At a glance: Integrated partners (ad networks and agencies) can view fraud related to their traffic identified and blocked by the ProtectLITE and Protect360 engines, as well as the customer’s manually-defined validation rules.
Overview
AppsFlyer identifies and blocks fraud via:
- ProtectLITE: Basic fraud protection for all customers.
- Protect360: Advanced fraud protection for advertisers with a premium subscription plan.
Advertisers must give:
- Ad networks permission to Access Protect360 dashboard and raw data reports (that includes ProtectLITE), and Access aggregate in-app events data (for in-app event fraud).
- Agencies permission to Access Protect360 dashboard and raw data.
With the correct permissions, integrated partners can:
- View data related to the traffic they generated.
- Download related raw data reports.
There are also raw data reports available to ad networks about click and impression capping, as well as failed click signatures, for which no advertiser permissions are required.
Note
For advertisers that work with ad networks through an agency, in order for both the ad network and agency to access data, the advertiser must integrate both the agency and ad network in AppsFlyer, and grant them both permission to access data.
If only the agency is integrated and granted permission, the ad network does not have access to the data.
Dashboard view
Prerequisites: Permission from the advertiser to access ProtectLITE and Protect360.
Integrated partners can view the dashboard and charts; see the screenshot that follows.
Learn more about what data is available in the ProtectLITE and Protect360 dashboards.
Limitations:
- Ad networks cannot access the Anomalies dashboard. Agencies have access, but will only see data if there is traffic from sources that are trusted by AppsFlyer to have low fraud rates so that a baseline can be created to compare other media sources.
Raw-data reports
Prerequisites: Permission from the advertiser to access ProtectLITE and Protect360.
Protect360 raw-data reports show identified and blocked fraud via ProtectLITE, Protect360, and Validation Rules.
Reports are available via:
- Export data: Go to Reports > Export data.
- API: See the ad network reporting API section that follows.
Learn more about Protect360 raw data reports.
Protect360 ad network reporting API
- The raw-data reports listed in this section are available to ad networks via API.
- Equivalent reports are available from the dashboard on the Export Data page.
- If the advertiser does not have a Protect360 subscription, only the Installs report is available.
Prerequisites
- To access advertiser data by API, the advertiser grants the ad network permission to access their Protect360 dashboard and data by API. Ad networks having access to the dashboard are permitted to use the API. No action is required by the advertiser.
- For a list of apps for which you have Protect360 permission use get app list API.
- The admin needs to get an AppsFlyer V2.0 authentication token available in the dashboard.
| Report | Data freshness | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Post-attribution in-app events fraud |
Daily 10:00 UTC |
The report can be optionally filtered by in-app event type as described in the parameters table that follows. Report topic: |
| Post-attribution installs |
Daily 10:00 UTC |
Report topic: detection |
| Installs |
Real-time |
Blocked installs with the block reason Report topic: blocked_installs_report |
| In-app event | Real-time |
In-app events performed by blocked users Report topic: |
| Clicks | Real-time |
Clicks performed by blocked users Report topic: |
Procedure for ad networks to get Protect360 reports by download
To get a report using the API:
- Identify the required report from the preceding list.
- Use the relevant curl example (in the following section) to prepare your script.
- Ensure that you replace the following placeholders:
- App ID
- From date
- To date
- Bearer token (AppsFlyer V2.0 authentication token)
- Some calls have optional parameters, as described in this article.
Curl examples
Installs (blocked_installs_report)
Replace the app_id, from, to, and token placeholders.
curl --location --request GET 'https://hq1.appsflyer.com/api/adnets-data/v1/export/blocked_installs_report/app/{app_id}?from={2020-07-10}&to={2020-07-20}&additional_fields=keyword_id,store_reinstall,deeplink_url,oaid,blocked_reason,blocked_reason_value,blocked_reason_rule,blocked_sub_reason,match_type,device_category,gp_referrer,gp_click_time,gp_install_begin,amazon_aid,keyword_match_type' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {V2.0 api token placeholder. Note: The token has more than 700 characters.}' \
Post-attribution installs (detection)
Replace the app id, from, to, and token placeholders.
