As you are likely aware, TechCrunch broke the news last week that Apple has now started to decline app’s that use the phone’s UDID to identify a user – no matter if you use it for identifying app-reinstalls, analytics, or advertising. The advertising industry has still not decided on an alternative method to track the performance of advertising campaigns, but possible technologies currently being talked about are:
- Fingerprinting – using a combination of hardware information and phone settings to accurately identify a unique device.
- Using the phone’s Wi-Fi MAC Address
- OpenUDID
Within the next 1-2 days, we will update the MobFox iOS SDK and permanently remove UDID Tracking. (if you need it faster, please check out our iOS SDK on github)
Until the industry has decided on an alternative method to track conversions, we found that that there needs to be an alternative that allows advertisers to keep tracking app installs to monitor a campaign’s performance – and came up with a solution!
Introducing: mAdtrackr
mAdtrackr is a new MobFox-powered service that allows you to track mobile app installations without using UDID’s at all. You read that right, no UDID’s, no SDK’s, no cookies, nothing. All you need to track the performance of your advertising campaign is a mAdtrackr-generated URL. mAdtrackr currently works with multiple ad networks: MobFox, AdFonic, JumpTap, and Mojiva
And here’s how it works:
Step 1: Create an Account at www.madtrackr.com
Signup is quick, free, and easy. Just enter your e-mail address and a password to get started.
Step 2: Create an Application Profile for the App you are promoting
Once you are logged into mAdtrackr, you’ll need to create a profile for the app that you are about to promote. To do that, you’ll need to enter your app’s iTunes id. You can find your iTunes ID by visiting the appstore URL of your app on iTunes.
Step 3: Generate a mAdtrackr Tracking URL for your app promotion
Now you’ll create a unique mAdtrackr Tracking URL that you will use as the landing-page for your mobile advertising campaign. In your mAdtrackr.com dashboard, click on the “Get Ad Network URL’s” Link next to the app ID you just created. Then, select the ad network you are promoting your app on. mAdtrackr tracking links currently work with our very own MobFox, AdFonic, JumpTap, and Mojiva. Copy this URL to your clipboard.
Step 4: Use mAdtrackr URL as your Click URL of your advertising campaign
Once you are done creating your mAdtrackr Tracking URL, you can start creating your ad campaign at one of the supported ad networks. Once you get to the step where you are being asked about where you want your Banner Ad to Link to, make sure you enter your mAdtrackr Tracking URL. This Tracking URL will automatically redirect users to the Apple App Store Page of your app once clicked.
DONE! Now, run your Campaign!
Download Conversions will automatically be reported in the control panel of your advertising network. For example, on MobFox you will see Conversion / Download Numbers if you click on the campaign tab.
