User management

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Marketers
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At a glance: Create and manage your account's AppsFlyer users, and assign them permissions to access features, apps, and data.

Background

AppsFlyer accounts allow for multiple users, each with individually-managed permissions. The maximum number of users per account is determined by your subscription plan.

Each user’s permissions are defined along 3 primary dimensions:

  • Role (capabilities to access features and perform functions)
  • App access for current and future apps
  • Data access by media source and geo
    • Important! Certain AppsFlyer dashboards and features are unavailable to users with limited data access (to media sources and geos). These dashboards and features are listed here.

Permissions within each of these dimensions are assigned independently. In other words, you may assign a user a role with broad functional capabilities but allow them to exercise those capabilities only within a narrowly-defined set of apps, media sources, and geos.

The only exception is the Admin role, as discussed below, which has access to all capabilities, apps, media sources, and geos.

More about roles

predefined roles hash

Each user of your AppsFlyer account must be assigned a role. Each role defines the specific AppsFlyer features the user can access and the functions they can perform. A full list of capabilities per role is available on the Roles tab of the User management page.

Roles within AppsFlyer can be predefined roles, custom roles, or (in certain circumstances) temp roles.

Predefined roles

AppsFlyer is configured with many predefined roles: 

  • Admin
  • Team manager
  • Marketing lead
  • Marketing
  • Marketing – limited
  • Contributor
  • Accounting
  • Security
  • Quality Assurance

For each of these predefined roles, the functional capabilities are fixed: no "mixing and matching" allowed. However, you can change a user’s functional capabilities at any time by assigning them to a different predefined or custom role (except for the account owner, as discussed below).

 Example

You have assigned Bill Bates the role of Team manager. This role gives Bill the ability to manage OneLink templates, but it does not allow him access to the My plan and Payments pages.

Question: Can I keep Bill in the Team manager role but also give him the ability to access the My plan and Payments pages? Can I take away his ability to manage OneLink templates?

Answer: No. As long as Bill stays in the Team manager role, you cannot give him the ability to access the My Plan and Payments pages. Nor can you remove his ability to manage OneLink templates. Of course, you can assign Bill to a different predefined role, and his capabilities will change to those defined by that role. Or, you can create a custom role for Bill that changes his capabilities according to your needs.

Custom roles

The predefined roles in AppsFlyer have been configured with the specific combinations of capabilities required in most situations. For this reason, many advertisers find that they don't need to further customize roles. However, when additional customization is required, predefined roles are still a great starting point for managing your users' capabilities.

Learn more about managing custom roles.

Temp roles

If your AppsFlyer account existed under our prior user management system (when the only available account types were Admin and Team member), all users were brought into the new system with unchanged capabilities. As a result, most of these users appear in the current system with temp roles.

Learn more about managing temp roles.

Admin—a special role

An AppsFlyer account can have one or more Admins, but every account has at least one. This special role has several unique characteristics:

  • The Admin role has access to all account capabilities, including:
    • All features and functions
    • All current and future apps
    • All media sources and geos
    This "all-access" characteristic of the Admin role cannot be changed or limited.

    account owner hash

  • The user created at the time the account was opened (the "account owner") is assigned the Admin role by default.
    • The account owner cannot be deleted, removed from the Admin role, or otherwise edited from the User management page. Likewise, the account owner’s email address cannot be changed.
    • The account owner is initially responsible for creating additional users (until additional users with user management capabilities are created).
    • Only the account owner can:
  • Any Admin other than the account owner can be changed to a different role or deleted from the AppsFlyer account through the User management page.
  • The Admin role can not be duplicated when creating custom roles.

User management page

To access the User management page:

  1. In the menu bar, click on the email address dropdown.
  2. Select User management.

Users tab

The Users tab displays a table of all existing users in your account. It is the starting point for creating, managing, and deleting users.

Tips for navigating the Users tab:

  • Click the User column heading to sort the table alphabetically (ascending/descending).
  • Use the search box to find and display specific users.
  • Click the filter icon filter_icon.png in the Role column heading to filter users by their role (including temp roles).
    • To clear the filter, select None in the filter dropdown list.
  • Click the Last login column heading to sort users by the date they last logged in to AppsFlyer.
    • Tip: Use this feature to easily identify and delete inactive users, helping keep your account secure from unauthorized logins.
  • Use the checkboxes to select and edit multiple users at the same time.
  • Admins only: Click the download icon download_icon.png in the upper-right corner of the page to download the full user table as a CSV file.
    • The downloaded file includes the same columns as the table in the Users tab.

