Focus on specific types of customers
You can refine your audience at the ad group level by these customer types:
- All users
- New users
- Returning users
- Users of my other apps
All users
This is the default customer type when you create a new ad group. To provide your ads with the maximum reach for relevant App Store searches, it includes all prospective, former and current customers of your app.
New users
This customer type maximises the number of your conversions that will come from first-time downloaders of your app.
Returning users
This customer type enables you to reengage customers who have previously downloaded your app. The customers who see your ad may have had the app in the past but have since deleted it, may have it downloaded on another one of their devices or may have it currently on a device. Downloads in the first two scenarios would show up as redownloads in your reporting. If customers already have the app, they’ll see an [OPEN] button. If the app isn’t present on the specific device they’re using, they’ll see a redownload icon.
App redownloaders can be a valuable audience to target. Setting up your Apple Search Ads campaigns to include Returning users can help you optimise potential for both downloads and in-app spend.
Users of my other apps
Use this customer type to cross-promote your app to users of other apps you own.
Audience volume minimum
For ads with specified audience criteria to run, audiences must have more than 5,000 customers. If the audience minimum isn’t yet reached, you’ll see your ad group on hold and a message informing you that the audience is below the threshold. Once the minimum audience size is attained, your ad group will automatically start running.
New downloads and redownloads
Gain insight into how many of your installs are new downloads or redownloads of your app to better understand customer behaviour and inform your marketing strategies. Redownloads occur when a customer downloads your app, deletes it and downloads the same app again following a tap on an ad on the App Store, or downloads the same app on an additional device.
You may still see some redownload conversions when using the “New users” setting due to the following:
- A customer may have Limit Ad Tracking (LAT) turned on (if they’re using a device with iOS 13 or earlier), or Personalised Ads turned off (if they’re using a device with iOS 14 or later), which would prevent Apple Search Ads from knowing them as a returning customer.
- Apple Search Ads does not collect data on customers below the age of 18. App Store users under 18 may still see ads for apps they have previously downloaded, similar to customers who have LAT turned on or Personalised Ads turned off. No ads will be shown to customers whose Apple IDs are registered to minors under 13 years of age, or whose accounts are registered as Managed Apple IDs.
- The first time the “New users” customer type is selected for an app, it can take up to seven days for Apple Search Ads to ensure prior downloaders of your app are excluded from seeing your ad. During this time you may receive a small number of conversions that are redownloads of the app. Any future ad groups that use the “New user” customer type for the same app will automatically exclude prior downloaders from seeing the ad.
- A customer who very recently downloaded the app may not yet have been identified by Apple Search Ads as having the app and may be served the ad.
Limit Ad Tracking conversion reporting
Apple Search Ads offers transparency into aggregated counts of installs (downloads) from devices with Limit Ad Tracking (LAT) On or Off:
- LAT On installs – Downloads from customers who have enabled LAT on their device. LAT On install totals don’t include downloads from devices running iOS 14 or later.
- LAT Off installs – Downloads from customers who haven’t enabled LAT on their device. LAT Off install totals don’t include downloads from devices running iOS 14 or later.
Due to Apple’s Privacy Policy, LAT On install data cannot be passed through the Apple Search Ads Attribution API used by mobile measurement providers (MMPs), so the number of attributed conversions reported by your MMP may be lower. Total installs in Apple Search Ads reporting may also differ from totals of LAT Off and LAT On installs, as additional downloads may come from customers using iOS 14 or later.
From the Campaigns dashboard, you can view LAT On and LAT Off install data fields by clicking “Edit columns”.
For Campaign Management API users, the LAT On and LAT Off, and New Downloads and Redownloads install data fields are available in the Campaign Management API via the reporting endpoint.