A conversion value is a numerical score assigned to specific user actions within an app or campaign to indicate how valuable those actions are. In the world of mobile marketing and iOS attribution, conversion values are particularly important in Apple’s SKAdNetwork (SKAN) framework, where they serve as privacy-safe identifiers for post-install activity.
Each conversion value reflects how meaningful a user action is to your business. For example, completing a purchase might have a higher conversion value than simply opening the app. This allows marketers to understand which ad campaigns and channels drive high-value users — all while staying compliant with Apple’s privacy regulations.
Conversion values became essential after Apple launched App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which limited access to personal user data such as device identifiers (IDFA). With these changes, traditional attribution methods lost visibility into user-level behavior.
To fill this gap, Apple introduced SKAdNetwork, a privacy-focused measurement system that uses conversion values instead of personal identifiers. This lets marketers continue to track app performance and optimize campaigns without compromising user privacy.
In short, conversion values allow you to measure campaign impact and user engagement in a compliant way, replacing individual-level data with aggregated event-based reporting.
Conversion values range from 0 to 63, giving marketers 64 possible points to represent user actions or milestones within an app. The system works as follows:
This postback gives advertisers a summarized view of user quality without revealing who the user is.
With SKAN 4.0, Apple expanded this system to allow multiple postbacks (up to three), each corresponding to different activity windows — early, mid, and late engagement. This provides a more complete view of how user value evolves over time.
Fine conversion values
These use the traditional 0–63 scale to provide detailed insight into user activity. You can map each number to a specific event or user milestone — such as completing onboarding, adding a payment method, or making a purchase.
Coarse conversion values
Introduced in SKAN 4.0, coarse values simplify measurement by grouping user actions into broader categories like low, medium, and high. This helps marketers still gauge user value when fine-grained data isn’t available.
| Conversion Value | Example In-App Action |
|---|---|
| 63 | Completed Purchase |
| 62 | Added Payment Information |
| 60 | Added Item to Cart |
| 50 | Viewed Product Page |
| 30 | Completed Onboarding |
| 10 | Watched Ad or Engaged with Content |
| 1 | Opened App or Started Session |
| 0 | Installed App |
This mapping is customizable based on your business model and goals. A subscription app might prioritize trial starts or renewals, while a gaming app might assign higher values to reaching certain levels or in-app purchases.
While powerful, conversion values can be complex to implement. Key challenges include:
A thoughtful configuration that aligns with your business goals is critical.
The conversion value scale ranges from 0 to 63, allowing for 64 total values to represent user behavior and engagement levels.
Fine values use detailed numeric tracking (0–63) for precise mapping of user events. Coarse values group actions into broad categories — low, medium, high — to simplify reporting under privacy constraints.
They help measure the quality of acquired users and the effectiveness of campaigns in a privacy-friendly way. Without them, advertisers would have limited insight into post-install performance on iOS.
While the term is most commonly used in the context of Apple’s SKAdNetwork, similar concepts exist in Android analytics and general attribution frameworks, where events are weighted by value.
Yes. SKAN allows conversion values to update within specific time windows. Each time a higher value event occurs, the timer resets to allow tracking of continued engagement.