Mobile app install checks

Every mobile install, checked against fraud rules

SDK spoofing, fake installs and fake in-app events corrupt your mobile attribution data and drain your UA budget. Tapper stores the installs and in-app events your MMP reports, with the campaign and publisher behind each one, and runs every install through its mobile fraud rules. Your MMP data is never changed.

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Advertisers and agencies using Tapper

Invalid mobile traffic is the most technically sophisticated category of all

Invalid mobile traffic has evolved into the most technically complex category of all, precisely because mobile attribution relies on signals that are difficult to verify quickly. The mobile ecosystem's fragmentation: dozens of ad networks, multiple measurement partners, device ID systems, and operating system variations, creates countless seams through which invalid traffic can operate undetected.

SDK spoofing is the most damaging form of invalid mobile traffic. Bad actors reverse-engineer the SDKs used by mobile measurement partners and simulate the device-level signals that a real install and app launch would generate, without any real device or real user being involved. Your MMP receives what appears to be a valid install event, complete with device ID, location data, and app session data. The install is counted, the CPI is paid, and no real user ever downloaded your app.

Click flooding, device farms, and fake in-app events complete the picture. Click flooding buries legitimate click paths under thousands of invalid clicks to claim attribution credit. Device farms use warehouses of real physical devices to generate installs that defeat device-signal-based detection. Fake in-app events simulate post-install actions: tutorial completions, purchases, level completions, to pass filters that only check install quality, unlocking higher CPA payouts. Tapper checks each install and reinstall against four rules: the time from click to install, click injection, a location that does not match the one the MMP reports, and datacenter, VPN or proxy networks.

How Tapper checks your Mobile installs

Three steps from connecting your MMP to seeing your installs in your dashboard.

Connect your MMP

Tapper works with the major mobile measurement partners and stores the installs and in-app events your MMP reports, each with its campaign and publisher.

Every install is checked

Each install and reinstall is run through four rules: install timing from click to install, click injection, a location that does not match the one the MMP reports, and datacenter, VPN or proxy networks.

See your installs by campaign and network

The Mobile tab of your Tapper dashboard shows your installs and in-app events by campaign and network. Your MMP data and your campaigns stay as they are.

What Tapper checks on every mobile install

How the mobile fraud rules work, in numbers.

Fraud rules Tapper runs on every install and reinstall

Install events checked: new installs and reinstalls

Changes to your MMP data, attribution or campaigns

Tapper vs your MMP alone

Capability

Tapper

Your MMP alone

Role

Tapper

A separate check beside your MMP

Your MMP alone

Tracks and credits installs

Install source

Tapper

Installs and in-app events stored with campaign and publisher

Your MMP alone

Attribution inside the MMP

Fraud rules

Tapper

Four rules on every install and reinstall

Your MMP alone

Depends on the MMP and its plan

Your MMP data

Tapper

Never changed by Tapper

Your MMP alone

Kept as the MMP reports it

How much are you losing to invalid traffic on Mobile?

Use our calculator to estimate your monthly wasted spend, then review the numbers with our team.

Calculate your losses

Frequently asked questions

Tapper stores the installs and in-app events your MMP reports, each with its campaign and publisher. Every install and reinstall is also checked against Tapper's mobile fraud rules.

SDK spoofing is when bad actors reverse-engineer your mobile measurement partner's SDK and simulate the device signals a real install would generate, without any real device or user being involved. Because the signals can look identical to legitimate installs, device signals alone cannot settle it. Tapper checks each install against its own rules for timing, location and network type.

Click flooding generates thousands of invalid clicks against your tracking links in a short time window. When a real user later installs your app, there is a high chance one of the invalid clicks is the last touch before the install and claims the payout. Tapper's install timing and click injection rules check the clicks around each install.

Tapper works with Adjust, AppsFlyer, Branch and Kochava and sits alongside yours rather than replacing it. It stores the installs and in-app events your MMP reports and runs its own fraud rules on each install.

Four: install timing from click to install, click injection, a location that does not match the one the MMP reports, and installs from datacenter, VPN or proxy networks.

No. Tapper only checks installs and leaves your MMP data, your attribution and your campaigns exactly as they are.