Tracking

Attribution

Rift tracks the full funnel: click → install → user. The SDKs handle most of this automatically. Attribution endpoints use a publishable key (pk_live_).

How it works

Every Rift link goes through a three-stage funnel:

1. Click

A user taps a link. Rift records the click with platform, user agent, and referrer. The SDK or landing page also stages the link ID for post-install pickup.

2. Install

After the app is installed and opened for the first time, the SDK recovers the link ID and reports the attribution back to Rift.

3. User

After signup or login, your backend links the attribution to a user ID — closing the loop from ad click to registered user.

What's tracked automatically

Every time a user hits a Rift link — whether on the landing page, via a custom domain, or through the shared riftl.ink domain — Rift records the click automatically. No SDK call is needed for this. The click captures platform, user agent, and referrer.

The SDK-based click recording (below) is for additional tracking — in-app link taps, programmatic navigation, or cases where you want the click response data.

Direct redirect mode

By default, Rift serves a smart landing page that detects the user's platform and shows “Open in App” / store buttons. If you want to skip the landing page and send the user directly to their platform destination, add ?redirect=1 to the link URL:

https://go.yourcompany.com/summer-sale?redirect=1

This still records the click, then immediately redirects:

Platform	Redirects to
iOS	App Store URL
Android	Play Store URL with `referrer=rift_link={link_id}` appended for install attribution
Desktop	Web URL

Note: Use redirect=1 when you want the fastest path to the destination — for example, in email campaigns or QR codes where a landing page adds friction. The click is still tracked, but the user never sees the landing page.

SDK click reporting

The Web SDK auto-tracks clicks on any <a> tag pointing to your custom domain. No extra code needed after Rift.init().

// Auto-tracking is enabled by default after init
Rift.init("pk_live_YOUR_KEY", {
  domain: "go.yourcompany.com",
});

// For programmatic use (buttons, custom UI):
Rift.click("summer-sale");

On click, the SDK fires a sendBeacon request to POST /v1/attribution/click and copies the link URL to the clipboard. The beacon is fire-and-forget — it doesn't block navigation.

Note: The clipboard write is how iOS deferred deep linking works. When the user installs the app and opens it, the iOS SDK reads the link ID from the clipboard.

Install attribution

After the app is installed and opened for the first time, the SDK recovers the original link ID and reports the attribution. The mechanism differs by platform.

iOS — Clipboard

The landing page (or Web SDK) writes the link URL to the clipboard. On first launch, the iOS SDK reads the clipboard, extracts the link ID, reports attribution, and clears the clipboard.

Android — Install Referrer

The landing page appends rift_link={link_id} to the Play Store URL. On first launch, the SDK reads the install referrer and reports attribution.

Report attribution

On first launch, check the clipboard for a Rift link and report attribution:

// On first app launch
if let linkId = rift.parseClipboardLink() {
    try await rift.reportAttribution(
        linkId: linkId,
        installId: UIDevice.current.identifierForVendor?.uuidString ?? "",
        appVersion: "1.0.0"
    )
    // Navigate to deep link content
    let link = try await rift.getLink(linkId)
    handleDeepLink(link.iosDeepLink)
}

Link attribution to a user

After the user signs up or logs in, connect the attribution to their account. This closes the loop from click to registered user. This call uses your secret key (rl_live_) — make it from your backend, not the client.

curl -X PUT https://api.riftl.ink/v1/attribution/link \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rl_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "install_id": "device-uuid-here",
    "user_id": "user-123"
  }'

Analytics

Link stats

Get aggregate click and install counts for a link. The response also includes a conversions array populated by conversion tracking:

curl https://api.riftl.ink/v1/links/summer-sale/stats \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rl_live_YOUR_KEY"

{
  "link_id": "summer-sale",
  "click_count": 1234,
  "install_count": 89,
  "conversion_rate": 0.072,
  "conversions": [
    { "type": "deposit", "count": 19, "sum_cents": 247000, "currency": "usd" },
    { "type": "signup", "count": 42 }
  ]
}

Time series

Get daily click counts for a date range:

curl "https://api.riftl.ink/v1/links/summer-sale/timeseries?from=2025-04-01T00:00:00Z&to=2025-04-07T00:00:00Z&granularity=daily" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rl_live_YOUR_KEY"

{
  "link_id": "summer-sale",
  "granularity": "daily",
  "data": [
    { "date": "2025-04-01", "clicks": 42 },
    { "date": "2025-04-02", "clicks": 67 }
  ]
}

Next: track conversions

Click and install attribution tell you who came from which link. To measure what they do next — signups, purchases, deposits — use Conversions. Your backend POSTs events to a webhook source and Rift attributes each one back to the originating link, with revenue rolled up in the link stats endpoint.