Half a day with an MMP already in the app; longer if the SDK needs a store release.
Madder does not touch your app. Once the app data connection reports installs, the agent drafts App Promotion campaigns for an install goal, reads installs and in-app events as leads, and pauses a campaign whose platform-reported installs the MMP does not see.
Before you start#
- The app live in the App Store or Google Play, and its store link.
- Either an MMP account (TikTok lists Adjust, Airbridge, AppsFlyer, Branch, Kochava, Singular and Tenjin) or a developer able to add TikTok's SDK.
- An ad account registered in Madder, with Admin or Operator permission.
1. Register the app in Events Manager#
In TikTok Ads Manager go to Tools → Events Manager (as of September 2026), click Connect data source and choose App. Enter the app store link. TikTok's guide also describes the older path Tools → Event page → Manage under App Event → Create New App; both land on the same app record. One record per store listing: iOS and Android separately.
2. Pick MMP or TikTok SDK#
- Mobile measurement partner — the normal choice. Your MMP already attributes installs from every network; connecting it takes minutes and keeps one source of truth.
- TikTok App Events SDK (or the App Events API from your backend) — when you have no MMP. Cheaper, but installs are then counted only by TikTok's own attribution, which is how "0 MMP installs vs 54 platform-reported" happens. Plan an MMP before you scale.
3. Connect the MMP#
In the app record choose the partner. Per TikTok: AppsFlyer and Singular need "no additional configuration"; Adjust and Airbridge need their click and impression URLs; Branch the Branch Key; Kochava the App GUID; Tenjin the App Integration Key. Then, inside the MMP, enable TikTok for Business as a partner for this app and map install, registration, trial and purchase.
4. Or ship the SDK#
Add TikTok's App Events SDK for iOS and Android, initialise it with the app ID from Events Manager, and log Registration, Start Trial and Purchase with value and currency (install is automatic). Nothing arrives until real users install the new release.
5. Verify, then wait for the objective to unlock#
In Events Manager the app shows recent events under Overview; Test events with a debug device shows them arrive. The App Promotion objective in Ads Manager becomes usable once the app record has an attribution source; the agent drafts nothing before at least one install event has been received.
6. Tell Madder which event is the lead#
In the brief say "an install is a lead" or "a trial start is a lead"; the agent sets the optimisation event and reports cost per lead on it.
If it doesn't work#
- App Promotion objective greyed out — no app record, or the record has no attribution source connected.
- MMP shows installs, TikTok shows none — the partner is not enabled for TikTok inside the MMP, or the postback for this app is off.
- TikTok shows installs, MMP shows none — TikTok self-attributed view-through installs; trust the MMP and tighten the ad group's attribution window.
- Events arrive with no value — the mapping omits
value/currency; purchases cannot drive ROAS. - iOS far below Android — expected under App Tracking Transparency.