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Overview

Connect Meta Ads to send installs, registrations, purchases, and custom app events from Linkrunner to Meta. Use this guide to connect your Meta app and ad account, configure Conversions API, and map the events Meta should receive.

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What You’ll Get

  • Automatic attribution tracking — Track installs and conversions from your Meta ad campaigns
  • View-through attribution — Attribute installs from users who viewed but didn’t click your ads (setup required)
  • Event mapping — Map your in-app events to Meta events for postback conversion tracking
  • Revenue tracking — Share revenue data with Meta to optimize for value
  • Default events included — App Install events and Sign up events are captured automatically

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Setup Process

Setting up Meta Ads integration involves configuring your Meta app credentials, mapping events, and setting up conversion tracking in Meta Events Manager.

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1. Configure Meta App Integration

This process connects your app and Meta ad account with Linkrunner.

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Step 1: Get Your Meta App ID

Meta App ID and Referrer Key
  1. Go to Meta for Developers
  2. Navigate to your App Dashboard
  3. Go to Settings → Basic
  4. Copy your App ID

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Step 2: Get Your Referrer Decryption Key

Meta App ID and Referrer Key
  1. In the same App Dashboard under Settings → Basic
  2. Scroll down to the Android section
  3. Copy the Install Referrer Decryption Key
The Install Referrer Decryption Key is required for Android attribution tracking. Make sure you have this configured in your Meta app settings.

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Step 3: Configure in Linkrunner Dashboard

  1. Go to Meta App Integration
  2. Enter your App ID in the designated field
  3. Enter your Referrer Decryption Key
  4. Click Save
Meta App Integration tab in Linkrunner

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Step 4: Connect Meta Ad Account

  1. Go to Ad Account Integration
  2. Click Add Meta Account
  3. Log in with Meta and connect your ad account
Meta Ad Account Integration tab in Linkrunner

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Step 5: Configure CAPI

  1. Click Configure CAPI for the connected ad account
  2. Enter the Dataset ID from Meta Events Manager
  3. Enter the CAPI Access Token from Meta Events Manager → Settings → Conversions API
  4. Click Save
Configure CAPI modal in Linkrunner

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2. Set Up Event Mapping

Map your app events to Meta events so Linkrunner can send postback conversions.
MobileAppInstall and CompleteRegistration are sent to Meta by default. You do not need mappings for these events.
  1. Go to Meta Ads Event Mapping
  2. Click Add Mapping
  3. Select your event under Your Events
  4. Select the matching Meta Ads Event
  5. Turn on Send Revenue only for revenue events, then choose the Currency
  6. Click Save
  7. Click the paper plane Send to ad network icon to fire a test event
Meta Ads event mapping table in Linkrunner
After Linkrunner fires an event, it can take up to 1 hour to appear in Meta Events Manager.
If you cannot see MobileAppInstall or CompleteRegistration in Meta Events Manager, click the paper plane Send to ad network icon for that event.

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3. Configure Events in Meta Events Manager

Use Meta Events Manager to verify that Meta receives events from Linkrunner.
  1. Go to Meta Ads Dashboard
  2. Open Events Manager → Datasets
  3. Select your app dataset, or click Create Dataset
  4. Go to Settings → Conversions API and confirm the dataset can receive Conversions API events
  5. Open the Events tab to view events from Linkrunner
  6. Create custom conversion events for the events you want to optimize campaigns on
If events do not appear in Meta Events Manager after 1 hour, verify your App ID and Referrer Decryption Key are correct.

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4. Campaign Tracking

Once your integration is configured, Meta ad campaigns will automatically appear on the Linkrunner Dashboard as they go live.

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Automatic Campaign Detection

  • No manual setup required — Campaigns are detected automatically
  • Real-time tracking — See campaign performance as soon as ads start running
  • Attribution data — Track installs, events, and revenue back to specific campaigns

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Viewing Campaign Data

  1. Go to your Linkrunner Dashboard
  2. Navigate to the Campaigns section
  3. Filter by Meta to see all your Meta ad campaigns
  4. View detailed attribution and conversion data for each campaign

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5. Deferred Deep Linking

Use deferred deep links when a Meta install should open a specific screen after first app open. Linkrunner returns the selected URL in the SDK getAttributionData() response.
Campaign, ad set, and ad creative rows appear in Linkrunner after they receive at least one install.