curl --location --request GET 'https://hq1.appsflyer.com/api/adnets-data/v1/export/detection/app/{app-id}?from={2020-06-10}&to={2020-07-20}&additonal-fields=fraud_reason,fraud_sub_reason,match_type,device_category,gp_referrer,gp_click_time,gp_install_begin,detection_date' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {V2.0 api token placeholder. Note: The token has more than 700 characters.}' \
In-app event (blocked_in_app_events_report)
Replace the app id, from, to, and token placeholders.
curl --location --request GET 'https://hq1.appsflyer.com/api/adnets-data/v1/export/blocked_in_app_events_report/app/?from=YYYY-MM-DD&to=YYYY-MM-DD&additional_fields=keyword_id,store_reinstall,deeplink_url,oaid,blocked_reason,blocked_reason_value,blocked_reason_rule,blocked_sub_reason,match_type,device_category,gp_referrer,gp_click_time,gp_install_begin,amazon_aid,keyword_match_type' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {V2.0 api token placeholder. Note: The token has more than 700 characters.}' \
Post-attribution in-app events fraud (fraud_post_inapps)
Replace the app id, from, to, and token placeholders.
curl --location --request GET 'https://hq1.appsflyer.com/api/adnets-data/v1/export/fraud-post-inapps/app/{app-id}?from={2020-06-10}&to={2020-07-20}&additional_fields=match_type,device_category,gp_referrer,gp_click_time,gp_install_begin,fraud_reason,fraud_sub_reason,detection_date' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {V2.0 api token placeholder. Note: The token has more than 700 characters.}' \
Clicks (blocked-clicks_report)
Replace the app id, from, to, and token placeholders.
curl --location --request GET 'https://hq1.appsflyer.com/api/adnets-data/v1/export/blocked_clicks_report/app/{app-id}?from={2020-06-10}&to={2020-07-20}&additional_fields=keyword_id,store_reinstall,deeplink_url,oaid,blocked_reason,blocked_reason_value,blocked_reason_rule,blocked_sub_reason,gp_referrer,gp_click_time,gp_install_begin,amazon_aid,keyword_match_type' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer {V2.0 api token placeholder. Note: The token has more than 700 characters.}' \
Protect360 ad network API reference guide
API basics
| Path |
|
| Method | GET |
| Path parameters (mandatory) |
|
| Accepted content types | application/json |
| Authorization |
|
| Rate limitation | Rate limitations |
| Date range limitation |
|
| Row limitations | 200K rows |
| Report characteristics |
|
Ask the admin to get the V2.0 token in the API parameters
| Parameter | Description | Format | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|---|
| app_id | App ID as it displays in AppsFlyer | String | Yes |
| from |
Start of the date range:
|
YYYY-MM-DD | Yes |
| to |
End of the date range:
|
YYYY-MM-DD | Yes |
| event_name |
[Optional for Post-attribution in-app events fraud] Filter events by in-app event. Limit the report to specific events. One or more events can be included. Example usage: |
String |
No
|
| detect-from |
[Optional for Post-attribution installs] Start of the fraud detect date range. (Default is from.) |
YYYY-MM-DD | No |
| detect-to |
[Optional for Post-attribution installs] End of the fraud detection date range. (Default is to.) |
YYYY-MM-DD | No |
Protect360 API HTTP return codes
| Status | Code | Symptom/message | Solution |
|---|---|---|---|
| OK | 200 | Empty CSV file |
|
| OK |
200 |
Empty CSV file |
Ensure that both from and to dates have the format yyyy-mm-dd |
| OK |
200 |
AppsFlyer HTML login page returns |
There is no token in the Bearer token header |
| Bad request |
400 |
Bad request |
|
| Unauthorized |
401 |
Unauthorized |
A token was found, but it is not valid. Check that you have the current V2.0 token for your account. Ask the admin to retrieve the current token from the dashboard. |
| Not found |
404 |
|
|
Impression and click capping
If an ad network has extremely high rates of impression or click fraud, Protect360 blocks the ad network’s impressions or clicks for a 24-hour cycle. This means that any impressions/clicks that occur after the threshold is reached are not recorded by AppsFlyer, nor are they eligible for attribution. The blocked impressions/clicks do appear in the Protect360 dashboard and reports.
The AppsFlyer fraud protection algorithm takes into account various parameters when detecting this fraud, including volume of impressions/clicks, CVR, detected fraud rate, normal fluctuations in activity, industry and geographic benchmarks, and proprietary parameters. The algorithm is dynamic and updated on an hourly basis, to take into consideration changing trends.
