Google Ads (Firebase & Google Analytics)

The Google Ads (Firebase & Google Analytics) integration sends Apphud subscription and non-renewing purchase events to Google Analytics 4 — enabling conversion export to Google Ads campaigns and product analysis directly in Google Analytics.

Apphud can deliver events using either Measurement Protocol or the newer Data Manager API. See Authentication for both methods.

What is it used for?

• Export conversion events to Google Ads.
• Product analysis in Google Analytics.

Limitations

• Events will not show up in Firebase A/B testing results due to a Google Analytics 4 Measurement Protocol API limitation.
• Since it is not possible to disable automatic in-app purchase tracking from the Firebase SDK, you may see increased LTV value for your customers in Google Analytics.

Requirements

• Apphud iOS SDK 2.2.0 or higher.
• Apphud Android SDK 1.2.0 or higher.
• Some code is required to match users sent from Firebase SDK and Apphud — see Match Users below.

How to Add Integration?

Install SDKs

• Install Apphud SDK.
• Integrate Firebase.
• Match Users between Firebase and Apphud and pass the App Instance ID to Apphud. See below.

Authentication

Apphud supports two authentication methods for this integration:

• Measurement Protocol — existing setup using Firebase App ID and API Secret.
• Data Manager API (recommended) — newer method for sending audience and conversion data to Google advertising products.

Configure at least one method below, then continue with Additional Configuration.

Measurement Protocol

Complete the following in your Google Analytics project before configuring Measurement Protocol authentication in Apphud. Open Admin settings of your project.

Firebase App ID

Go to Data Streams and open your App's Stream details page.

On the App stream details page, find and copy the Firebase App ID.

Measurement Protocol API Secret

Under Additional settings, go to Measurement Protocol API secrets and create a new API Secret if one doesn't already exist. Copy the value.

In Apphud, open Connections → Integrations (the All or Analytics tab). Click Add connection for Google Ads (Firebase & Google Analytics) and choose a Source in the pop-up.

Enter the Measurement Protocol credentials:

• Firebase App ID (required) — copied from Google Analytics above.
• Client API Secret (required) — the Measurement Protocol API Secret copied above.

Data Manager API

Data Manager API lets you send audience and conversion data to multiple Google advertising products with a single call. Use this method for stronger Google Ads measurement.

Follow Google's Set up API access guide to:

1. Enable the Data Manager API in your Google Cloud Console.

2. Create a service account with any name.

   

   Grant it the Service Usage Consumer and Service Account Token Creator IAM roles.

   

3. Open the newly created service account page. In the keys section add new private key as JSON file.

   

4. Invite the client_email from that JSON file to your Google Analytics property as Editor.
   

   

5. In the Apphud integration configuration page, fill in the two Data Manager API fields:

   • Google Analytics Property ID
   • Service account JSON (paste the full JSON file contents)

6. Validate integration by using the Test connection feature. Simply enter any recent Transaction ID and view the results.

Additional Configuration

Environment and Revenue

Configure generic Environment and Revenue settings as described on Integrations overview → Configuration tab.

The Revenue configuration section has two Firebase-specific option:

• Add Value to Free Trial Events — when enabled, assigns a subscription value to free trial events, helping improve optimization. See Events Mapping for why this matters.
• Send user properties — enabled by default. When enabled, Apphud includes Apphud user properties in Firebase / Google Analytics events so you can use them for segmentation, Custom Definitions, and audiences. Disable it if you do not want Apphud to send user properties with Firebase events. For more details check official documentation.

Set up filters (optional)

Navigate to Filters tab. Set up filters if needed as described on Integrations overview → Filters tab.

Set up Events list

Open the Events tab of the configuration. You can enable, disable, or rename individual events.

Apphud uses the following default mapping:

See Events Mapping below for rules on renaming events.

Test connection (optional)

Save the connection.

For the general integration configuration testing flow see Integrations overview → Test connection.

