What is an MMP?
An MMP, or mobile measurement partner, is a third-party tool an app uses to record installs and in-app events and decide which traffic source gets credit. It gives the advertiser one count across every source it buys from, separate from what each source reports.
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An app adds the MMP’s SDK and swaps its store links for the MMP’s tracking links. When someone installs and opens the app, the SDK tells the MMP, which looks for a matching tap and credits a source. In-app events flow the same way. The MMP can then forward what it saw to the source that earned it, as a postback.
Example: Tidewater Games runs Harbor Blocks on several networks. One says 500 installs and another says 300, and some of those are the same user. The MMP counts each install once, credits one source and gives the studio one total to compare costs against.
- One rule for everyone. Sources can’t grade their own work.
- One place for events. Levels and purchases are recorded once, then shared out.
- Fewer integrations. Add a source without changing the app.
The trade-offs are cost and an SDK in your app, and privacy rules such as App Tracking Transparency limit what it can match on iOS.
AffiliateOS isn’t a built-in partner inside these tools, so nothing turns on with a switch. Your server, which already receives your tool’s events, forwards each one to us with the tool’s event name and the user’s stored afos_click_id: Forward events from your attribution tool. The other ways to match installs are in Setup without an SDK.
Questions
Do I need an MMP?
To run on one source, often no. To compare many sources on the same rules, it helps a lot. On AffiliateOS you don't need one: installs can match through the Play install referrer or a first-open call from your server.
Why does my MMP count differ from a partner's report?
Each side has its own windows and its own rule for which tap gets the credit, so the two counts are rarely the same. Why our numbers and yours differ covers the usual reasons.