What is the Play install referrer?
The Play install referrer is a text value set on a Google Play link. After someone installs from that link, the app can read the value through Google's Play Install Referrer library, which lets it tell where the install came from. It only works on Android.
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A store link can hold a referrer parameter. Google Play keeps that value through the install, and the app reads it the first time it opens. It’s how a click ID gets from a web tap into an installed app, with no matching by address or device.
Example: Tidewater Putt’s store link has afos_click_id=clk_7Q2f81 in its referrer. A player taps it on an Android phone and installs the game. On first launch, the game reads the referrer once, parses it like a query string, finds the click ID and sends it to the studio’s server, which keeps it with that player’s account.
Read it once, on first launch, and store the result. It describes the install rather than each visit, so reading it again later adds nothing. If it holds no click ID, the install most likely came from somewhere else.
A value that travels through the store is exact: it comes from the tap that led to the install. Matching on address and time is a best guess, and it weakens as time passes. Where the referrer is available, it’s the better signal.
We put afos_click_id=<click id> in the Play Store link’s referrer, after any referrer you set yourself. Send it back as clickId on each event. It’s one of the three ways to match an install in Setup without an SDK, and the code path is in Capture afos_click_id on your site or app.
Questions
Is there an install referrer on iOS?
Not one that passes a click ID through the App Store this way. On iOS, AffiliateOS matches the install when your server calls us as a new user first opens the app.
Do I need an SDK to read it?
You need Google's Play Install Referrer library, not an SDK from us. Read the value once on first launch, then send it to your server.
Why not just use query parameters?
The Play Store drops them at install. The referrer parameter is the part it keeps for the app.