Install status indicates whether an application is installed or not for a particular user, providing base-level install information at a user level.
Track Install Status
MoEngage tracks the install status in multiple ways:
- By setting up Install/Uninstall/Reinstall tracking through SDK integration
- By observing when silent push messages, sent to users' devices, return a signal from Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) or Apple Push Notification Service (APNs) indicating whether the app is installed or not. Note that a silent push notification is not supported in Apple devices any longer. You can activate this tracking from the dashboard settings page.
- By setting up Firebase integration in MoEngage SDK for real-time uninstall tracking.
If MoEngage detects that a user has installed the app, the install status is marked as true; otherwise, it is marked as false. For users with multiple devices, the install status will be true, if the user has at least one installed device.
View Install Status in MoEngage Dashboard
Follow the below steps to view the install status of a particular user in the MoEngage dashboard:
- Log in to the MoEngage dashboard and navigate to Segments > Create Segments.
- Under Query results, expand the desired query.
- Under Sample users of the query, click the required user for which you want to view the install status. You can also search for the user directly using the search bar in Create segment UI.
- In the following User Profile page that appears, under the Uninstall section you can view the Install Status.
Factors Causing Inaccuracies in Install Status
There are certain factors that can cause inaccuracies in the install status tracking:
- Inaccurate feedback details - The silent push messages are typically tracked by feedback services of notification providers such as APNS and FCM. These feedback services usually notify applications when push messages cannot be delivered, also known as push bounce, which indicates that the customer has uninstalled your application. It’s nearly impossible to know exactly when a user uninstalls because feedback is only generated when apps attempt to deliver push messages.
- Depreciation of silent push notifications for IOS 10- The deprecation of silent push notifications in iOS 10 poses challenges for tracking uninstalls at the user level. Silent push notifications were previously used to detect when a user had uninstalled an app, as the feedback would indicate delivery failure. However, with their deprecation, it has become increasingly difficult to precisely track uninstalls.
- User logout before uninstalling- When a user logs out before uninstalling an app, it can lead to inaccurate uninstall tracking. This occurs because the app remains installed on the device even though the user may no longer actively use it. Uninstall tracking typically relies on feedback from push notification services that inform the app when messages cannot be delivered due to an app being uninstalled. However, if the user logs out without uninstalling, the app continues to receive push notifications, making it difficult to differentiate between an actual uninstall and a logged-out session.
- Device archival- Uninstall tracking can be inaccurate when the device is archived because the install status of a user is retained for up to 60 days even after archiving. When a device is archived, it means that it is no longer actively used or connected to the user's account. However, the uninstall tracking mechanism may not recognise the archived status and may continue to retain the user's install status as TRUE. This leads to inaccurate uninstall tracking as the user may have actually uninstalled the app but is still considered as having an active installation.
It's important to consider these limitations when analyzing the install status and interpreting user engagement and retention metrics accurately.