AdAttributionKit is Apple's privacy-preserving framework that lets registered ad networks attribute installs and re-engagements to ads through signed, delayed postbacks that carry no user-level data.
AdAttributionKit, available from iOS and iPadOS 17.4, builds on SKAdNetwork and works on both the App Store and alternative app marketplaces. When a person taps or views a signed ad and then installs the advertised app, the device picks one winning impression, drawn from AdAttributionKit and SKAdNetwork ads alike, and later sends a cryptographically signed postback whose detail is limited by crowd-anonymity tiers. Taps outrank views; by default a tap stays eligible for 30 days and a view for 24 hours, windows apps can now adjust. From iOS 18 it also measures re-engagement after ad taps, and it needs no App Tracking Transparency prompt.
For growth teams it is the privacy-safe measurement layer for paid acquisition on iOS. Apple Ads is the exception: it attributes its own installs through the AdServices attribution token, down to campaign, ad group and keyword. Since April 10, 2025 it has only added SKAdNetwork 1–3 click-through postbacks, Apple says it will adopt the AdAttributionKit API "at a later date", and since September 2026 ad groups using age or gender settings return no AdServices attribution at all (see how Apple Ads attribution works). AdAttributionKit postbacks arrive at least 24 to 48 hours after a conversion, with coarse or fine values the app sets, so ROAS is modeled rather than observed per user, usually through a mobile measurement partner. For ASO, taps on ads inside other apps are credited to App Referrer in App Store Connect (Web Referrer if the click redirects through Safari), not App Store Search.
Example
A puzzle game runs install campaigns on two ad networks and Apple Ads. The networks' AdAttributionKit postbacks arrive days after installs, some with only coarse conversion values, while Apple Ads installs come through AdServices, so the team compares channels on modeled D7 revenue and keeps the App Referrer downloads the networks drive separate from organic search growth.