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Priority Order

Linkrunner uses the most specific deep link available:
  1. Ad Creative Level: Used first
  2. Ad Set Level: Used when the ad creative has no deep link
  3. Campaign Level: Used as the fallback
Use this when every ad in the campaign should open the same destination.
  1. Navigate to the Campaigns section in your Linkrunner Dashboard
  2. Find your Meta campaign in the list
  3. Click the Edit button on the campaign row
  4. In the campaign settings, locate the Deferred Deep Link field
  5. Enter your deep link URL, such as https://myapp.com/product/12345
  6. Click Save to apply the changes
Use this when an ad set should open a different destination from the campaign default.
  1. Navigate to the Campaigns section in your Linkrunner Dashboard
  2. Find your Meta campaign in the list
  3. Click on the ad set name to open the ad set details
  4. In the ad set configuration, locate the Deferred Deep Link field
  5. Enter your deep link URL, such as https://myapp.com/category/electronics
  6. Click Update to apply the changes
Edit ad set deep link modal If no ad set deep link is set, Linkrunner uses the campaign deep link. Use this when one ad should open a specific product, offer, or screen.
  1. Navigate to the Campaigns section in your Linkrunner Dashboard
  2. Find your Meta campaign in the list
  3. Click on the ad creative name (or ad name) to open the ad creative details
  4. In the ad creative configuration, locate the Deferred Deep Link field
  5. Enter your deep link URL, such as https://myapp.com/product/12345?promo=summer
  6. Click Update to apply the changes
Edit ad creative deep link modal If no ad creative deep link is set, Linkrunner checks the ad set, then the campaign.

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6. Enable Meta View-Through Attribution (Android)

By default, Linkrunner attributes installs from Meta ads using click-based attribution. To also attribute installs from users who viewed your ad but didn’t click on it (view-through conversions), you need to enable Meta Install Referrer support. Meta Install Referrer allows Linkrunner to receive ad campaign metadata directly from the Facebook or Instagram app installed on the user’s device. This enables view-through conversion tracking, giving you a more complete picture of your Meta campaign performance.

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How It Works

  1. A user views your Meta ad but doesn’t click on it
  2. The user later installs your app organically
  3. The Linkrunner SDK retrieves campaign metadata stored by the Facebook/Instagram app on the device
  4. Linkrunner attributes the install back to the original Meta ad view

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Setup

To enable this, you need to make your Facebook App ID available to the Linkrunner SDK in your Android app’s AndroidManifest.xml.
Add the following to your AndroidManifest.xml:
<meta-data android:name="com.linkrunner.FacebookApplicationId" android:value="@string/facebook_application_id" />
And add your App ID to strings.xml:
<string name="facebook_application_id" translatable="false">YOUR_FACEBOOK_APP_ID</string>

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Requirements

  • Android SDK version 3.5.2 or higher
  • Flutter SDK version 3.6.2 or higher
  • React Native SDK version 2.6.2 or higher
  • Users must have Facebook app version 428.x.x+ or Instagram app version 296.x.x+ installed on their device
View-through attribution requires the Facebook or Instagram app to be installed on the user’s device. If neither app is present, only click-based attribution will be available.
For more details, see the Meta Install Referrer documentation.

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Troubleshooting

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Events Not Showing Up in Meta

  • Verify your Referrer Decryption Key is correct
  • Check that your dataset is configured to receive Conversions API events
  • Wait up to 1 hour for events to appear in Meta Events Manager
  • Test your event mappings using the paper plane Send to ad network icon in Linkrunner

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Campaigns Not Appearing in Dashboard

Campaigns will only appear in the Linkrunner dashboard after the first install comes through that campaign, not immediately when the campaign is launched. Before troubleshooting, verify:
  • App is live with Linkrunner SDK — Ensure your app is deployed with the Linkrunner SDK integrated and has 100% rollout to users
  • Meta decryption key is configured — Verify the Install Referrer Decryption Key is correctly added in your Linkrunner dashboard settings
  • Campaigns are running — Confirm your Meta ad campaigns are active and serving impressions
  • First install received — Campaigns appear only after the first user installs your app via that campaign
Campaigns do not appear immediately after launch. You must wait for at least one install to come through the campaign before it will show up in your dashboard.

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Revenue Data Not Tracking

  • Confirm “Send Revenue” is enabled in your event mapping
  • Verify the correct currency is selected
  • Ensure your app is sending revenue values with events
For any questions or assistance with Meta Ads integration, please contact us at support@linkrunner.io.