SKAdNetwork 4.0 FAQ

General Questions about SKAdNetwork 4.0

Question: “With SKAdNetwork 4.0, will I be able to get the postbacks for first-time users all the time or is it still linked to privacy thresholds?”

Conversion data will still be tied to crowd anonymity being met. Having said that, we think there are now multiple levels of crowd anonymity that will lead to greater data and visibility of your consumers’ activities.

Question: “What updates can be expected for privacy thresholding?”

Privacy thresholding will be a multi-tier crowd anonymity scale (low, medium, high) starting with SKAdNetwork 4.0. The exact threshold count per tier is unknown. 

Question: “How is crowd anonymity defined? What are low, medium, and high? 

Apple has not defined the thresholds for their “crowd anonymity” cutoff amounts between low, medium, and high. If their undefined “null” values in SKAdNetwork 3.0 and below indicate the future, Apple may never make those thresholds public. 

Question: “How will this update affect campaign IDs?”

A 4-digit Source Identifier will take the place of Campaign ID, which is being deprecated. There is always access to the last two digits. The third and fourth digits will be released based on crowd anonymity. Due to the increased capability, Apple has changed the term “campaign ID” to “source ID.”

Question: “Is the new SKAdNetwork 4.0 update allowing more campaigns per title?

No. Because of crowd anonymity levels, the additional digits included in the source id don’t always come through in a postback. Unless you are comfortable not matching your campaign ID until you reach either medium or high anonymity tiers, it’s not a viable option to increase the number of campaigns past 100 concurrent campaigns.

That said, the expansion of their ‘sourceId’ reporting will result in more insight into campaign and cohort performance.

Question: “Will the conversion value postback model be updated with SKAdNetwork 4.0?”

Yes. SKAdNetwork 4.0 will permit advertisers to receive up to three postbacks instead of the previous one. The period for each following postback will increase from 0-2 days for the first postback to 3-7 days for the second and 8-35 days for the third. 

Question: “What are the differences between the current conversion value and the coarse value for media optimization?”

The introduction of the coarse-grained conversion value will be an additional attribute of the user’s activity. While not as insightful as the “fine-grained value,” it is another directional feedback point for marketing optimization. Bottom line, the coarse conversion values are better than the current (likely) null values that offer no insight into the user action(s).

Question: “Will web-to-app attribution be probabilistic or deterministic?” 

With SKAdNetwork 4.0, Apple has expanded its attribution coverage to web-to-app and will deterministically derive web-to-app attribution while remaining subject to the same anonymized, delayed protocols in app-to-app conversion flows.

Question: “Will Apple enforce rules against fingerprinting?”

It is generally agreed that enforcement is nuanced. If Apple chooses, the more likely route could reduce the match and targeting integrity of IP-based logic through the expansion of IP relay.  We expect them to do so at some point. Once they do, platforms that use fingerprinting for identity resolution will immediately lose the iOS-targeted inventory currently available to advertisers targeting audiences. Again and to be clear, fingerprinting is against Apple policies, and we are committed to providing solutions in-line with Apple’s policies, not workarounds.

Question: “What ad platforms, in the event of fingerprinting enforcement, will benefit more from 4.0 than 3.0?”

The short answer is “all” – the v4.0 enhancements will benefit every product that has embraced SKAdNetwork utilization. Fingerprinting in conjunction with SKAdNetwork is strictly forbidden per Apple policy.