Roles tab

The Roles tab displays a list of all roles defined in your account, including:

Next to each role, you can see the number of users currently assigned to that role.

Click on the name of any role in the left panel to display the full details of the role’s capabilities.

Managing users

Creating users

To create a new user:

  1. On the Users tab, click the New user button.
  2. Enter the user’s name (required):
    • Can include letters, numbers, spaces, periods (.), hyphens (-), underscores (_), and single (') or double (") quotation marks.
    • Other special characters are not allowed.
  3. Enter the user’s email address (required):
    • Can include letters, numbers, apostrophes ('), ampersands (&), dollar signs ($), hash symbols (#), hyphens (-), underscores (_), and periods (.)
    • Two consecutive periods (..) and other special characters are not allowed.
    • Must end with a valid email domain.

     Important!

    A user’s email address is what identifies them in the AppsFlyer platform, meaning:

    • It cannot later be changed without deleting and recreating the user.
    • It must be a valid email address at which the user can receive email.
    • It cannot be associated with another user in any AppsFlyer account.
      • If the email address is already in use (either in your account or a different one), you will see the message Can't create this user. Follow the troubleshooting steps below to resolve this issue.
  4. Select the user’s department (optional).
  5. Select the user’s role (required) – either a predefined role or a custom role you have already created.
  6. Select the apps the user can access:
    • The default setting allows access to all current and future apps in the account. To change this setting, use the checkboxes to select and deselect apps.
    • A user can be given access to all future apps only if they have access to all current apps.
  7. Select the media sources the user can access:
    • The default setting allows access to all media sources. To change this setting:
      • Click the All button.
      • From the dropdown list, select the specific media sources the user can access.
    • To have access to custom media sources, the user must have access to all media sources.
    • Certain AppsFlyer dashboards and features are not available to users with limited media source access.
  8. Select the geos the user can access:
    • The default setting allows access to all geos. To change this setting:
      • Click the All button.
      • From the dropdown list, select the specific geos the user can access.
    • Certain AppsFlyer dashboards and features are not available to users with limited geo access.
  9. Click Save to create the user.
      • The user is sent an email invitation to activate their account.

    account activation hash

    • The user is displayed in the user table. The envelope icon pending_invitation_icon.png indicates that an invitation has been sent and the account is awaiting activation. Once the user activates their account, the envelope will disappear.
    • The activation link sent to the user is valid for 48 hours. If the user didn’t receive the invitation or if the link has expired, you can resend the invitation.

Editing users

Users can be edited either one at a time or in groups.

Individual editing

To edit an individual user:

  1. On the Users tab, click the Actions actions_icon.png button on the far-right side of the user’s row.
  2. Select Edit from the menu.
  3. Edit user settings as required.
  4. All settings other than email address are editable (including role, apps, media sources, and geos).
  5. Click Save.

Multi-user editing

Multi-user editing is an efficient way to change the account permissions of several users at one time. Using this feature in combination with the search and filtering capabilities of the Users tab can make it particularly helpful for managing large numbers of users.

 Note

You cannot delete users or assign them to the Admin role using multi-user editing.

To edit multiple users:

  1. On the Users tab, select the checkboxes of the user or users you want to edit.
    • Select the checkbox in the column heading to select all visible users.
    • The number of currently-selected users is displayed on the right side of the search box. Note that the account owner cannot be selected and is not included in the number of selected users.
  2. A series of buttons displays at the top-right of the table: Role, Apps, Media sources, and Geos.
    • If one or more of the selected users has access to future apps, the Apps button is not available. (See Temp role limitations, below.)
  3. Click the button for the permissions you want to change.
  4. Make the necessary changes using the dialog box or dropdown lists that are displayed.
    • Remember that your changes apply to all selected users!
  5. The edited users are highlighted in the table, and the users appear as they will once the changes are saved. However, you still have the opportunity to review your changes and confirm or cancel them in the next step.
  6. Review your changes. Click Save to confirm or Cancel to undo them.

