How to add download conversion on Firebase?

Question

I am getting this notification on Google App Install campaign and I have no idea how to fix it.

This app doesn't have any associated download conversion actions, which could impact campaign performance. Add a download conversion action before continuing

I did my research on Firebase download conversions and found that there is an automatically added conversion called first_open which is automatically triggered when the user first opens the app, so not when the user downloads the app per se.

There are no other automatically added conversions that track raw app downloads which is impossible as the documentation redirects us to either Play Store stats or iTunes Connect stats, as shown here.

And I am confused because I cannot add a conversion for app downloads myself in the code as it would be the same as first_open.

Am I missing something?

Pantomime

If you are trying to export your conversions to Google Ads, for iOS, you need to make sure that you've added your App Store ID in the Firebase console. This is needed before you could migrate the conversion events to Google Ads. Please note that it may take a few hours before you can see the conversions available for import after adding the App Store ID. You could check this help guide for your reference. – Pocky

Hi! Thanks for your answer. I do understand that. My question is about the first_open flag though. Is there a way to detect app downloads without first opens of the app that I have missed? – Pantomime

Answer 1

Basically you have two options.

1/ Report downloads from App Store and Google Play

2/ Report downloads from Firebase, but in this scenario you need to come up with solution how to redirect user to any server before downloading app. Then catch this redirect and save it. Afterwards connect this redirect after user's launches app for the first time. There are several 3rd party tools that solve this - such as AppsFlyer, Kochava, Branch.io or Adjust

All of above being said, that Ads platform (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc..) uses download metric as first_open event by default.

Recommendation: If you are planning to BETTER optimize your Ads platforms based on REAL downloads I would go for option 2/, which is more expensive but possible. Be aware that due to privacy statements you won't be possible to report all of the downloads. 3rd party tools uses some AI models to connect such downloads and "first open". But still these 3rd party tools brings good value to marketers.

Option number 1/ is cheaper and suits only for statistics purpose. But at the moment, I don't know about any API that would get data from iOS App Store. From Google Play store you can easily get it via BigQuery export.

Ketosis