How to Track iOS App Installs on Google Ads

Are you using Google Ads to promote iOS apps? If so, tracking the number of installs that come from ads is a good way to estimate campaign success. While Google Ads doesn’t track this data directly for iOS apps, you can access this data by adding Firebase to your app and linking Firebase to your Google Ads account. This wikiHow teaches you how to track iOS app installs from Google Ads by combining Firebase’s event tracking technology with Google Ads’ conversion tracking.

Steps

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Register the app on Firebase. If you haven’t added Firebase to your app during development, it’s not too late. Start by going to the Firebase homepage (https://firebase.google.com/) in a web browser and then clicking Create a Project. After filling in the required fields, add your iOS app to the new project by clicking the circular “iOS” button located below the project name. Fill in the required information to complete the app registration with Firebase.

Don’t forget to set up Firebase using the same account associated with your Google Ads account.

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Add Firebase to the app. In order for Firebase to collect install data, you need to add Firebase to your app’s code.

To add a Firebase configuration file, you need to first find and download it by clicking Download GoogleService-Info.plist. ^{[1] X Research Source}
Then add Google Analytics to the app using the Firebase SDK.

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Add settings as Firebase events. After completing the first two steps, Firebase will start automatically tracking certain app events. These events include first opening and in-app purchases. Installs aren’t automatically tracked, but you can add events by sharing the event log setup link (Log Event) from Firebase with the developer. This link is usually below the event description. ^{[2] X Research Source}

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Mark new events as conversions. On the Firebase project page, click analytics, then events. For install events, turn on the “Mark as conversion” switch. Once the event is labeled as a conversion, Google Ads will start tracking it because it’s related to the campaign. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

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Link a Google Ads account to a Firebase project. From the Firebase project you created for the app, navigate to the Project Settings page via the gear icon. Select the Integrations tab, scroll to the Google Play square, and then click Link. A dialog box will pop up informing you of linking the accounts and confirming the action; then, click “Link to Google Play”. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

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Go to the iOS app conversions page in your Google Ads account. Sign in to Google Ads and click on the tools section with the wrench icon in the upper right. From the drop-down menu, continue to select “Conversions” under “Measurement”.

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Import install events from Firebase. A list of all the conversions you’ve tracked in the past will appear.

Click the plus sign in the upper left of the table. You’ll then be prompted to select a conversion type to add to your tracking table. Proceed to click on the app, then select “Google Analytics 4 properties (Firebase)” from the selection menu. Google Ads will ask to select which Firebase conversions you want to import into the table. Select the install event and click “Import and Continue”. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Steps

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