Review Before You Approve: Manual Affiliate Approval for Mobile Apps

Growing your affiliate programme is exciting, but not every application is the right fit. Some programmes need quality control. Others operate in regulated industries where vetting matters. And sometimes you just want to know who is promoting your app before they start.

Insert Affiliate now includes manual affiliate approval, giving you full control over who joins your programme.

How Manual Approval Works

When you enable Require Affiliate Approval in your settings, the signup flow changes:

1. A potential affiliate fills out your signup form as normal
2. Instead of getting instant access, they see a confirmation: "Application Submitted — Pending Approval"
3. No account or deep link is created yet
4. You receive an email notification with their details and a link to review
5. You approve or reject from your dashboard

It is that simple. You stay in control without slowing down the experience for good applicants.

Approving and Rejecting Affiliates

Pending applications appear in the Pending Affiliates section on your Affiliates page.

For each applicant, you can:

• Approve — Creates their account, assigns a deep link from your available pool, and sends them a welcome email with login details. They can start promoting immediately.
• Reject — Removes the application quietly. The applicant is not notified, and their email is not stored, so they can reapply in the future if needed.

When to Use Manual Approval

Manual approval is a good fit when:

• Brand protection matters — You want to vet who represents your app
• You operate in a regulated space — Compliance requires knowing your partners
• Quality over quantity — You prefer fewer, higher-quality affiliates
• You are running an exclusive programme — Invitation-only or limited spots
• You want to prevent abuse — Stop spam signups or competitors from accessing your programme

If you prefer a hands-off approach, you can leave approval disabled and affiliates will be granted instant access on signup, just like before.

Customise the Welcome Email They Receive

When you approve an affiliate, they receive a welcome email with their sign-in link. You can fully customise this email from Settings > Email Templates > Self-Signup Welcome tab.

Use template variables like {{affiliate_name}} and {{company_name}} to make each welcome feel personal. Preview your email before saving to make sure it looks right.

For more on email customisation, see our Affiliate Emails guide.

Embedding the Signup Form on Your Website

Manual approval works with the embeddable signup iframe too. You can add the signup form directly to your website and still review every application before granting access.

Just enable Require Affiliate Approval in settings, and all signups through the embedded form will go through the same approval flow.

Daisy Chain Support

If you use daisy chain commissions, manual approval respects referral relationships. When an affiliate signs up through another affiliate's referral link, the daisy chain parent is recorded in the pending application. Once you approve, the parent-child relationship is automatically established.

Get Started

1. Go to Settings
2. Toggle Require Affiliate Approval to on
3. New signups will now require your approval

For full documentation, visit our Affiliate Self-Signup guide.