Stop fake installs on every platform
Simulated app downloads that generate CPI costs without any real users. Select your ad platform below to see exactly how Tapper detects and blocks it.
Trusted by leading brands worldwide
Why fake installs costs advertisers so much
The damage goes beyond wasted clicks. Fake installs corrupts your bidding data, distorts your audiences, and erodes the performance of every campaign it touches.
Fake installs are simulated mobile app downloads generated by bots or device farms designed to claim cost-per-install payouts without delivering any real users. Bad actors operate thousands of devices - physical or emulated - that download apps, open them briefly, and trigger attribution events that fool mobile measurement platforms into crediting the install to a legitimate ad source.
The downstream impact extends well beyond the wasted CPI payout. When fake users are attributed to real campaigns, they corrupt day-1, day-7, and day-30 retention metrics. This causes UA teams to incorrectly evaluate which creative, channel, or audience is performing - leading to budget misallocation that compounds over time and undermines the entire user acquisition strategy.
Fake installs by the numbers
Data from Tapper's platform analysis and published industry research.
28%
Of mobile app installs globally are estimated to be fake
$84B
Lost to invalid traffic globally each year, fake installs a significant share
3.1x
ROAS improvement after removing fake installs from attribution
0.1%
False positive rate - real user installs are never blocked
How Tapper detects and blocks fake installs
Real-time detection and blocking across all your ad platforms, with no engineering required.
01
Analyze install signals at attribution time
Tapper examines device fingerprints, install timing patterns, and post-install behavior at the moment of attribution to identify installs that do not match real user characteristics.
02
Flag fake installs before payouts trigger
Invalid installs are identified and flagged before cost-per-install charges are credited, preventing budget from being paid out for users who will never engage with your app.
03
Protect your retention and LTV data
Removing fake installs from your attribution keeps your day-7 retention, in-app event, and LTV data clean, so your UA optimization decisions are based on real user behavior.
Choose your platform
Leading brands growing with Tapper
See how companies are protecting their ad budgets and improving ROI with Tapper.
13%
lower CPA
8.6%
higher order rate
“Tapper played a key role in improving the efficiency of Du's performance marketing activity by addressing traffic quality issues within campaigns. Following implementation, Du achieved a 13% reduction in CPA and an 8.6% increase in order rate, demonstrating a clear improvement in conversion quality and overall campaign effectiveness.”
Joseph Elbcherrawy
Client Leadership Director, Mindshare, a WPP Media Brand
14%
more conversions
11.4%
lower CPA
“We uncovered low-quality traffic that wasn't visible inside the platforms. Removing it delivered a 14% uplift in conversions and an 11.4% reduction in CPA, a meaningful efficiency gain for INFINITI's 2026 growth plans.”
David Barnes
Data & Technology Lead, Omnicom Group
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
Stop paying for traffic that was never real
Get a demo and we will show you exactly what Tapper would block on your account, before you commit to anything.
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