How to Track App Installs from TikTok Slideshows
Updated · By the ViralSlides team
TikTok does not report installs from organic posts, so you measure them on the store side. Put a tracked store link in your bio instead of the plain one: an App Store campaign link (your provider token pt plus a campaign token ct, made in App Store Connect) for iOS, and a Google Play link whose referrer carries UTM parameters for Android. Installs from those links show up under Campaigns in App Store Connect's analytics and as tracked (UTM) channels in Play Console. Read them next to each post's saves, shares and profile visits to see which slideshows send people to the store.
A slideshow can get a hundred thousand views and no installs, or a few thousand views and a good day in the store. The only way to know which one you had is to tag the link people tap. Here is how to do that for both stores without an SDK, and how to read the numbers honestly.
Steps
- 1Get your App Store provider tokenIn App Store Connect, open your app, click Analytics, then Campaigns in the Acquisition section, and create a campaign link. The pt value in that link is your provider token. It identifies your developer account and stays the same for every campaign, so you only need to fetch it once. Apple only shows the option once the app has analytics data, so a brand-new app may have to wait a day after launch.
- 2Make one App Store link per platformKeep pt the same and change the campaign token ct for each place you post, for example one for TikTok and one for Instagram. A campaign token can be up to 30 characters. The finished link looks like apps.apple.com/app/id123456789?pt=123456&ct=tiktok&mt=8.
- 3Tag your Google Play linkAdd a referrer parameter to your play.google.com listing URL that carries utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, URL-encoded, for example &referrer=utm_source%3Dtiktok%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_campaign%3Dslideshows. Links to other domains are not tracked this way.
- 4Put the tracked link where people tapText on a slide is not a link. The tap happens in your bio, or on a small landing page with one button per store if the bio holds only one link. In that case each store button on the page carries its own tracked link, and the bio link itself can carry UTM tags for your website analytics.
- 5Keep a posting logFor every post, note the date and time, the hook, the format and, a day or two later, its views, saves, shares, comments and profile visits. Store reports are daily totals, and the log is what lets you line them up with posts.
- 6Read the store reports each weekIn App Store Connect, look at Analytics, then Acquisition, then Campaigns. In Play Console, open the acquisition reports and look at the tracked channels (UTM) row, or filter the store listing conversion analysis by UTM source and campaign.
- 7Match store days to postsLook for days when campaign downloads rise and check which posts went out in the day or two before. One spike proves little; a format or hook that is followed by a rise again and again is worth making more of.
Why TikTok can't tell you about installs
TikTok's analytics describe the post and your profile: views, likes, comments, shares, saves and profile visits. Once someone taps your bio link they leave TikTok, and an organic post carries no conversion tracking the way an ad campaign can. The store knows the install happened but not which post caused it unless the link they tapped says so. That is why attribution for organic slideshows is done per link, which in practice means per platform or per campaign, not per post.
What App Store Connect shows for a campaign
Apple ties impressions, product page views, downloads, sales and later usage to each campaign token, and lets you break the results down by territory and device. There are privacy thresholds: a metric only appears once it reaches 5 in the date range you picked, and a campaign only shows data after first-time downloads from at least five people. If a campaign looks empty, widen the date range before deciding the link is broken.
What Play Console shows
Play Console's acquisition reports count unique users who reached your store listing in the Play Store app from a UTM-tagged link as a tracked channel, separate from Play Store search and explore. The store listing conversion analysis can be filtered by UTM source and campaign, which tells you how many of those visitors went on to tap Install. Visits that stay on the web version of the Play Store are not counted there.
The installs you will never see
Plenty of people who see a good slideshow don't tap anything. They remember the name and search the store later, and those installs show up as App Store or Play Store search, not as your campaign. Others see the post shared in a chat, or switch from phone to laptop. Treat campaign installs as the floor, not the total. When posts are working you will usually see store search and total installs move too, so watch those alongside the campaign numbers.
Comparing posts, series and platforms
Because one bio link serves every post, the cleanest comparisons are by platform (one token for TikTok, one for Instagram) and by period. To compare two content series, give each its own campaign token and swap the bio link when you switch series, then compare the two weeks rather than individual posts. Inside a period, use the posting log and the post-level signals that show intent: saves, shares, profile visits and comments that ask for the app's name.
Common mistakes
Using the plain store URL in the bio, so every install looks like organic store traffic. Changing the provider token, which is fixed for your account; only the campaign token should change. Hiding the link behind a link-in-bio service that rewrites store URLs and drops the parameters; tap your own link on a phone and check the URL that opens. Judging a campaign on a single day, when Apple's thresholds hide small numbers. Calling a post a failure for zero tracked installs when store search rose the same day.
Where ViralSlides fits
Add your App Store URL, Google Play URL, website and Apple provider token to an app in ViralSlides and its Tracked links card builds the links for you: an App Store link with ct=vs-tiktok or ct=vs-instagram, a Google Play link whose referrer is tagged utm_source=tiktok or instagram, utm_medium=social and utm_campaign=viralslides, and a website link with the same UTM tags. For posts published through ViralSlides, each slideshow's publish history shows the views, likes, comments, shares and saves fetched from the platform, which is the post-level half of the picture.
FAQ
Does TikTok show how many people installed my app from a post?
No. TikTok's analytics stop at your post and profile. Installs are measured in App Store Connect and Play Console, through the tracked link people tap.
Do I need an attribution SDK?
Not to start. App Store campaign links and Play Store UTM links need no code in your app. A mobile measurement partner becomes worth it when you run paid campaigns or need user-level attribution.
Why does my App Store campaign show no data?
Apple hides a metric until it reaches 5 in the selected date range and only shows a campaign after first-time downloads from at least five people. Widen the date range, and check that the link people tap still contains pt and ct.
Can one bio link track both iOS and Android?
A store link only opens one store. Use a small landing page with one button per store, each with its own tracked link, or a link service that sends each device to its store without stripping the parameters.
Should Instagram get a different link from TikTok?
Yes. Give each platform its own campaign token or utm_source, otherwise you cannot tell which one drives installs.
Sources
Platform limits checked on October 21, 2026.