At a glance: Configure your user identifier policy to exercise account-level control over the data Audiences shares with partners.
Background
Once you have defined an audience, AppsFlyer Audiences sends identifiers for the members of that audience to your selected advertising partners. This enables them to serve your ads only to these users.
In order to enable compliance with the privacy requirements of iOS 14.5 and other user privacy considerations, Audiences allows you full control to determine which identifiers are shared with partners:
- at the account level
- at the partner-connection level
This article explains the process for managing your user identifier policy at the account level. For more information about managing the identifiers shared at the partner-connection level, see the Manage connections section of the Audiences guide.
User identifiers
By default, Audiences shares the following identifiers with partners:
- iOS: IDFA (on iOS 14.5 and above, available only if a user permits sharing this identifier)
- Android: GAID
Some advertising partners also support the following identifiers:
- Email (hashed)
- Phone number (hashed)
- OAID and IMEI (both relevant only for non-Google Play Android stores)
Certain other additional identifiers can be useful for your internal processes (such as CRM or analytics):
- CUID
- IDFV (relevant only for iOS)
For additional information (including requirements for using specific identifiers in AppsFlyer), see the identifiers table below.
Identifiers table
| Identifier | OS | Shared by default? |
Requirements for use/ |
|---|---|---|---|
| IDFA | iOS | See note (right) |
By default, only shared for users with ATT status: authorized or not determined |
| GAID | Android | Y | None |
| OAID | Android (non-Google Play) |
N | Must be configured in the AppsFlyer SDK |
| IMEI | Android (non-Google Play) |
N | Must be configured in the AppsFlyer SDK |
| CUID | iOS Android |
N |
|
| IDFV | iOS | N |
|
| Email (hashed) | iOS Android |
N |
|
| Phone number (hashed) | iOS Android |
N |
User identifier policy options
iOS
Starting with version 14.5, iOS requires that every app offer the user an option to allow/disallow sharing of their IDFA device identifier for advertising purposes (App Tracking Transparency). Whether or not a user has seen and responded to this option (the "ATT consent dialog") determines a user's ATT status.
Audiences policy options for sharing identifiers in iOS are based on a user's most-recent ATT status, as follows:
| User policy option | Corresponding ATT status |
|---|---|
|
Never upload |
This identifier is not uploaded to partners |
|
ATT status: authorized only |
The identifier is uploaded if the most recent ATT status is authorized or af_authorized |
|
ATT status: authorized or not determined |
The identifier is uploaded if the most recent ATT status is authorized, af_authorized, not_determined, or af_unavailable |
|
Always upload |
The identifier is uploaded independent of ATT status. Ensure compliance with your app’s terms of use. |
Note: Audiences treats a new user's ATT status as not determined until they have seen and responded to the ATT consent dialog.
For detailed ATT status definitions, see:
- Apple ATT status definitions
- AppsFlyer ATT status definitions (af_authorized, af_unavailable)
Android
Policy options for Android environments are somewhat less complex. Simply turn on the identifiers that Audiences is authorized to share, and turn off the identifiers it is not.
Setting account-level user identifier policy
User identifier policy can be set only by an admin user. To set or modify your policy, follow these steps:
- On the Audiences dashboard, click the settings (gear) icon in the top right corner.
-
In the User identifier policy window, select the settings that comply with your organization's privacy policies.
- If you elect to allow sharing of identifiers other than IDFA, GAID, OAID, and IMEI, you must first review and accept the Additional Identifiers Terms of Use.
- If you elect to disallow identifier(s) that are uploaded by existing partner connections, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to stop uploading these identifiers.
- Click Save.
Changes to your IDFA policy will take effect starting with Apple's release of iOS 14.5. All other changes to your user identifier policy will take effect starting with the next upload to partners.