Short answer: Meta Install Referrer is a source of attribution data that the Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Lite apps keep on an Android device. Your app reads it on first launch and learns which Meta campaign, ad set and ad led to the install, including view-through and multi-session click-through installs that the Google Play Install Referrer cannot see. Without it, a share of your Meta installs on Android can land in the organic bucket.
A Meta campaign reports a few hundred app installs for the day. Your MMP shows fewer, and your organic line has jumped by roughly the gap. Nobody changed the app, the links or the SDK. On Android, one common cause is that the install happened in a way the Play Store referrer never recorded.
India makes this worth fixing early. In Linkrunner's State of Mobile App Growth: India 2026 report, nearly 9 in 10 installs across 77 Indian app startups were on Android. If Meta is a big part of your paid mix, the Android Meta path is where most of your attributed volume lives.
What is Meta Install Referrer?
Meta Install Referrer is Meta's on-device attribution source for Android app ads: the Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Lite apps store encrypted campaign data for the ad a person last engaged with, and the advertised app reads it through a content provider on first launch.
What the referrer returns, per Meta's developer documentation:
install_referrer: encrypted campaign data. Once decrypted, it carries the campaign, ad set and ad IDs and names, the account, the objective and the placement.actual_timestamp: when the click or impression happened.is_ct: 1 for a click-through, 0 for a view-through.
Meta describes it as last-touch information for the install. It is not a replacement for the Google Play Install Referrer, which stays the backbone of Android attribution for every other channel. It fills the Meta-specific gaps.
Why do Meta installs show up as organic on Android?
The Google Play Install Referrer only carries data for a click that leads to an install in the same session. Meta's documentation states this limit directly. Real user behaviour on Meta often breaks that path:
- View-through installs. Someone watches a Reels ad, does not tap, and searches for the app in the Play Store later that evening. There is no click, so the Play referrer has nothing to pass.
- Multi-session click-throughs. Someone taps the ad, closes the store page, and installs two days later from a fresh store visit. The referrer from that later visit has no Meta click on it.
- No other signal to match on. If nothing else ties the install to the Meta ad, the install has no paid source, and an MMP counts an install with no matched source as an organic install.
The result is a paid channel that looks weaker than it is and an organic line that looks stronger than it is. Budget decisions made on those numbers move money away from campaigns that were working.
What does the referrer change in your reports?
| Install path | Play Install Referrer alone | With Meta Install Referrer |
|---|---|---|
| Tap the ad, install in the same session | Attributed to Meta | Attributed to Meta (both sources agree) |
| Tap the ad, install days later | Often organic | Attributed to Meta as a click-through |
| See the ad, no tap, install later | Organic | Attributed to Meta as a view-through |
| No Meta exposure | Organic or other channel | Unchanged |
Two things to expect after you switch it on:
- Meta's attributed installs rise and organic falls by a similar amount. Total installs do not change. You are reclassifying, not creating, installs.
- Your view-through share becomes visible. Decide in advance how you will read view-through installs against click-throughs, because they carry different intent.
What does Meta Install Referrer need to work?
Meta lists these requirements on its developer page:
- App versions on the device. Facebook v428 or later, Instagram v296 or later, Facebook Lite v411 or later. Users on older versions will not return data.
- Manifest queries. Your AndroidManifest.xml must declare
<queries>entries for the Meta app packages so your app can read their content provider. - Your Facebook App ID. The content provider URI includes it, so the SDK needs to know it.
- The decryption key. Meta's page says the Install Referrer Decryption Key sits in the Meta for Developers portal under App settings, Basic, in the Android section, under the Google Play label. If you already set up Play Install Referrer decryption with Meta, you do not need to share the key again.
- An MMP SDK version that supports it. If you use an MMP, the SDK reads the referrer on first launch and sends it to the MMP's servers for matching.
Setup checklist: run it before you trust the numbers
- Confirm the SDK version. Check your MMP's documentation for the minimum Android, Flutter or React Native SDK version that reads Meta Install Referrer, and upgrade if you are below it.