Repeatedly triggering impression or click flooding thresholds may result in the permanent removal of the partner integration from the AppsFlyer platform.
Impression and click capping thresholds:
- Apply to all ad networks equally. Meaning, there is no ad network for which extremely high rates of impression or click fraud would not lead to capping.
- Are at the ad network level (impressions also take into account app level). Meaning the analysis of fraud takes into account all an ad network’s campaigns and advertisers. And the block affects reporting and attribution for all the ad network’s campaigns and advertisers (whether or not they have Protect360).
- Are reset after a 24-hour cycle and blocks apply until the end of the cycle. Details on when the cycle starts and ends are kept private by AppsFlyer.
- Cannot be changed or stopped. Protect360 is finely tuned and accurate in its fraud detection and the algorithm can’t be manually adjusted or turned off.
- Can be avoided by stopping campaigns and publishers with anomalous activity.
FAQ
|
Q: What is the network threshold? A: Details of the click capping mechanism are protected to prevent attempts at circumvention. That said, the threshold is only reached if there is an extreme volume of impressions/clicks fired, beyond the possibility of human behavior. Looking at the day’s impression, click and install volumes will give you a clear idea of whether there is a flood issue stemming from one or more publishers. Note: The capping mechanism takes into account all network traffic for all apps, not just a single advertiser's apps. |
|
Q: How can a network get unblocked? A: A network can avoid the threshold by stopping campaigns and publishers with anomalous activity. Once blocked, the network needs to wait until the end of the 24-hour cycle for clicks to resume being recorded. |
|
Q: Does the block affect AppsFlyer customers without Protect360? A: Click capping takes effect regardless of whether or not a customer has Protect360. This is because click capping is network-based; not advertiser-based. The capping mechanism protects all customers and takes into account all network traffic for all apps, not just a single advertiser's apps. |
|
Q: This is not fraud. The network is working with cheap sources and sometimes their quality is low. A: Poor performance at a normal scale from non-suspicious sources does not trigger click capping. The algorithm identifies performance that cannot possibly be human. |
|
Q: This stops us from scaling campaigns and we don't want these impressions/clicks to be blocked. A: The AppsFlyer fraud protection algorithm protects customers from extreme and blatant instances of flooding. It doesn't impact scaling ability, as it addresses non-human generated impressions/clicks, where the vast majority of blocks only cause liabilities. If you have concerns, please contact AppsFlyer to address your issues. |
|
Q: This is not fraud. Maybe AppsFlyer has issues dealing with the volume of impressions/clicks? |
| Q: What is the reason for the change in approach, capping clicks in addition to installs? A: We constantly improve our fraud prevention mechanisms as part of our ongoing commitment to protect customers. Until now, we accepted impressions/clicks and just blocked installs. However, in extreme cases, the click rate is impossibly extreme, and in those cases, there is no sense in accepting them into our systems. |
| Q: What can we do if we expect a significant increase in traffic and impression/click volume (for example, due to new campaigns)? What can be done to avoid being blocked? A: The algorithm is dynamic and updated on an hourly basis, to take into consideration different trends. It is sophisticated enough to handle spikes and is not triggered by normal activity fluctuations, including sudden and significant increases in volume. That said, partners can use their impression/click data and reports to identify suspicious sources and stop those campaigns. |
| Q: How can we check for problematic traffic and improve campaign performance? A: Partners can use their impression/click data and reports to identify suspicious sources and stop those campaigns. Partners can also see blocked impression and click data in the Protect360/ProtectLITE dashboard under the dedicated columns, as long as they have received the required permission from the advertiser to view fraud data in the dashboard. |
|
Q: Are networks sent notification emails regarding capping? For impression capping, ad networks get an aggregated email listing all the apps impacted by capping in the last 24 hours, as well as the 10 site IDs with the most impressions. Note: Even if you stopped campaigns for a particular app, it may appear in the email list if it was impacted by capping in the last 24 hours. |
Click signing
To prevent click capping, ad networks can add HMAC-SHA256 signatures to their clicks.
The signatures enable AppsFlyer to validate the clicks and make sure that the click information hasn't been manipulated by fraudsters.
- Validated clicks are recorded, and attributed to the ad network
- Invalidated clicks are rejected and:
- Are aggregated in Protect360 reports made available to the ad network (not advertisers).
- Do not impact the conversion rate or click capping threshold of the ad network