App tracking

Send events from an iOS or Android app through the server container to GA4, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads and Google Ads.

App traffic reaches the server container over a different route than web traffic, and it arrives without cookies, without a page URL, and with device information the ad platforms insist on. That is why an app setup is not a matter of pointing existing tags at a second source: app traffic arrives on its own client, and every platform needs its own tag on that client.

The rule that prevents most app-tracking issues: every tag and trigger in a container that handles app traffic filters on Client Name. A trigger that only matches an event name fires for web and app alike, which sends app events to a platform as web events, with an empty page URL and no identifiers.

How to read this section

Read the four shared pages first. They apply to every platform, and the platform pages assume you know them.

1. How app tracking works — the route from the app to the platforms, and which part belongs to whom.

2. Preparation and roles — what must exist before you start, and what you agree with the app developer.

3. Server container basics — the GA4 App client, naming, and the trigger rule.

4. Event data reference — which fields the Firebase client makes available in the server container.

5. Identifiers and consent in apps — the single biggest factor in whether a platform can attribute an app conversion.

Then the platform you need: GA4, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads or Google Ads. Each platform page has the same seven sections, so you can compare them.

Finish with Testing and verification and, when something is rejected, Platform error reference.

Scope

This section covers native app events collected with the Firebase SDK and forwarded by a Google Tag Manager server container. It does not cover webviews that show a website inside the app: that traffic runs over the web data stream and is documented with the web setup.