Glossary /
iOS 14 / SKAN
Efficiency & cost
iOS 14 / SKAN
Apple's privacy-preserving framework for attributing app installs without ever exposing user-level data.
Attribution & Measurement
Unit Economics
Data Governance & Nomenclature
Creative & Delivery
Audiences & Targeting
Mobile & Privacy
SKAN (SKAdNetwork), rolled out with iOS 14, is Apple's framework for attributing app installs and post-install events to ad campaigns using aggregated, delayed, and privacy-thresholded data — with no user-level identifiers.
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What is iOS 14 / SKAN?
Before iOS 14, mobile attribution was user-level: a click and an install could be tied to the same device via the IDFA. SKAN replaces that with a deterministic but privacy-preserving signal owned by Apple. The OS — not the ad network or MMP — generates and signs the attribution postback. Three constraints define it. Data is aggregated, so you get campaign-level counts, not per-user paths. Postbacks are delayed by a randomized timer (originally 24–48 hours) to break timing-based re-identification. And results are privacy-thresholded: if a campaign has too few conversions, Apple withholds the conversion value entirely (a 'null' crowd-anonymity result). The one rich signal you get is the conversion value — a number from 0 to 63 (six bits) that you map to whatever post-install behavior matters: registration, purchase, revenue bucket. SKAN 4 added multiple postbacks and coarse (high/medium/low) values, but the core trade — privacy for granularity — is unchanged.
How iOS 14 / SKAN differs across ad platforms
Apple (SKAdNetwork)
SKAN is Apple's framework, and Apple controls the signing, the timer delay, and the privacy thresholds. The conversion value (0–63) and crowd-anonymity rules are Apple's, not the network's — everyone downstream works within them.
Meta
Meta ingests SKAN postbacks and layers its own modeling on top, since SKAN's aggregation and 9-campaign limit don't fit its optimization. Reported SKAN conversions in Meta are often modeled/extrapolated, which is why they differ from raw Apple postbacks.
Google also consumes SKAN for iOS App campaigns and applies its own conversion-value mapping and modeling. Google and Meta can report different SKAN-driven numbers for the same campaigns because each maps the 0–63 value and handles nulls differently.
Common iOS 14 / SKAN misconceptions
SKAN gives you the same install data as before, just slightly delayed.
No. SKAN is aggregated and capped at a 0–63 conversion value with privacy thresholds. There's no user-level path, no real-time signal, and low-volume campaigns return nothing at all. It's a fundamentally coarser signal.
SKAN and ATT are the same thing.
They're separate. ATT is the opt-in prompt that governs IDFA access. SKAN is the attribution framework that works regardless of consent. SKAN was designed to function precisely because so few users opt into ATT.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is iOS 14 / SKAN in simple terms?
SKAN is Apple's way of telling an ad network 'your campaign drove an install' without revealing who installed. You get aggregated counts and a small 0–63 'conversion value' you define yourself — but no individual user data, and results are delayed and hidden for small campaigns.
How does iOS 14 / SKAN work?
Why does iOS 14 / SKAN differ across ad platforms?
How does Clarisights report on iOS 14 / SKAN?
Attribution & Measurement
Unit Economics
Data Governance & Nomenclature
Creative & Delivery
Audiences & Targeting
Mobile & Privacy
SKAN (SKAdNetwork), rolled out with iOS 14, is Apple's framework for attributing app installs and post-install events to ad campaigns using aggregated, delayed, and privacy-thresholded data — with no user-level identifiers.
?
?
What is iOS 14 / SKAN?
Before iOS 14, mobile attribution was user-level: a click and an install could be tied to the same device via the IDFA. SKAN replaces that with a deterministic but privacy-preserving signal owned by Apple. The OS — not the ad network or MMP — generates and signs the attribution postback. Three constraints define it. Data is aggregated, so you get campaign-level counts, not per-user paths. Postbacks are delayed by a randomized timer (originally 24–48 hours) to break timing-based re-identification. And results are privacy-thresholded: if a campaign has too few conversions, Apple withholds the conversion value entirely (a 'null' crowd-anonymity result). The one rich signal you get is the conversion value — a number from 0 to 63 (six bits) that you map to whatever post-install behavior matters: registration, purchase, revenue bucket. SKAN 4 added multiple postbacks and coarse (high/medium/low) values, but the core trade — privacy for granularity — is unchanged.
How iOS 14 / SKAN differs across ad platforms
Apple (SKAdNetwork)
SKAN is Apple's framework, and Apple controls the signing, the timer delay, and the privacy thresholds. The conversion value (0–63) and crowd-anonymity rules are Apple's, not the network's — everyone downstream works within them.
Meta
Meta ingests SKAN postbacks and layers its own modeling on top, since SKAN's aggregation and 9-campaign limit don't fit its optimization. Reported SKAN conversions in Meta are often modeled/extrapolated, which is why they differ from raw Apple postbacks.
Google also consumes SKAN for iOS App campaigns and applies its own conversion-value mapping and modeling. Google and Meta can report different SKAN-driven numbers for the same campaigns because each maps the 0–63 value and handles nulls differently.
Common iOS 14 / SKAN misconceptions
SKAN gives you the same install data as before, just slightly delayed.
No. SKAN is aggregated and capped at a 0–63 conversion value with privacy thresholds. There's no user-level path, no real-time signal, and low-volume campaigns return nothing at all. It's a fundamentally coarser signal.
SKAN and ATT are the same thing.
They're separate. ATT is the opt-in prompt that governs IDFA access. SKAN is the attribution framework that works regardless of consent. SKAN was designed to function precisely because so few users opt into ATT.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is iOS 14 / SKAN in simple terms?
SKAN is Apple's way of telling an ad network 'your campaign drove an install' without revealing who installed. You get aggregated counts and a small 0–63 'conversion value' you define yourself — but no individual user data, and results are delayed and hidden for small campaigns.
How does iOS 14 / SKAN work?
Why does iOS 14 / SKAN differ across ad platforms?
How does Clarisights report on iOS 14 / SKAN?
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