To set up an affiliate program for an iOS or Android app, you need three things: a link or code that still identifies the affiliate after the user has gone through the app store, a way to confirm that the user then paid, and a clear commission rule for what the affiliate earns. Once those are in place, the rest is writing your terms, recruiting a small first group of partners and paying them on time.
This guide explains each part in order, including what it costs and whether to build it yourself. When you are ready to go live, work through the launch checklist for a mobile app affiliate programme alongside it.
What is a mobile app affiliate program?
A mobile app affiliate program is an arrangement where outside partners (creators, bloggers, newsletter writers, other app makers, even your own users) promote your app and earn commission when the people they send go on to pay. You only pay when a referral produces a result you have defined, usually an in-app purchase or a subscription.
Three things separate it from an affiliate programme for a website:
- The sale happens inside the app. It goes through Apple's or Google's billing, not your own checkout page.
- An install sits in the middle. The user taps a link, downloads the app from the store and opens it later. The referral has to survive that gap.
- Revenue is often recurring. You must decide whether the affiliate earns once or on each renewal.
How does affiliate tracking work for iOS and Android apps?
App affiliate tracking does two jobs. First it records which affiliate sent a user, even when that user had to install the app before opening it. Then it confirms with the store or your subscription tool that the user really paid, and ties that payment to the affiliate.
Deep links that survive the app store install
A deep link is a link that opens an app instead of a web page. On iOS these are called universal links: Apple's documentation explains that tapping one sends the user straight into your app, and that if the app is not installed the same URL opens in the browser. Android has an equivalent, Android App Links, which open verified links in your app without asking the user to choose one.
That covers people who already have the app. Most of an affiliate's audience will not, so the link needs to be a deferred deep link. It sends the user to the right store, and when they open the app for the first time the affiliate's identifier is handed to the app. On Android, Google Play can pass referral content through an install with the Play Install Referrer API. On iOS the link service and an SDK inside your app do that work between them.
There is a simpler route that needs no link at all: a short code. The affiliate says or shows a code, the user types it into your app, and the app stores it.
Verifying the purchase
Knowing who referred a user is only half of it. You also need proof of payment, and that proof should come from the store, not from the app claiming a sale happened.
Both stores send server-to-server messages about purchases. Apple's App Store Server Notifications report in-app purchase events including subscription renewals and refunds, and Google Play offers its own real-time notifications. If you use a subscription tool such as RevenueCat, Adapty, Apphud or Iaptic, it already receives these and can forward them by webhook.
The join between the two halves is small but essential. When the purchase is made, the affiliate's identifier travels with it (for example as a custom attribute on the subscriber). When the verified purchase event arrives, it carries that identifier, so the commission can be calculated and credited.
How to set up an affiliate program for your app in 7 steps
The order matters. Decide the money first, build and test the tracking second, and only then invite people.
Step 1: Work out what you can afford to pay
Start from what a paying user is worth to you after the store's cut, not from what other programmes advertise. Take your price, subtract the store commission, estimate how long a typical subscriber stays, and decide what share of that you would give up for a customer you would not otherwise have reached.
Step 2: Choose how referrals are tracked
Pick links, codes or both, based on where your affiliates publish. Links suit blogs, newsletters and video descriptions. Codes suit short video and podcasts. Offering both means no affiliate is stuck with a format that does not fit their channel.
Step 3: Connect purchase verification
Connect the source of truth for payments before you write any app code. If you already use a subscription tool, point its webhook at your affiliate system. If you do not, you can connect directly to the App Store and Google Play. If you also sell on the web, add your payment processor so those sales count too.
Step 4: Add the SDK and test the full path
Install the affiliate SDK, initialise it at launch so it can read an incoming link, and pass the affiliate's identifier to your purchase system. Then test end to end with a test affiliate and a sandbox purchase, on a real device, for each platform:
- Tap the affiliate link with the app already installed.
- Tap it with the app not installed, install, then open.
- Enter a short code by hand.
- Make a sandbox purchase in each case and confirm it appears against the right affiliate.
Run all four on iOS and again on Android.
Step 5: Write your programme terms
Put the rules in one short document before anyone joins. It should state the commission rate, whether renewals are paid and for how long, the attribution window (how long after a click or code entry a first purchase still counts), the payout schedule and minimum, what happens to commission when a sale is refunded, and which promotion methods are not allowed, such as bidding on your brand name in search ads.
Step 6: Recruit and onboard your first affiliates
Begin with a small group you have chosen yourself, not a public sign-up page. Look for people who already make content for your audience, and write to each one individually: why their audience fits, what they earn, and how the tracking works. Your existing users are the other obvious source.
Give each new affiliate a short description of the app, screenshots or a demo clip, and their own link or code. They will write their own copy, so they need facts and assets, not scripts.
Step 7: Pay on time and review the numbers
Pay on the schedule you promised, every time, because a late payment ends an affiliate relationship quickly. Then review three numbers per affiliate each month: how many referred users start paying (not just install), how long they stay subscribed, and commission as a share of the revenue it produced.
Which commission model suits a subscription app?
For most subscription apps, a percentage of revenue fits best, because the affiliate earns in proportion to what the user actually pays. The main models compare like this:
| Model | What the affiliate earns | Fits when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue share, first payment only | A percentage of the first purchase | You want a predictable, capped cost per customer | Less reward for bringing users who stay |
| Revenue share, including renewals | A percentage of each payment | Retention is strong and you want partners to care about it | Open-ended cost unless you set a renewal window |
| Fixed amount per sale | The same sum for every new customer | You have one main plan and want simple maths | Over-pays on cheap plans, under-pays on annual ones |
| Per install or per event | A sum for an install, sign-up or trial start | You are optimising for reach or a free product | You pay before any revenue arrives |
Two refinements help. A renewal window pays commission on renewals for a set period after the first sale, which rewards retention without committing you forever. Tiers raise the rate once an affiliate passes a number of sales.
