How to Track Which Creator Actually Drives Your App Installs

The creator black box

You're paying creators to promote your app. It might be a flat rate, revenue share, or a combination of both. Regardless of the deal, you're spending money and you don't know what you're getting out of it.

This is the typical state of awareness for most indie developers when running creator campaigns: "We paid this person, they posted something, and our install count went up (or didn't)." That is essentially all there is. You won't find per-creator metrics, install counts for individual creators, or revenue by creator. Just a general "creator marketing works" or "maybe we should stop doing creator marketing" sentiment.

Creator partnerships are one specific case of a broader pattern: giving each source its own link. For the full cross-channel framework, see the guide on tracking app installs with links.

This is the creator marketing black box problem.

Creators are posting links to your app, people are clicking them and installing, but you don't know which creator is driving which installs. You are then deciding which creators to renew, which creators to pay more, which creators to pay less and which to drop based on follower count and intuition.

No, check App Store Connect

The first place developers typically turn is to the App Store (Google Play) console. Surely Apple/Google can tell where installs came from?

In short: they kind of do.

In App Store Connect, you will be able to see your installs by source type. App Store Search, App Store Browse, Web Referrer and App Referrer. If the creator you hired posted a link in a YouTube video, you might be able to see installs from web referrers that are youtube.com.

But that's as far as it goes. You will see youtube.com as the referrer. You will not know who made that YouTube video, which link was used, or anything else specific to the campaign that could differentiate it from another one. If you run 5 YouTube creators at once, you will see an aggregated number of installs from youtube.com in your App Store dashboard, but that data isn't granular enough to allow you to evaluate individual campaign performance.

Google has a similar thing with Google's Campaign URLs, but you'll still be left wanting per link performance data without some kind of additional tooling.

Furthermore, both the App Store and Google Play report with a delay. In the case of the App Store, the reported data is 24-48 hours old. A creator posts a video today and you're not seeing the install impact until tomorrow or the next day at best. By the time the data is available to you, it's gone by.

A simple solution

You could solve this with just one extra step. Give each creator they'll use a unique tracking link. If someone clicks that unique link and installs, it will be attributed to the creator who posted it.

It's really that simple.

• Each link is unique: instally.io/app/[creatr-name] and it will detect the user's device, directing iOS users to the App Store and Android users to Google Play.
• Integrate a lightweight SDK in your app. Upon the app's first launch post-install, the SDK reports the install to Instally, which pairs it back to the initial click. IDFA is not required and the ATT prompt can be skipped.
• Observe installs in real-time on your dashboard. A summary table becomes visible: Creator A is responsible for 430 installs this week, Creator B has 1,200, and Creator C accounts for 85. There is no lag time and no speculation involved.
• Integrate revenue attribution. Connect directly to your billing infrastructure (RevenueCat, Stripe, Superwall, or Adapty) and begin viewing revenue attribution by creator. You will now have the ability to discern not only who brings in users, but also who is acquiring paying ones.

This is the entire workflow. There is no need for complicated analytics infrastructure. There's no pixel management to handle. And you don't need to require creators to provide special promo codes (a strategy where most people forget to use the code, in any event).

Information your dashboard is intended to display

After you implement attribution per creator, you need the ability to quickly and easily view the following:

Metrics broken down by creator:

• Aggregate number of clicks originating from their unique link
• Total number of installs generated by that link
• Install conversion percentage based on the link
• The total value of revenue attributable to those installs
• Value of revenue per install
• Geographic distribution of installs alongside installation type (IOS versus Android)

Metrics aggregated by time:

• Activity during the preceding 7, 30, or 90 days
• Correlations between performance and content published at that time
• Patterns revealing whether a creator's follower base is expanding or stagnating

Metrics comparing different creators:

• Comparison of two or more individual creators' performance
• Cost per install (provided you're aware of the compensation arrangement you've set up with the creator)
• Comparison between revenue and cost (giving actual return on investment figures for the creator)

Below is a hypothetical creator comparison:

Creator	Clicks	Installs	Conv. Rate	Revenue	Rev/Install	Cost	ROI
Creator A	8,200	1,640	20.0%	$3,280	$2.00	$1,500	2.19x
Creator B	15,400	2,310	15.0%	$1,848	$0.80	$2,000	0.92x
Creator C	3,100	930	30.0%	$2,790	$3.00	$800	3.49x
Creator D	22,000	1,100	5.0%	$550	$0.50	$3,000	0.18x

The value contained in this table alone would take a month of reviewing App Store Connect to discover. Creator C is the least well known, but their conversion rate and revenue per install is the highest. Creator D has the largest audience, but suffers from a poor conversion rate and an ROI lower than their cost. You could not possibly discern such insights without implementing per-link attribution.

Why promo codes are a poor tracking method

A few dev studios try to track creators’ performance by giving each creator a promo code (such as CREATORA20). In theory, you instruct them to share their code and then tally up redemptions per code.

Unfortunately, there are several problems with this:

Friction means lost conversions. Your user has to recall the code, locate the place to paste it, and enter it accurately. Any such friction costs you conversions. According to a 2025 Recurly study, including a promo code checkout step costs you 12-18% fewer completed checkouts. Users forget. Users see your app in a YouTube video, they click-through to the App Store, they install your app, and they start using it without even thinking about the promo code. The user has likely forgotten the promo code within 30 seconds of hearing it. You see the install, but you can’t connect it to any one of your creators. There is no click or conversion data. Promo codes only tell you how many redemptions occurred; they don’t tell you how many installs or conversions. You have no idea of the total number of users who clicked but didn’t convert; you have no knowledge of your conversion rate per creator; you don’t get any information about that huge subset of users who just forget the code. You only have that minuscule subset of data that saw your code, remembered it, and actually entered it. There is no timing information. Users may redeem promo codes days or weeks later. This timing is meaningless. Creators leak their codes to everyone. Promos leak to forums, to coupon sites, from person-to-person. A code that’s meant only for creator A can be used by other people who’ve never seen any of creator A’s content.

