Stop fake installs in your affiliate program
Dishonest CPI affiliates generate fake app installs through device farms and bot scripts, claiming commission payouts for installs that never involved a real user.
Trusted by leading brands worldwide
Fake installs drain CPI commission budgets without acquiring real users
Cost Per Install affiliate programs are among the most abuse-exposed models in digital marketing. Dishonest publishers use device farms, bot scripts, and emulator environments to generate install events that appear legitimate to your MMP and affiliate network. Each fake install triggers a CPI commission payout, but there is no real user behind it. Your cost per loyal user is dramatically higher than your reported CPI suggests, and your user acquisition projections are built on inflated install numbers.
Sophisticated fake install operations go beyond the install event itself. To pass basic invalid traffic filters that only check install quality, bad actors simulate early in-app events, tutorial completions, first purchases, or registration steps, making installs appear to come from engaged users. These installs pass your MMP's validation rules, clear your affiliate network's quality checks, and are paid out as valid CPI conversions. Tapper analyzes the full session lifecycle, from click to install to post-install behavior, to identify the inconsistencies that distinguish fake installs from genuine user acquisition.
How Tapper stops fake installs on Affiliate
Three steps from connection to clean data, no engineering required.
01
Connect your MMP and affiliate tracking
Tapper integrates with your mobile measurement partner and affiliate network, monitoring the full attribution chain from click through to install and post-install events.
02
Fake installs detected across the full funnel
Tapper analyzes device signals, click-to-install timing, session behavior, and post-install event patterns to identify fake installs, including sophisticated operations that simulate early in-app events to bypass basic invalid traffic filters.
03
Commission payouts protected at every CPI tier
Invalid install attributions are rejected before commission calculations, protecting your CPI budget and ensuring your publisher tier rankings reflect genuine user acquisition performance.
Fake installs by the numbers
Data from Tapper's platform analysis and published industry research.
0-15%
Of affiliate spend lost to invalid traffic on average
0%
Of mobile installs are invalid globally on average
0%
Of affiliate programs experience significant invalid traffic
Tapper vs Affiliate Network Invalid Traffic Detection
See exactly where the gaps are, and why they matter to your bottom line.
Fake install detection
Full session lifecycle analysis from click to post-install
Install-level signal matching only
Simulated in-app event detection
Behavioral analysis identifies scripted event sequences
Post-install events not analyzed
MMP integration
Compatible with AppsFlyer, Adjust, Kochava, Singular, and Branch
Network-native data only
Pre-payment invalid install rejection
Invalid installs excluded before commission calculated
Dispute process after payout
Leading brands growing with Tapper
See how companies are protecting their ad budgets and improving ROI with Tapper.
40%
higher conversion rate
“When we take low-quality traffic out of the funnel before it reaches the algorithm, the campaign optimizes against cleaner signals and the efficiency comes through quickly. For AMA Nissan, that was a 40% lift in conversion rate and a lower CPA on Google, with nothing else in the setup changing. That is the kind of result we want to offer clients as a matter of course.”
Sohail Khan
Senior Performance Manager, WPP Media MENA
20%
lower CPA
Up to $50K
saved per year
“We've been using Tapper for over a year now, and it has become a core part of how we run paid media. Invalid traffic was always something we knew existed but couldn't really act on. Tapper changed that. We're now saving up to $50K per year, and on PureSquare specifically, we saw around a 20% decrease in CPA. Based on these results, we decided to roll it out across other ventures under Disrupt as well.”
Nurkan Kirkan
GTM Consultant / Paid Growth, Disrupt.com
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about stopping fake installs on Affiliate.
Fake installs corrupt your user acquisition data at every level. Your reported CPI appears lower than your real cost of acquiring genuine users. Your user cohorts include non-existent users who skew your retention, LTV, and engagement metrics. Publisher rankings based on install volume favor invalid sources over legitimate partners who drive real, high-quality users.
MMPs provide a baseline level of invalid install detection, but their detection focuses on known device-signal patterns and CTIT rules. Sophisticated fake install operations using device farms or emulator environments that correctly replicate device signals can bypass MMP detection. Tapper adds a behavioral analysis layer that identifies invalid traffic patterns MMPs are not designed to catch.
Tapper provides per-publisher invalid traffic scoring across all commission tiers. Invalid installs are rejected before they are included in any tier's performance metrics, ensuring that commission rates, tier promotions, and publisher rankings are calculated on genuine install data only.
Worried about fake installs on other platforms?
See how Tapper stops fake installs across every major ad channel.Other invalid traffic types affecting Affiliate
Affiliate campaigns face multiple invalid traffic vectors. Tapper covers them all.
Stop fake installs on Affiliate today
Join advertisers who stopped paying for traffic that was never real. Get a demo and we will show you exactly what Tapper blocks on your account.