 Example

Scenario:

  • There are 30 users in your account. Ten of these are in the Marketing – limited role.
  • Alice, Bill, and Charlie have just received promotions, and you want to change them from the Marketing – limited role to the Marketing role.
  • Alice will be working with the Astounding app. Bill will be working with the Beautiful app. Charlie will be working with the Charming app.

Steps:

  1. Use the Role filter filter_icon.png to see only the users in the Marketing–limited role.
  2. Change Alice, Bill, and Charlie to the Marketing role:
    • Select the checkboxes for Alice, Bill, and Charlie.
    • Click the Role button.
    • Select Marketing from the dropdown list.
    • Click Save to confirm.
    • Note that once you confirm the changes, the Role filter is cleared, and the table displays all users.
  3. Give Alice, Bill, and Charlie the appropriate app access:
    • Use the search box to find Alice, then individually edit her user to give her access to the Astounding app.
    • Repeat these steps for Bill and Charlie to give them access to Beautiful and Charming, respectively.

Deleting users

To delete a user:

  1. On the Users tab, click the Actions button actions_icon.png on the far-right side of the user’s row.
  2. Select Delete from the menu.

Managing custom roles

Creating custom roles

The process of creating a custom role involves duplicating a predefined role and modifying its capabilities as needed.

 Note

  • Only account owners or users with Admin access can create a custom role. 
  • The Admin role, custom roles, and temp roles can't be duplicated.

To create a custom role:

  1. On the left panel of the Roles tab, click on the name of the predefined role with the capabilities most similar to the one you want to create. This is your starting point.
  2. Click the Duplicate button user_management_duplicate_button.png in the top-right corner of the screen.

    The display of the right panel changes, allowing you to create the new custom role.

  3. Enter a name for the new role you are creating.
    • Note: Once you have saved a custom role, the name of the role cannot be edited.
    • Recommended: Make the name descriptive and easily identifiable later.
  4. The permission levels of all editable capabilities are displayed as buttons. Click these buttons to change the permission levels for the new custom role. (Be sure to scroll down to see the full list of capabilities.)
    • Note: Capabilities that do not appear as buttons are not currently editable. To change a user's permission level for a non-editable capability, that user must be assigned a predefined role with the required permission level.
  5. When you are satisfied with all of your selections, click the Save role button.
  6. The new custom role is displayed in the left panel and can be assigned when creating new users or editing existing users.

Editing custom roles

To edit a custom role:

  1. On the left panel of the Roles tab, click on the name of the custom role you want to edit.
  2. Click the Edit button user_management_edit_role_button.png in the top-right corner of the screen.

    The display of the right panel changes, allowing you to edit the role's permissions settings.

    • Note: The name of the role cannot be edited. To change the name of a role, delete it and recreate it with the new name.
  3. The permission levels of all editable capabilities are displayed as buttons. Click these buttons to change the permission levels for the new custom role. (Be sure to scroll down to see the full list of capabilities.)
  4. When you are satisfied with all of your selections, click the Save role button.
  5. The role's permission levels are changed for all new and existing users.

 Important!

Any changes you make to a custom role are automatically applied to all existing users in that role.

Deleting custom roles

To delete a custom role:

  1. On the left panel of the Roles tab, click on the name of the custom role you want to delete.
  2. Click the Delete button user_management_delete_role_button.png in the top-right corner of the screen.
  3. Confirm that you wish to delete the role.
    • A custom role can be deleted only when there are no users assigned to it. If there are users currently assigned to a custom role, assign these users to a different role before deleting the custom role.

Special situations and additional procedures

Managing temp roles

If your account previously used our prior user management system, temp roles were assigned to existing users to ensure that they were brought into the new system with unchanged capabilities.

  • Users with the same capabilities were assigned the same temp role.
  • Use the features of the Roles tab to review the capabilities of each temp role and a list of users currently in it.

Temp role limitations

Temp roles were designed specifically to allow seamless transition from our prior user management system. As such, they are available only in limited situations:

  • Temp roles cannot be assigned to other users (whether new or existing).
  • A user with a temp role cannot be assigned a different temp role (though you can change the apps, media sources, and geos to which they have access).
    • Note that a user's access to future apps cannot be changed while the user is in a temp role.
  • When a user with a temp role is changed to a predefined role, they cannot be returned to the previously-assigned temp role (or to any other temp role).
  • If the last user in a temp role is removed from it, the role will no longer appear in your account.