Tracking links overcome all these shortcomings because you’re tracking the install invisibly. When your user clicks on a link, they install your app, and your connection is established without any additional work on the user’s end. No codes, no extra steps, no friction.

Creator-facing dashboards

Something most developers don’t consider: Creators also want to track their own performance. When you allow creators to see how they are doing, you incentivize and facilitate better performance.

From the creator’s standpoint: A creator made a video about your app. Naturally, they’d want to know: how many installs did it generate? How many of their followers downloaded the app? How much money did they make with their app partnership?

Without a creator-facing dashboard, all a creator receives from you may be a monthly email saying, “Nice job, here’s your payment check”. That is a poor feedback loop. Creators can’t optimize. They have no idea whether their 60-second “mention” did better than the video dedicated to reviewing the app. They don’t know which of their campaigns is driving more installs—Instagram stories or YouTube video.

But if you allow a creator to login to the dashboard and view their own link data—clicks, installs, and (maybe) how much they earned—you’ll likely see better campaign performance. They see it in real time. You are creating a feedback loop which makes your creators better: They learn what content types get installs. They test different calls-to-action. They post more because they can see results. They take ownership because they have visibility. One 2025 CreatorIQ study showed creators who got same-day performance insights generated 2.3 times more promotional content during the same week compared to creators getting delayed or no insights. Give your creators the data. They will give you better results. Instally has this built in. Each creator, or promoter, has his or her own account and dashboard scoped for their links. They see their stats, you see everyone's.

Revenue Tracking The One Metric That Actually Matters

Install counts are the beginning, not the end goal. What you really care about is: which creators bring users that pay? Take two creators. Creator A: 5000 installs, $2500 revenue is $0.50 per install. Creator B: 1000 installs, $3000 revenue is $3 per install. If you only count installs, Creator A looks 5 times better. If you count revenue, Creator B is clearly more valuable. They have a smaller, more targeted audience that converts at a higher rate. You see this in the wild all the time. A bigger audience doesn't always mean better users. 500,000 subscriber gaming YouTuber, may get a lot of installs but most of these are non paying. Whereas a 20,000 subscriber productivity blogger will get fewer installs but users are much more likely to convert. To track revenue per creator, just connect your provider to the Instally system. RevenueCat for in app purchases. Stripe for web payments or Stripe powered in app purchases. Superwall for a better way to paywalls plus more granular revenue attribution. Adapty for subscription analytics. Once connected, we match the revenue back to the links that drove each install. See the revenue, the revenue per install, calculate actual ROI per creator.

Setting Up Creator Tracking The How-To

Step 1: Integrate the SDK to your app. Instally SDKs are available for iOS, Android, Flutter, or React Native. The SDK integration is simple, around 10 lines of code max. The SDK is fully responsible for install matching.

Step 2: Add your app to Instally. Add App Store and Google Play links. This makes it possible to funnel all of this traffic to the correct store.

Step 3: Create a separate tracking link for every creator. Each link should be named appropriately, so you know exactly which one you’re looking at in your dashboard. Send the link to your creator. Step 4: Link your payment provider. (Recommended, but optional.) If you need to measure your revenue by link, integrate with RevenueCat, Stripe, Superwall, or Adapty. It’ll only take a few minutes. Once you do this, you can view each link’s revenue. Step 5: Give your creators an invite into the app’s dashboard. (Optional.) If you want your creators to see their own performance, you can add them as a promoter. That gives them a unique login, so they can only see their own link’s stats. Step 6: Monitor your dashboard and make decisions. Make this part of your daily workflow. Focus on creators who have a high conversion rate and higher revenue per install. Talk to the creators who have a low conversion rate, or just don’t allocate any budget toward them.

FAQ

How accurate is install tracking without IDFA?

Attribution is highly reliable on both platforms. On iOS, you don't need to show the user ATT or request IDFA. After ATT, install tracking isn't 100% accurate for any solution you pick — but for tracking your own links (not ad network attribution), accuracy is high enough to make confident decisions about which creators to keep or cut.

Will the link work, regardless of which social platform a creator shares it on?

Yes! One tracking link can go into a creator’s YouTube video, Instagram bio, or Twitter. All clicks will be counted and tracked. If you want to see stats by creator by platform, ask the creator to send a separate link for each platform they are using.

Do I have to do manual payouts to my creators?

No. If you use Stripe Connect, you can set commission structures on the backend. The creators will connect their accounts through Stripe. They get paid automatically. No more manual payouts!

My creator’s fans are all on both iOS and Android! Which link do I send them?

They both do! All users are tracked, regardless of device type. Users who click through to iOS will get sent to the App Store; those who click through to Android will be redirected to the Play store. So, your creators only have to share one link that does the magic!

How long does it take for click data and install data to populate?

All data is populated instantly. You can see the number of clicks in real-time. If the user installs the app and opens it, install data will populate immediately. Revenue data shows up as soon as you or your payment partner reports the conversion (no need to wait 24+ hours).