Uninstalls Tracking

Q: How does Pushwoosh track my app uninstalls? 

A:

In the App Store and Google Play, you see the number of users who installed the app, but don’t know how many of them deleted the app later, though it’s vital. Uninstalls Tracking gives you the precise and accurate data of how many devices actually have your app installed at the moment, and how this number changes, i.e., how many users delete your app from their devices. 

Tracking app uninstalls, we keep your user base always actual and valid, which is essential for analytical purposes, planning marketing campaigns, and making informed decisions on how to communicate with the audience. For example, if you see a drop in subscribers number following one of your push campaigns, you can adjust your strategies and prevent app uninstalls concerned with your communications. 

How does it work?

Basically, Uninstalls Tracking is a silent push notification sent to all your app subscribers every day. Silent messages are entirely invisible to users, and they don’t perform any alert; users don’t see any content or badges and are not informed of such notifications in any other way. 

Each device subscribed to push notifications in your app has its own push token — an authentication key matching that particular device with the app. Push notifications can be delivered to devices with valid push tokens registered by cloud messaging gateways (APNs/FCM/GCM). Every time a push notification is sent to a device, Pushwoosh receives the actual status of the device’s push token from the gateway. If the app is deleted from the device, the push token matching this device with the app becomes invalid. 

Please be aware that Uninstalls Tracking is available for iOS and Android devices only.

How to set it up?

Uninstalls Tracking is enabled by a customer request. To set it up, please contact the Support team (help@pushwoosh.com) or your dedicated CSM.

When it's enabled, Pushwoosh sends silent push notifications to your user base every day to receive the statuses of push tokens registered for your apps. If a push token does not exist or is invalid, Pushwoosh removes it from the database and unregister that device from your app. This way, your user base is always up-to-date and consists of valid push tokens only, that means it includes only those devices on which your app is installed at the moment. 

Where do I find the stats?

There is the App Uninstalls graph in the app-specific Statistics section of your Control Panel. It shows the number of app uninstalls as of the date and time specified.