Mobile App Protection

Mobile App ad fraud protection

SDK spoofing, fake installs, and in-app event fraud are corrupting your mobile attribution data and draining your UA budget. Tapper detects invalid mobile traffic, protecting your app campaigns across every network and MMP.

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Trusted by leading brands worldwide

Mobile app fraud is the most technically sophisticated ad fraud category

Mobile app advertising fraud has evolved into the most technically complex area of ad fraud, 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 fraud can operate undetected. The global mobile advertising fraud market cost advertisers an estimated $10 billion in 2023, and that figure continues to rise.

SDK spoofing is the most damaging form of mobile fraud. Fraudulent 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 in-app event fraud complete the mobile fraud ecosystem. Click flooding buries legitimate click paths under thousands of fraudulent clicks to claim attribution credit. Device farms use warehouses of real physical devices to generate installs that defeat device-signal-based fraud detection. In-app event fraud simulates post-install actions: tutorial completions, purchases, level completions, to pass fraud filters that only check install quality, unlocking higher CPA payouts. Tapper analyses the full session lifecycle to detect fraud at every stage.

How Tapper protects your Mobile campaigns

Three steps from connection to clean data, no engineering required.

Connect your MMP and ad networks

Tapper integrates with your mobile measurement partner (AppsFlyer, Adjust, Kochava, Singular, and Branch) and your ad network accounts to monitor the full attribution chain.

Fraud detected across the full install funnel

From click to install to in-app event, Tapper analyses every signal for SDK spoofing patterns, click flooding, device farm signatures, and in-app event fraud.

Protect your UA budget and LTV data

Fraudulent installs are identified and excluded from your campaign data. Your cost-per-install reflects real users, and your LTV models are built on genuine user behaviour.

The Mobile fraud numbers

Data from Tapper's platform analysis and published industry research.

$10B

Lost to mobile ad fraud globally in 2023

28%

Of mobile app installs are fraudulent (global avg)

40%

Of mobile ad fraud uses SDK spoofing techniques

90%

SDK spoofing detection rate by Tapper

Tapper vs MMP Built-in Fraud Protection

See exactly where the gaps are, and why they matter to your bottom line.

Capability

Tapper

MMP Built-in Fraud Protection

SDK spoofing detection

Proprietary behavioural analysis

Device signal matching only

Click flooding detection

Instant velocity analysis

CTIT threshold rules only

Device farm identification

Device cluster and session analysis

Device ID blacklisting

In-app event fraud

Full session lifecycle analysis

Limited to install-level checks

Detection speed

Under 3 seconds

Post-attribution review

LTV protection

Filters fake users from cohort analysis

LTV includes fraudulent installs

Cross-network visibility

All networks in one dashboard

MMP network data only

Success stories

Trusted by industry leaders

See how companies are protecting their ad budgets and improving ROI with Tapper.

“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

“During our Tapper trial for INFINITI, 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

“With Tapper's protection we were able to identify and block invalid clicks in real time. The impact was immediate as our cost per acquisition dropped by 30% and ROAS improved significantly. More importantly, Tapper gives us the confidence that our campaigns are reaching genuine customers, which makes it truly invaluable.”

Dimitris Bakas

Senior Performance Marketing, Public Group

“We started using Tapper to get better visibility on where our clicks were coming from, and ended up cutting wasted spend by over 12%. The performance uplift was clear, and for the first time, we could trust the numbers we were seeing. It's a total game-changer for campaign integrity.”

Stuart Parkin

Director of Operations, Regit

“Tapper's blocking technology purifies our paid media traffic which roughly equates to a 36x return against its subscription costs. It's certainly one of the easiest-to-implement tools in our entire marketing stack.”

Reno Mindemann

Head of Growth, Kama Capital

“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

Trusted by leading brands worldwide

How much are you losing to Mobile fraud?

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

Calculate Your Wasted Spend

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about Mobile App fraud protection.

SDK spoofing is when fraudulent actors reverse-engineer your mobile measurement partner's SDK and simulate the exact device signals that a real install would generate, without any real device or user being involved. Because the signals look identical to legitimate installs, standard fraud detection that relies on device signals alone cannot detect it. Tapper uses behavioural analysis of the full session lifecycle to identify spoofed installs.

Click flooding generates thousands of fraudulent clicks against your tracking links in a short time window. When a real user later installs your app organically or through another channel, there is a high statistical probability that one of the fraudulent clicks appears as the last touch before install and claims the cost-per-install payout. Your genuine organic installs and paid channel performance are both understated as a result.

Yes. Tapper integrates directly with major mobile measurement partners including AppsFlyer, Adjust, Kochava, Singular, and Branch. We sit alongside your MMP rather than replacing it, adding an additional fraud detection layer that analyses signals your MMP may miss.

Device farms are physical locations, sometimes entire warehouses, containing hundreds or thousands of real mobile devices. Operators use these devices to generate installs, engage in post-install events, and produce the kind of real-device signals that defeat software-based fraud detection. Tapper identifies device farm activity through cluster analysis, detecting when multiple device IDs share identical network environments, usage patterns, or geographic locations.

Tapper monitors the full session lifecycle from install through in-app events. Fraudulent sessions that simulate post-install activity: in-app purchases, level completions, tutorial finishes, are identified through behavioural analysis. They lack the natural variation, timing irregularities, and interaction patterns that real user sessions produce.

Yes. Mobile retargeting campaigns are vulnerable to fraud through the same mechanisms as acquisition campaigns: click flooding, fake re-engagement events, and fraudulent in-app activities. Tapper monitors retargeting traffic with the same analysis depth as acquisition, ensuring your reengagement spend reaches real lapsed users rather than fraud operations.