Stop Using Custom Product Pages for App Install Tracking

Felix Cameron — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:17:06 +0000

TL;DR: Custom Product Pages track roughly 60% of installs, delay data 24–48 hours, are iOS-only, cap at 35, and never tell you which creator or campaign drove revenue. They're a store merchandising tool, not an install tracking tool. If you're using them for attribution, you're flying blind on most of your marketing.

If you're using Apple's Custom Product Pages to figure out which campaigns drive installs, stop. You're not getting the data you think you are.

I see this confusion constantly — in indie dev Slack groups, in r/iOSProgramming threads, in Twitter replies. Apple shipped Custom Product Pages in iOS 15 and a lot of developers reasonably assumed: "Great, now I can track installs per campaign."

That is not what CPPs do. Here's the gap, with numbers.

What CPPs Are Actually For

Custom Product Pages let you create up to 35 variations of your App Store listing. Each variation has:

Different screenshots
Different preview videos
Different promotional text
A unique URL

You share different variations with different audiences. The goal: test which presentation of your app converts best.

For that specific job, they're fine. They're an A/B testing tool for store listings.

What CPPs Are Not

Here's what Custom Product Pages don't do:

1. Capture all installs. CPPs attribute roughly 60% of installs. If someone sees your CPP, closes the app store, and installs later from search or a different path, that install isn't counted against the page. CPP also only records downloads from users who have opted into data collection.

2. Show real-time data. There's a 24–48 hour delay. You can't launch a campaign and see how it's performing the same day. You're always looking at yesterday.

3. Work on Android. Google Play has no equivalent. If your app is cross-platform, half your business is invisible.

4. Scale past 35. Sounds like a lot. It isn't. If you want a unique link per creator, per email campaign, per Twitter post — you're out of pages inside a week of serious marketing.

5. Long Review Times. Each CPP needs to be reviewed, which can take many days.

What Actually Tracks Installs

Instally is built for exactly this use case — indie developers who need per-link install and revenue tracking without paying enterprise MMP prices.

The full breakdown of why CPPs aren't install tracking has the complete comparison.

The Right Mental Model

Custom Product Pages → merchandising. Use them to test how your app looks on the store.
Tracked links → attribution. Use them to see which sources drive installs and revenue.

They solve different problems. Using CPPs for tracking is like using a tape measure to weigh something.

What To Do Instead

If you're using CPPs for tracking today:

Keep using them for A/B testing store listings — that's legitimate.
Layer a real install tracking tool on top for per-source data.
Stop sharing naked CPP URLs with creators. Give them tracked links that redirect to your CPPs — you get both: CPP's listing variation and per-creator install tracking.

If you haven't set up install tracking yet, this guide covers the full setup for indie developers who don't want to pay $999/month for Branch or AppsFlyer.

Bottom Line

Custom Product Pages are a store merchandising tool. They let you test how your app is presented.

They are not an install tracking tool. They don't tell you which links drive installs, which creators are worth paying, or which campaigns generate revenue.

Don't use a merchandising tool for an attribution problem.