- Add the Facebook App ID. Either through the Facebook SDK's meta-data tag or, if you do not ship the Facebook SDK, through the tag your MMP documents.
- Add the manifest queries for the Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Lite packages.
- Handle the decryption key the way your MMP and Meta's page describe.
- Initialise the SDK on first launch, before anything else runs. A late init is one of the most common reasons a paid install reads as organic, whatever the referrer.
- Test on a real device. Use an Ads Manager preview, install through it, open the app and check the attribution data the SDK returns.
- Compare one week before and after. Look at Meta-attributed installs, organic installs and total installs side by side. Total should hold steady while the split moves.
How to validate this in your MMP
- Pick a single Meta campaign with steady spend and compare Meta-reported installs with MMP-attributed installs for the seven days before and after setup.
- Split the post-setup installs by click-through and view-through.
- If the gap barely moves, check app versions on your test devices, the manifest queries and the App ID before blaming the campaign.
Some of the gap will remain. Meta counts on its own attribution window settings, and our guide to why Meta ROAS and MMP ROAS do not match covers the definitional differences that no referrer will close.
Where it fits with the rest of your Android setup
Meta Install Referrer is one input among several. A sound Android setup reads them in a sensible order:
- Play Install Referrer for every same-session click from any channel. Our Android SDK setup guide walks through reading it correctly.
- Meta Install Referrer for Meta's view-through and later-session installs.
- Meta SDK and app events for optimisation, which is a separate problem covered in troubleshooting Meta SDK event attribution.
- Fallback matching only when no deterministic signal exists.
How Linkrunner handles Meta installs on Android
Linkrunner is a mobile and web attribution platform (the Web SDK is in beta) and a Meta Tech Provider. For Android Meta installs:
- Meta Install Referrer is documented and supported. The Linkrunner Meta Install Referrer guide lists the SDK versions, the App ID setup and how to test the flow.
- Matching is deterministic first. Linkrunner uses deterministic signals such as the install referrers, and falls back to IP and user-agent matching only when no deterministic signal exists.
- Postbacks carry revenue, not just installs, so Meta can optimise towards paying users once attribution is right.
- Pricing suits Android volumes. 25k one-time free attributed installs, then ₹1.20 down to ₹0.80 per attributed install on the INR card, postpaid, with no annual lock-in.
What it does not do: it will not make Meta's numbers and your MMP's numbers identical, because the two still count on different windows. If you are choosing a platform for an Android-heavy app, our ranking of the best MMP for Android-first apps compares the options.
FAQs
Does Meta Install Referrer replace the Google Play Install Referrer?
No. The Play Install Referrer still attributes same-session clicks from every channel. Meta Install Referrer adds Meta-specific view-through and multi-session click-through installs that the Play referrer cannot see.
Does it work for Instagram ads?
Yes. Meta's documentation covers Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Lite. The person needs Instagram v296 or later, or Facebook v428 or later, on their device.
Does Meta Install Referrer need user consent like the advertising ID?
Meta's documentation describes it as a content provider query keyed on your Facebook App ID, not on the advertising ID: your app reads data that Meta's own apps stored on the device. Your privacy policy and Play data safety form should still describe attribution data collection.
Will it increase my total installs?
No. It reclassifies installs that already happened. Expect Meta-attributed installs to rise and organic installs to fall by a similar amount, with the total unchanged.
Is there an iOS equivalent?
No. Meta Install Referrer is Android-only. On iOS, Meta measurement for users who decline tracking runs through SKAN and Meta's Aggregated Event Measurement.
The practical takeaway
If Meta is a meaningful part of your Android spend and your organic line moves when Meta spend moves, set up Meta Install Referrer before your next budget review. It is a small SDK and manifest change that removes a known blind spot. To see Meta installs split by click-through and view-through in one dashboard, request a demo of Linkrunner, then run the seven-step checklist above on one campaign first.