Measurement Protocol

When Measurement Protocol credentials are configured and you click Test connection, Apphud sends the test event to Google Analytics 4 Measurement Protocol's debug validation endpoint. This checks the event's parameters and your event mapping without waiting for normal GA4 processing. Open the Response tab: an empty "validationMessages": [] with HTTP 200 means the event is valid; any entries describe what's wrong — decode them with Google's Validating events reference and fix the mapping before making a real test purchase.

The test request is only for validation — it's not a regular production event and is not recorded in your reports. Production Firebase / Google Analytics events can still take 3–6 hours to appear.

Data Manager API

If you use Data Manager API, confirm delivery with a real test purchase and check that the event appears in Google Analytics (and in Google Ads after import). If events do not show up in Google Ads, see the allowlist note above.

End-to-end check

To verify the integration end-to-end:

• Make sure Firebase SDK is properly integrated and the Apphud Google Ads (Firebase & Google Analytics) integration is configured with your chosen authentication method.
• Make sure user matching code (Analytics.setUserID(Apphud.userID())) is called on every app launch.
• Make a test purchase.
• Events typically take 3–6 hours to appear in Firebase and Google Analytics.

Enable and save

Once you confirmed the connection works — Enable integration and Save.

Match Users (required)

To correctly collect events sent from both the Firebase SDK and the Apphud server, you must match User IDs between Apphud and Firebase. For every app launch, call:

Analytics.setUserID(Apphud.userID())
if let instanceID = Analytics.appInstanceID() {
    Apphud.setAttribution(data: nil, from: .firebase, identifer: instanceID,  callback: nil)
} else {
  // app instance id is nil, unable to match user
}

FirebaseAnalytics.getInstance(this).setUserId(Apphud.userId())
FirebaseAnalytics.getInstance(this).appInstanceId.addOnSuccessListener { instanceID ->
    Apphud.setAttribution(ApphudAttributionProvider.firebase, null, instanceID)
}.addOnFailureListener {
    // Optional - Show some error
}.addOnCanceledListener {
    //Optional - Show some error
}

Future<void> _initFirebase() async {
    final userId = await Apphud.userID();
    await FirebaseAnalytics.instance.setUserId(id: userId);

    final identifier = await FirebaseAnalytics.instance.appInstanceId;
    await Apphud.setAttribution(provider: ApphudAttributionProvider.firebase, identifier: identifier);
}

More information about User ID matching: Google Analytics — User ID.

Import Conversions to Google Ads

Follow these steps:

1. Open your Google Ads account and go to Goals → New Conversion Action.
2. Select Import from Google Analytics.
3. Select Google Analytics 4 properties.
4. Select App (Firebase).
5. Click Continue.
6. Select a conversion action from the list and save.
7. Your events will now show up in Google Ads.

Link Firebase with Google Analytics and Google Ads

In Firebase, open Project Settings → Integrations and set up Google Analytics and (optionally) Google Ads integrations.

Events Mapping

Each Apphud event is sent to GA4 under a Partner event name:

• Revenue events (Trial started, Subscription started, renewals, refunds, and so on) let you pick a standard Google event from a selector — all standard names (purchase, refund, login, tutorial_begin, …), with your Apphud name (e.g. apphud_trial_started) at the end of the list — plus an optional Event alias to override it with any custom name.
• Non-revenue events (cancellations, subscription changes, and so on) have no standard GA4 equivalent, so they use a single free-text field: it defaults to apphud_<event> but you can rename it to anything.

GA4 accepts any event name, but Google Ads only accepts Standard Google Events — keep that in mind when renaming.

Match the parameters when renaming. Revenue GA4 events like purchase and refund require currency and value, so only map Apphud revenue events to them. Mapping a non-revenue event (e.g. apphud_trial_started) to purchase fails — it carries no currency / value. To rename a non-revenue event, choose a standard event that needs no special parameters, such as tutorial_begin.