 Example

Your account previously used our prior user management system. Diana and Edward were existing users at the time your account was moved to the new system. Diana is now in Temp role 1, and Edward is in Temp role 2.

  • You hire a new employee, Fiona. You can assign Fiona any one of the predefined roles. However, you cannot assign Fiona Temp role 1 or Temp role 2.
  • Diana cannot be moved from Temp role 1 to Temp role 2. However, you can assign her any of the predefined roles. You can also change her access to apps, media sources, and geos as necessary.
  • If you move Diana from Temp role 1 to the Accounting role, she can’t later be moved back to Temp role 1.
  • If Diana was the last user in Temp role 1 when you moved her to the Accounting role, Temp role 1 will no longer appear in your account.

Dashboard and feature availability for users with limited media source/geo access

The following AppsFlyer dashboards are not available to users whose access is limited to specific media sources and geos:

  • SKAN overview
  • Protect360
  • Retention
  • People-Based Attribution
  • Incrementality

Additionally, the following AppsFlyer features are not available to these users:

  • Pivot
  • OneLink
  • Validation Rules
  • Audiences (not available for media source restricted users; available for geo-restricted users.)
  • SDK information
  • Ad spend ingestion
  • Cost ETL

Changing the account owner

Because all Admins have the same permissions as the account owner, changing the account owner is not usually necessary. But if you find that you must change the account owner, follow these steps to do so.

 Important!

A few things to consider before you begin:

  • Changing the account owner must be completed manually according to these steps. It cannot be done from the User management page.
  • Changing the account owner resets reporting API tokens: Pull, Master, and GDPR. Therefore, you must update your scripts and automated procedures as described below. (Data Locker credentials remain unchanged.)

#1–Send an email request

To begin the process of changing the account owner, send an email request to AppsFlyer from the email of the current account owner.

  • Be sure that this is the current account owner's email address as it appears in your AppsFlyer account.
  • If the current account owner has left your company, ask your IT team to enable you to send an email from their address.

Include the following information in your request:

To:

Your AppsFlyer CSM or hello@appsflyer.com
CC: Email of new account owner
Subject: Request to change the account owner for {account name}
Body: Short message including the name and title of the new account owner

Use this sample email as a reference:

account_owner_change_email.png

#2–Next steps

Once the change has been processed, you will receive an email notification from AppsFlyer. To complete the change, follow these steps (as necessary):

  • If you use the Pull, Master, or GDPR APIs, follow the instructions for retrieving API tokens. Use the new tokens to update your relevant scripts and automated procedures.
  • If you want the prior account owner to continue using your AppsFlyer account, create a new user for them and assign them a new role.

Troubleshooting "Can’t create this user"

If you receive the error message Can’t create this user when entering the email address of a new user, it generally means that the email is already associated with an AppsFlyer user (either in your account or a different one). Follow the steps relevant to your situation:

If the user is in your account:

  • Check to see if the user has activated their account. If not, resend the invitation if required.
  • If the user has activated their account, ask them to try to log in again using the email address associated with their user. Advise them to follow the Forgot password steps if required.

If the user’s email is used in a different account or you can’t determine the account in which the user’s email is used, select one of the following options:

  • Delete them from the other account and add them to yours (requires that either you or the user has the required permissions in the other account); or
  • Add them to your account using a different email address. This must be a valid email address at which they can actually receive an email; or
  • Contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or send an email to our Customer Engagement team at hello@appsflyer.com.

Resending a user invitation

If a new user did not receive their account activation invitation or if they did not activate within 48 hours, you can resend the email as follows:

  1. On the Users tab, click the Actions button actions_icon.png on the far-right side of the user’s row.
    • Note that the user is still shown with an envelope icon pending_invitation_icon.png, indicating that they have not yet activated their account).
  2. Select Resend email invite from the menu.

Resetting two-factor authentication (2FA)

If your account uses 2FA, there may be occasions on which you need to reset a user’s 2FA settings. Do so as follows:

  1. On the Users tab, click the Actions button actions_icon.png on the far-right side of the user’s row.
  2. Select Reset 2FA from the menu.

Note: An admin can reset any other admin's 2FA other than their own or the account owner's. To reset the account owner's 2FA, contact the AppsFlyer Support team.