Tutorial: Measure iOS Ads conversions

Step 3: Initiate on-device conversion measurement using Google Analytics

Now that you can collect users' email addresses and phone numbers and your app has the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK, you can use the two to start measuring conversions.

Call the API

Call the conversion measurement API with the consented email address or phone number from Step 1, which is used for ads conversion measurement, without allowing any personally identifiable information to leave the user device.

There are two ways to initiate measurement:

• Using credentials
• Using hashed credentials

Use email address or phone number

import FirebaseAnalytics

// ...
// If you're using an email address....
Analytics.initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement(emailAddress: "example@gmail.com")
// If you're using a phone number....
Analytics.initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement(phoneNumber: "+15555555555")

@import FirebaseAnalytics;

// ...
// If you're using an email address....
[FIRAnalytics initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithEmailAddress:@"example@gmail.com"];
// If you're using a phone number....
[FIRAnalytics initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithPhoneNumber:@"+15555555555"];

using Firebase.Analytics;

// ...
// If you're using an email address....
FirebaseAnalytics.InitiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithEmailAddress("example@gmail.com");
// If you're using a phone number....
FirebaseAnalytics.InitiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithPhoneNumber("+15555555555");

Best Practices for calling the API

To ensure accurate and continuous on-device conversion measurement, do any of the following:

Call on every app update (Recommended)

Google Analytics for Firebase SDK version 12.1.0 and later includes improvements to on-device conversion measurement. To ensure these improvements apply to all users, including those already signed in before your app was updated, it's crucial to call the initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement API again after the app updates.

Specifically, users who signed in before your app updated to SDK version 12.1.0 are not included in the enhanced measurement scope until the initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement API is called again for them. Without the app update check, this would only happen if they sign out and sign back in.

The best practice is to call the API for signed-in users at least once per app version. You can implement a check on app launch to call the API only when the app version has changed since the last call.

// On app launch if the app version has changed, call the API with the first-party data
// (for example: email address, phone number, hashed email address, hashed phone number).
let cachedAppVersion = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "cachedAppVersion")
let currentAppVersion =
  Bundle.main.infoDictionary?["CFBundleShortVersionString"] as? String

if cachedAppVersion != currentAppVersion {
let hashedEmailAddress = ...
Analytics.initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement(hashedEmailAddress: hashedEmailAddress)
UserDefaults.standard.set(currentAppVersion, forKey: "cachedAppVersion")
}

// On app launch if the app version has changed, call the API with the first-party data
// (for example: email address, phone number, hashed email address, hashed phone number).
NSString *cachedAppVersion =
  [[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] stringForKey:@"cachedAppVersion"];
NSString *currentAppVersion = [[NSBundle mainBundle]
  objectForInfoDictionaryKey:@"CFBundleShortVersionString"];

if (![cachedAppVersion isEqualToString:currentAppVersion]) {
NSString *hashedEmailAddress = ...
[FIRAnalytics initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithHashedEmailAddress:hashedEmailAddress];
[[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] setObject:currentAppVersion
                                          forKey:@"cachedAppVersion"];
}

// On app launch if the app version has changed, call the API with the first-party data
// (for example: email address, phone number, hashed email address, hashed phone number).
string cachedAppVersion = PlayerPrefs.GetString("cached_app_version", "");
string currentAppVersion = Application.version;

if (cachedAppVersion != currentAppVersion) {
byte[] hashedEmailAddress = ...
FirebaseAnalytics.InitiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithHashedEmailAddress(
    hashedEmailAddress);
PlayerPrefs.SetString("cached_app_version", currentAppVersion);
PlayerPrefs.Save();
}

Call immediately after sign-in

Always call the initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement API right after a user successfully signs in or registers their email or phone number.

Timing consideration for new registrations

If a key conversion event occurs immediately after a user registers (and you call the API), consider implementing a small delay (for example, five seconds) between the API call and logging the key event. This helps ensure the on-device measurement is fully initialized before the event is logged.

Use a hashed email address or phone number

The API will accept email addresses and phone numbers hashed with SHA256. You can maintain control of your user's data by performing the hashing in your code before making calls to the SDK.

To use hashed credentials, normalize addresses and numbers, hash them with SHA256, then call the API.

Normalize email addresses and phone numbers

For email addresses, the Google Analytics API assumes that a particular normalization is performed before SHA256 is applied, so follow these steps to normalize your data:

1. Convert the entire email address to lowercase.

2. If the email address ends in domain @googlemail.com, replace the @googlemail.com domain with @gmail.com.

3. For addresses ending in domain @gmail.com (including those modified in the previous step):

   1. Remove all periods from the username portion.

   2. Make the following substitutions in the username portion:

      • For letters I or i, or digit 1, substitute letter l
      • For digit 0, substitute letter o
      • For digit 2, substitute letter z
      • For digit 5, substitute letter s

For example, after normalization:

• an.email.user0125@googlemail.com becomes anemalluserolzs@gmail.com
• CAPSUSER0125@provider.net becomes capsuser0125@provider.net

For phone numbers, numbers must already be in E.164 format (that is, prefix with +, 1-3 digits for country code, max 12 digits for subscriber number) prior to hashing with SHA256.

Note that the hashed SHA256 email or phone numbers must be 32 bytes long and not a hexadecimal string.

Call the API with hashed credentials

import FirebaseAnalytics

// ...
// If you're using an email address....
Analytics.initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement(hashedEmailAddress: hashedEmailAddress)
// If you're using a phone number....
Analytics.initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement(hashedPhoneNumber: hashedPhoneNumber)

@import FirebaseAnalytics;

// ...
// If you're using an email address....
[FIRAnalytics initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithHashedEmailAddress:hashedEmailAddress];
// If you're using a phone number....
[FIRAnalytics initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithHashedPhoneNumber:hashedPhoneNumber];

using Firebase.Analytics;

// ...
// If you're using an email address....
FirebaseAnalytics.InitiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithHashedEmailAddress(hashedEmailAddress);
// If you're using a phone number....
FirebaseAnalytics.InitiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurementWithHashedPhoneNumber(hashedPhoneNumber);

Verify integration

Enable debug mode. After calling the initiate measurement API, ensure that a message like the following log message appears in the Xcode debug console:

[FirebaseAnalytics][I-ACS023225] Initiated on-device conversion measurement

If you enabled debug mode and included the -DebugOnDeviceConversionMeasurement launch argument, then calling the initiateOnDeviceConversionMeasurement() API will simulate a match.

[FirebaseAnalytics][I-ACS023229] On-device conversion measurement found a match

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