Uninstall measurement

Uninstall measurement

Related reading: Android uninstall | iOS uninstall

Uninstall metric uses

• Compare the quality: Use the uninstall metric to compare the quality of users acquired from different sources (media sources, campaigns, ad creatives, and countries).
• Protect user privacy: Use uninstall raw data to remove users from retargeting lists.
• Update partners: Share uninstall event postbacks with ad networks, enabling them to optimize your user acquisition campaigns. To share the event, map af_uninstall to the partner event in the dashboard. The event is not listed in the in-app event postback reports and is not available to all partners. 

Data freshness and reports

• Timing: The uninstall event is not reported in real-time. The expected lag from the actual uninstall until an uninstall is reported depends on the platform:
  • Android: 24-48 hours 
  • iOS: 9–11 days 
• Data freshness: Daily 
• Reports: In reports, the af_uninstall event time is the time AppsFlyer determined that the user had uninstalled the app, not the time that the app was actually uninstalled. Actual uninstall time isn't available. 

Implementing uninstall measurement

Implementation requires your mobile developer to integrate a mechanism that responds to push notifications into your app. Implementation instructions vary by operating system and are detailed in the following guides:

• Android uninstall measurement integration
• iOS uninstall measurement

Uninstall event postbacks

Sending uninstall event postbacks to the networks you work with is useful to optimize user acquisition campaigns. For example, networks use these postbacks to create a campaign exclusion list.

The event, af_uninstall, is sent for each user who is identified as having uninstalled the app. 

Mapping the uninstall event

You map the event in the integration tab of a partner. As with all in-app events, AppsFlyer can send the postback only if the event actually occurs and is recorded by AppsFlyer. If you don't see uninstalls in the overview page or in the uninstall raw data reports, no uninstall postbacks were sent to the partner, even if you mapped the af_uninstall event.

Event timing

Unlike postbacks for regular in-app events, the af_uninstall event is not sent in real-time.

In AppsFlyer raw-data and partner postbacks, the logged af_uninstall event time is the time when AppsFlyer recognized the uninstall.

Limitations

• af_uninstall events are not included in In-app event postback reports.
• The af_uninstall event is supported by all partners. If you wish to map it with a partner, but see the event is not available for the partner, contact your CSM or contact hello@appsflyer.com.

Turning off uninstall measurement