Step 1. Choose the target iOS version for your campaign
Although a vast majority of users have updated their devices to iOS 14.5 or higher, we recommend creating campaigns for all iOS versions. This will expand your campaign’s potential reach, allowing you to participate in more advertising auctions. The system will select the most favorable auctions for you, minimizing your cost per install (CPI).
In your campaigns for iOS 14.5 and higher, you can use:
- The Click Optimization strategy
- Manual bid management
Campaigns created for iOS versions below 14.5 support the following strategies:
- Optimize clicks
- Optimize conversions (either installs or in-app events)
- Manual bid management
Step 2 is relevant only for campaigns targeting iOS 14.5 or higher.
Step 2. Make sure your app supports the Apple SKAdNetwork API.
To set up a Yandex Direct campaign to advertize your mobile app to users running iOS 14.5 or higher, you need to install tracking SDKs with SKAdNetwork support (or upgrade them to the latest version).
Step 3. Verify your account
Due to Apple’s new restrictions, you can only use a single account for placing ads for users of iOS 14.5+. If you previously used different accounts to create campaigns, choose one account per app and verify it.
- If you use AppMetrica, your account is verified automatically.
- If you run AppsFlyer or Adjust, copy your App ID from the app settings in Yandex Direct and paste it in the Yandex App ID field of the mobile tracker settings (read more in the Help section).
If you want to delegate the creation of your campaigns for iOS 14.5+ to a partner agency, provide access to your verified account to the agency’s employees.
Step 4. Create your campaigns
You can only create 10 campaigns per app for iOS 14.5 or higher. Such campaigns can only be created in a verified account. For earlier iOS versions, you can set up an unlimited number of campaigns as before.
To create campaigns in Yandex Direct, go to the Ads for Mobile Apps section.
To create campaigns targeting users with iOS 14.5 or higher, select the appropriate option.
Launching campaigns for iOS 14.5+
- It makes sense to start with a single campaign covering both Yandex Search and the Yandex Advertising Network.
- We recommend using the average CPI optimization strategy for ad placement
- If by the third week of your campaign, the install count in Yandex Direct is at least 70 installs per placement per week, consider creating a separate campaign for Yandex Search or the Yandex Advertising Network.
- If a strategy optimized for an average CPI does not bring you at least 70 installs per week, we recommend switching to a strategy optimized for an average CPC and serving it exclusively on Yandex Search
- To boost the effectiveness of your campaign for Yandex Search, use keywords and focus on a single targeting category — Targeted queries — at the beginning of the campaign.
- Avoid using AppsFlyer Advanced Privacy
- Make sure you are using Appsflyer, Adjust or AppMetrica where Direct fully supports SKAN functionality
- Use a single-platform tracking link (i.e. use an AppStore link with tracking, OneLink for multiple platforms will not work)
Step 5. Monitor your campaign results and compare data from different sources.
Report formats will differ between the old and new iOS versions.
- The format for campaign statistics on previous iOS versions remains unchanged: install data continues to be added to the advertising account from the tracker, with all cross-sections and events still available as before.
- For campaigns targeting iOS 14.5 or higher, the Report Wizard will show two types of data: from the SKAdNetwork (Apple’s data) and from the tracker.
- Data diverges between SKAdNetwork and tracking systems for iOS 14.5+ because not all users of the newer iOS versions allow tracking of in-app events. To learn more about changes in install tracking, read the article.
- Tracker data displays all the available cross-sections and events, but only for users who have consented to transfer their IDFA. SKAdNetwork reports include all the install events with reduced granularity, regardless of whether the user consented to tracking.
Please note that there may be an average delay of about five days before the analytical data becomes available. This is due to the terms of the privacy policy for iOS 14.5+.
You can read about the common reasons for the difference in conversion rates in Tracker and Direct here.