For the trade-offs in more depth, see recurring versus one-time commissions for subscription apps and our guide to commission rates for mobile apps.
How much does an app affiliate program cost?
An app affiliate programme has five cost components, and only one of them, commission, should be large.
- Commission. Your main cost, and it only exists when a sale does.
- The store's cut. This comes out of every in-app sale before you see it. Apple's App Store Small Business Program offers a reduced 15% commission to developers who earned up to 1 million USD in proceeds in the prior calendar year. Google publishes its own Google Play service fees, which vary by product type.
- Tracking software. Usually a subscription, a share of affiliate-driven revenue, or a mix. Some tools are free to start.
- Payout fees. Your payment provider charges a processing fee on each transfer to an affiliate.
- Time. Someone has to answer affiliates, approve applications and check the numbers.
Decide early whether commission is calculated on the gross price or on what is left after the store's cut. Say your app charges $60 a year, you qualify for the 15% store rate, and you pay affiliates 20% on the first year. On gross, the affiliate earns $12 and you keep $39. On net, the store takes $9, the affiliate earns 20% of the remaining $51 ($10.20) and you keep $40.80. Neither is wrong, but your terms must say which one applies.
Should you build it in-house or use a platform?
Use a platform unless affiliate tracking is central to your product. The pieces are individually simple, but there are many of them and each needs upkeep.
| Build in-house | Use a platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Deferred deep links on iOS and Android | You build and host the link service and keep up with operating system changes | Included |
| Purchase verification | You handle store notifications, renewals and refunds yourself | Connects to the stores or your subscription tool |
| Affiliate sign-up and dashboard | You design, build and support it | Included |
| Commission rules and payouts | Custom code and a manual payment run | Configured in settings |
| Ongoing cost | Engineering time, indefinitely | A fee |
| Control | Total | Limited to what the tool supports |
Building in-house makes sense when you have unusual rules that no tool supports, or an engineering team with a reason to own the data flow.
What does a live programme look like?
It helps to see the moving parts from both sides. This is how a running programme works in Insert Affiliate, described from the product documentation.
What the app owner sees. You choose a deep linking option (the built-in Insert Links, Branch, AppsFlyer or short codes only) and a purchase verification source (RevenueCat, Adapty, Apphud, Iaptic, or the App Store and Google Play directly). The integration overview lists every combination, and there are SDKs for Swift, Android, React Native, Flutter, Unity and JavaScript. Web sales through Stripe can be tracked as well and credited to the same affiliate. You add affiliates one at a time or share a sign-up link, with optional manual approval. Sales then appear in your dashboard against the affiliate who drove them, with commission calculated from your default rate or that affiliate's own rate.
What the affiliate sees. Each affiliate gets a login, a link and a short code of 3 to 25 letters and numbers. If the user already has the app, the link opens it. If not, it sends them to the App Store or Google Play and remembers the affiliate when the app is first opened. Their dashboard shows the sales credited to them and what they are owed, plus any training files you have uploaded.
How payouts work. You can pay through Stripe Connect when both sides have connected a Stripe account, or pay outside the platform and mark the commission as paid. Automatic payouts are optional: you save a card, set a minimum, and a daily run pays every affiliate who is owed at least that amount. When a sale is refunded, its commission comes off the affiliate's balance. The payouts documentation covers the detail.
One app team described the result like this:
"Insert Affiliate was just what I needed to start affiliate marketing for my app Lately. Their integrations are quick and simple, plus the attribution was easy to track for both myself and the affiliates. Would recommend!"
Lately Team, Lately
Common mistakes to avoid
Leaving renewals undefined. If your terms do not say whether renewals earn commission, affiliates will assume they do.
Testing on one platform only. Link handling differs between iOS and Android, so a working iPhone test proves nothing about Android. Run the whole path on both before you invite anyone.
Paying for installs when you sell subscriptions. Installs are easy to produce and say little about revenue. If you earn from subscriptions, tie commission to payments.
Making affiliates ask for their numbers. If partners cannot see their own sales and balance, they stop trusting the programme and stop promoting it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to set up an affiliate program for an app?
The tracking is the quickest part if you use a platform and already have a subscription tool, since it is mostly configuration plus a small SDK change. The real constraint is your release cycle, because the SDK has to ship in an app update and pass store review before any link will attribute. Terms and recruitment can be prepared while that update is in review.
Do I need a developer to set up an app affiliate program?
Yes, for the first setup. Someone has to add the SDK, handle incoming links and pass the affiliate identifier to your purchase system, which means a new app release. After that, adding affiliates, changing commission rates and paying people are done in a dashboard with no code.
Can I use promo codes instead of affiliate links?
Yes. A short code that the user types into your app can attribute a purchase without any link being tapped, which works well for video and audio. Many programmes give each affiliate both a link and a code so they can use whichever suits the platform they post on.
How is affiliate marketing for mobile apps different from the web?
On the web, a cookie in the browser connects the click to the checkout. In an app, the click and the purchase are separated by a store install, and the payment is processed by Apple or Google. That is why app programmes need deferred deep links or codes for attribution, and store-verified purchase events for the sale.
Your next step
Do the sums in Step 1 first, because the rate you can afford shapes every later decision. If you would rather not build the tracking yourself, Insert Affiliate is free to start and covers the links, codes, purchase verification and payouts described above.