implement a custom BroadcastReceiver with INSTALL_REFERRER.
AndroidManifest.xml
<receiver android:name=".CustomInstallTrackersReceiver"
android:exported="true">
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER" />
</intent-filter>
</receiver>
ManyInstallTrackersReceiver.java
import com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.InstallReferrerReceiver;
public class CustomInstallTrackersReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
@Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
try {
// Implementing Google Referrer tracker
InstallReferrerReceiver googleReferrerTracking = new InstallReferrerReceiver();
googleReferrerTracking.onReceive(context, intent);
// Do something with referrer data to do your own tracker.
Log.d("CustomInstallTrackers", "Referrer: "+intent.getStringExtra("referrer"));
} catch(Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
You can test it with the following commands
$ adb shell
$ am broadcast -a com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER -n com.your.package/com.your.package.CustomInstallTrackersReceiver --es "referrer" "hello%3Dworld%26utm_source%3Dshell"
I’m trying to track app install attribution for iOS using Google Analytics + Firebase — specifically to attribute installs back to the original traffic source (e.g., Google Ads, Meta, or other ad networks, owned web site, sns).
However, after reviewing both Firebase and GA documentation, I haven’t found a clear or official way to achieve this. Unlike Android, iOS doesn’t support install referrer tracking, so it’s technically difficult to understand which ad or traffic source led to an install when the user flows through the App Store.
From what I understand, this attribution gap stems from iOS limitations, particularly:
No access to install referrer (like on Android)
SKAdNetwork data in Firebase is available only for Google Ads
UTM parameters aren’t preserved through App Store redirect
Given these constraints, I’m considering proposing a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) solution internally — like AppsFlyer — since MMPs seem to have:
Probabilistic modeling
Integration with non-Google ad networks
Device ID matching (where allowed)
Broad SKAdNetwork support
But I’m struggling to make the case without solid confirmation that GA + Firebase alone can’t deliver reliable iOS install attribution across multiple ad platforms.
If anyone has implemented this (or tried), I’d love to hear:
Can GA + Firebase truly support iOS install attribution outside of Google Ads?
Or is an MMP the only viable path for reliable, cross-channel iOS attribution?
Thanks in advance!
I'm going to ask the developers to connect our app Firebase project to our GA4 to get app data, and with it I'll have install events.
Does anyone know if I'll be able to tell which particular campaign or source (google ads, facebook ads, search) lead to each install?
I assume it's like getting the data from Google Play and App Store Connect