Overview

Users may uninstall an application due to poor experience, technical issues, or performance problems. Tracking app uninstalls can provide powerful insights into user churn and help devise ways to increase retention.

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For Projects Using Firebase Cloud Functions v1 or Legacy Uninstall Tracking

If your implementation continues to use Firebase Cloud Functions (1st Gen) or the legacy Firebase-based uninstall tracking flow, refer to Uninstall Tracking Using Firebase. This approach remains supported in regions where Firebase Functions v1 is available. For more information on supported locations and versions, refer to Cloud Function Locations

Track Uninstalls

CleverTap tracks app uninstalls in three ways:

• Silent Push Notification: Detects uninstalls by sending a silent push notification daily.
• Real-time: Detects the uninstall event as soon as a user removes the app. This method is available only for Android devices.
• Push Notification Campaign: Detects uninstalls when a push notification cannot be delivered due to an invalid or expired device token. For more information, refer to Push Campaign.

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Temporary Spike in Uninstall Tracking Numbers

CleverTap has upgraded the uninstall tracking system to provide deeper insights into user behavior, now including tracking for unsubscribed devices. Starting February 22, 2024, this enhancement may lead to a temporary spike in uninstall numbers. If you have any queries, contact your Customer Success Manager.

Silent Push Notifications (iOS & Android)

A silent notification is an effective mechanism to check token validity. An invalid token usually indicates that the app has been uninstalled. CleverTap uses silent push notifications to track application uninstalls for both Android and iOS applications. A silent push notification contains an empty message that is sent to the user's device via the Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) server for Android devices or Apple Push Notification service (APNs) for iOS devices.

The Uninstall board helps you monitor your app uninstalls and take timely action.

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Change in App Uninstall Tracking for Android Devices

Starting May 15, 2024, FCM is implementing changes regarding stale tokens for devices not connected to FCM in over 270 days. Such tokens are considered expired and invalid. Consequently, any push notification request sent to stale tokens will fail and return a 404 error (Unregistered).

Whom does this change impact?

The change solely affects customers who rely on the Silent Push Notification method for uninstall tracking.

Impact of this implementation

With this change, FCM will return a 404 error (Unregistered) from inactive apps after 270 days. Thus, CleverTap will stop marking such devices as uninstalled because this may incorrectly identify inactive users as churned, thereby inflating uninstall numbers.

To address this, CleverTap strongly recommends implementing CleverTap's Real-Time Uninstall Tracking capability, which leverages Firebase Analytics. If you fail to implement Real-Time Uninstall Tracking by May 15, 2024, Uninstall Tracking through Silent Push Notifications will be discontinued. However, the Push Unregistered event will be raised whenever a silent push notification is sent. You can view the Push Unregistered event count from the CleverTap dashboard by applying a filter where source = CT_Push.

If you have already implemented Real-Time Uninstall Tracking, then this change does not impact you. For any queries or further assistance, raise a support ticket from the CleverTap Dashboard or contact your Customer Success Manager.

Enable Silent Push Notifications

To enable Silent Push notifications in CleverTap, perform the following steps:

1. From the CleverTap dashboard, go to Settings > Uninstall Tracking.
2. Toggle ON the Silent token-based push notification option.

When you enable Silent Push notifications, CleverTap starts collecting a silent push token for each device. This token allows CleverTap to deliver background notifications that are not visible to the user. After the setting is turned on, devices become eligible to receive silent pushes from CleverTap.

Real-Time Uninstall Tracking (Android)

Verify that the Android app is integrated with Firebase Analytics, which powers Google Analytics 4 (GA4) uninstall tracking. Add the required GA4 dependency in your Android project. For more information, refer to Get Started with Google Analytics.

When a user uninstalls the app from an Android device, GA4 logs the app_remove event. You can send this event to CleverTap using Firebase Cloud Functions.

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Note

The app_remove event may appear either in the Firebase Events interface or exclusively in the Google Analytics 4 (GA4) dashboard, depending on Google’s rollout.

Implement Real-Time Uninstall Tracking

Real-time uninstall tracking is a four-step process:

1. Set up common identifier in your app.
2. Set up app_remove event as Key Event in Google Analytics.
3. Use Firebase cloud function to send uninstall information to CleverTap.
4. Enable the real-time settings in CleverTap.

Discover the video tutorial for implementing Real-Time Uninstall Tracking in CleverTap.

Set Up Common Identifier in App

Add the following code to your app to set up a common identifier between Firebase and CleverTap.

cleverTapInstance.getCleverTapID(new OnInitCleverTapIDListener() {
   @Override
   public void onInitCleverTapID(final String cleverTapID) {
       // Callback on main thread
       mFirebaseAnalytics.setUserProperty("ct_objectId",cleverTapID);
   }   
});

cleverTapInstance?.getCleverTapID {
  // Callback on main thread
  FirebaseAnalytics.getInstance(this).setUserProperty("ct_objectId",it)
}

Set Up app_remove as Key Event in Google Analytics

To set up real-time uninstalls, ensure that a Key Event is configured for the app_remove event in the GA4 dashboard. The app_remove event is automatically logged by Firebase Analytics. It is triggered when an Android app is uninstalled from a device, regardless of the installation source. This event is available only for Android devices.

