What Are Fake Installs?

Fake Installs are illegitimate, artificially generated app installs that do not reflect authentic user engagement or interest. They can be produced through various fraudulent methods, including automated bots programmed to simulate genuine installs, install farms where individuals are paid to download apps, or incentivized downloads in which users are offered rewards for installing an app without any real intent of using it.

Fake installs can significantly skew campaign data, distorting the accuracy of key performance metrics for app developers and marketers. For instance, a high number of installs might suggest a successful campaign or popular app, but if many of these are fake, subsequent engagement rates, retention figures, and monetization potential do not align with the inflated install numbers. Such a discrepancy can lead to misguided marketing decisions, wasted ad spend, and inaccurate assessment of an app’s true popularity and user base.

To combat fake installs, app developers and marketers can employ fraud detection and prevention tools to analyze install patterns and flag irregularities that may indicate fraudulent activity.