Free-trial value. Enable Add Value to Free Trial Events (in Additional Configuration → Revenue configuration) to send the subscription value on free-trial events, improving optimization. When it's off, trial events (such as trial_active) are still sent — with a revenue value of 0.

Using Google Ads Integration for Web-to-App and Web-to-Web

Setting up the Google Ads Integration for web-to-web and web-to-app is similar to the app integration process, utilizing the same iOS or Android integration depending on the device platform.

1. Select the appropriate platform.
   • For web campaigns targeting an iOS app, create a Google Ads integration for iOS.
   • For Android campaigns, create an integration for Android.
   • If you already have an existing Google Ads integration, no additional action is required.
2. Enable Web Events. Ensure the checkbox "Enable if the integration will also be used to attribute in-app events to web campaigns" is selected.
3. Install Google Tag. Install Google Tag on your website through Framer page settings or your preferred web editor. For Web-to-App landings hosted on Apphud's domain, the script code is installed automatically. If you use Web-to-App with your own landing page, you must install the gtag.js script code.
4. Ensure auto-tagging is on in your Google Ads account settings. Learn more.

The Apphud Web SDK will automatically capture the Google Click ID parameter (client_id) from Google Tag and use it for sending purchase events.

How to get Measurement ID and Web API Secret

Web-to-App / Web-to-Web still uses Measurement Protocol credentials for the web data stream (separate from the app authentication method above).

• Open your Google Analytics account and select Admin → Data Streams → Web.

  

• Create your web stream and provide your production website URL (example: myappsubdomain.siiites.com for Apphud Web-to-App landings, myapp.com for your own domain, etc.). Learn more. On the stream details page, find your Measurement ID.

• Go to Measurement Protocol API Secrets and create your secret.

  

• Paste and save both Measurement ID and Web API Secret values in the Apphud integration settings.

  

How to create Google Ads Conversions based on Google Analytics events

Before you begin, ensure that Apphud events are mapped to one of the Google standard events. Subscription revenue events must be mapped to a standard event that includes currency and value as required parameters.

Step 1: Start Creating a New Conversion Action

1. Navigate to Goals → Summary in your Google Ads account.
2. Click Create Conversion Action to start the conversion action creation wizard.

Step 2: Select Conversion Sources

• If you are tracking conversions for an app, select Conversions on an app.
• For Web-to-App and Web-to-Web campaigns, select Conversions on a website.
• In both cases, make sure to choose the Google Analytics property (not the Google Tag).

Click Continue to proceed.

Step 3: Select the Key Event

On the next screen:

1. Choose the event you want to track as a conversion.
2. For example, select Begin Checkout if you are tracking checkout initiations.
3. Click Save and continue.

Step 4: Start Your Google Ads Campaign

Your Google Ads conversion tracking is now set up. Once you start driving traffic, you will see conversion values appear in your Google Ads reports.

See the official Google guide for more information.

User Properties

Besides events, Apphud also sends User Properties to Firebase. This helps you create custom audiences or Custom Definitions and target specific users in A/B tests or view analytics for specific audience. The list of User Properties and their values can be found on the User Properties reference.

Custom Dimensions

To use User Properties in your analytics, first assign them to a custom dimension.

• In Firebase, open Custom Definitions → Create custom dimensions.
• While creating custom dimensions, select User scope.
• Enter a name and description.
• Select a User Property (for example, apphud_payments_count). Click Save.

Custom Audiences

After creating a custom dimension, you can create custom audiences.

• In Firebase, open Audiences → Create custom dimensions.
• Select Custom → your custom dimension name (for example, apphud_total_spent).
• Edit the condition on this property (for example, > 0). Click Save.
• The Custom Audience is now available in both Firebase and Google Analytics.

View Firebase A/B test results in Apphud

You can view Firebase A/B test results in Apphud by sending remote config values to Apphud. You will be able to add a filter of your test variant to every chart, including the cohort chart.

See Analyzing Firebase A/B test results in Apphud for details.