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Firebase Blaze Plan Required

To allow Firebase Cloud Functions to call a third-party HTTP endpoint (such as the CleverTap API upload endpoint), your Firebase project must be on the Blaze plan. For more information about plans and pricing, refer to Firebase Pricing.

Additionally, ensure that the API region is configured correctly.

To mark app_remove as a key event, perform the following steps:

1. Open your Firebase project and go to Google Analytics.
2. Go to Analytics > Data display > Events.
3. Locate the app_remove event and toggle ON the Mark as Key Event option for the event.

Create Cloud Function

After the key event is set up, use the Cloud Function for Firebase to create a cloud function and send the app_remove data to CleverTap.

To create and publish a cloud function using Node.js, perform the following steps:

1. Open a terminal and set up Node.js and the Firebase CLI.
2. Run npm install -g firebase-tools.
3. To initialize Firebase SDK for Cloud Functions, run firebase login.
4. From your Firebase project directory, run firebase init functions.
5. Select the option to use an existing project.
6. Open index.js and add the following code:

'use strict';

const functions = require('firebase-functions/v1');
const admin = require('firebase-admin');
const axios = require('axios');
const axiosRetry = require('axios-retry');

admin.initializeApp();

// Configuring Retry in case for failure...
axiosRetry(axios, {
    retries: 5,
    retryDelay: (retryCount) => retryCount * 2000,
    retryCondition: (error) => error.response?.status === 503 || error.code === 'ECONNABORTED'
});
// Replace region parameter with your region
exports.sendAndroidUninstallToCleverTap = functions.region('asia-south1').analytics.event('app_remove').onLog(async (event) => {
    try {
        const clevertapId = event.user?.userProperties?.ct_objectId?.value;
        if (!clevertapId) {
            console.error("Missing CleverTap ID");
            return;
        }

        // Replace with your CleverTap Account ID and Passcode
        const cleverTapAccountId = "YOUR_CLEVERTAP_ACCOUNT_ID";
        const cleverTapPasscode = "YOUR_CLEVERTAP_PASSCODE";

        const data = {
            "d": [{
                "objectId": clevertapId,
                "type": "event",
                "evtName": "App Uninstalled",
                "evtData": {}
            }]
        };
       const response = await axios.post('https://in1.api.clevertap.com/firebase/upload', data, {
            headers: {
                'Content-Type': 'application/json',
                'X-CleverTap-Account-Id': cleverTapAccountId,
                'X-CleverTap-Passcode': cleverTapPasscode
            }
        });
        
        console.log("CleverTap ID:", clevertapId);
        console.log("Response:", response.data);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error("Error sending data to CleverTap:", error.message, error.response?.data);
    }
});

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Note

GA4 analytics event triggers, such as analytics.event('app_remove'), are supported only in Cloud Functions 1st Gen. Since 2nd Gen does not support these triggers, implement the uninstall function using:

const functions = require('firebase-functions/v1')

You can continue using 2nd Gen for other functions in your project. Both versions can run simultaneously without conflict.

8. Replace YOUR_CLEVERTAP_ACCOUNT_ID and YOUR_CLEVERTAP_PASSCODE with your CleverTap ID and Passcode in the index.js file. You can find these values in your dashboard from Settings > Project.
9. Open package.json and add the following code:

{
  "name": "functions",
  "description": "Cloud Functions for Firebase",
  "scripts": {
    "serve": "firebase emulators:start --only functions",
    "shell": "firebase functions:shell",
    "start": "npm run shell",
    "deploy": "firebase deploy --only functions",
    "logs": "firebase functions:log"
  },
  "engines": {
    "node": "22"
  },
  "main": "index.js",
  "dependencies": {
    "firebase-admin": "^12.6.0",
    "firebase-functions": "^6.0.1",
    "axios": "^1.6.5",
    "axios-retry": "^3.6.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "firebase-functions-test": "^3.1.0"
  },
  "private": true
}

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Note

The minimum required Node.js version is 20 or higher.

10. Run the firebase deploy --only functions command to deploy the cloud function for uninstall event listening. For more information about deploying the Firebase Cloud Functions, refer to Firebase Cloud Functions.

Enable Real-Time Uninstall Tracking in CleverTap

After you have configured the key event setup and created the cloud function, enable real-time uninstall tracking in CleverTap by performing the following steps:

1. From the CleverTap dashboard, select Settings > Uninstall Tracking.
2. Toggle ON the Android (Real-time tracking) option.

When you enable Silent Push notifications, CleverTap starts collecting a silent push token for each device. This token allows CleverTap to deliver background notifications that are not visible to the user. After the setting is turned on, devices become eligible to receive silent pushes from CleverTap.

FAQs

Can I run Live campaigns on the App Uninstalled event?

Yes. You can set up Live campaigns for the App Uninstalled event. Only those users who are tracked via the real-time uninstall qualify for the campaign.

Can I turn off uninstall tracking for Push Notifications sent via a Campaign or a Journey?

No. This is tracked by default. For more information, refer to Tracking Uninstalls Effectively.

Why the app_remove event is not appearing under Events in Firebase?

app_remove is a GA4 event, not a Firebase event. If the project UI differs, open Google Analytics directly from the Firebase project.