Web2App · Published 2026-01-06 · 3 min read
Google ICM: what changed in six months
Happy New Year, and straight to business. Back in August I wrote that Google had announced ICM (Integrated Conversion Measurement).
Briefly, what this actually is
Attribution in Google's UAC campaigns currently works badly
Google loses part of the conversions, the algorithm under-trains, and optimisation suffers.
ICM is an attempt to solve that problem. In essence it is Google's answer to Meta's AEM attribution: a new attribution model that is supposed to work better under iOS restrictions.
What is known today. I tested the integration through Adjust, AppsFlyer and Firebase. The short conclusion: nothing works yet.
I spoke to several colleagues and they see the same picture. If ICM has actually started working for anyone, write in the comments.
Details below.
Adjust
The answer from support
«Your app is expected to be allowlisted within the next week. Adjust does not attribute non-deterministic claimed conversions from Google Ads by default. Device-level data is not yet leveraged.»
What that means
- A non-deterministic claimed conversion is Google Ads saying: we see a conversion, but we are not 100% sure.
For Adjust to accept such signals, you have to go through allowlisting.
- Device-level data is not used yet, but Adjust plans to add a probabilistic model for UAC.
How it works in practice: no change so far.
AppsFlyer
AppsFlyer's documentation makes no direct claim that ICM is fully ready
iOS — Open Beta (as of November 12).
What changed
- A hard requirement: Google Firebase SDK 11.14.0 or newer (previously AppsFlyer worked without it).
- An Advanced Data Sharing toggle appeared. You have to switch it on for AppsFlyer to receive non-deterministic responses from Google Ads.
- A warning was added recently:
«ICM is still in BETA. In Q3 we will roll out additional improvements. Possible decrease in Google-attributed traffic — expected behavior.» I would translate that as: do not be surprised if ICM does not work right now.
- I wrote to support and got back the same documentation about the Firebase SDK and Advanced Data Sharing.
How it works in practice: no change so far.
Firebase. Google is careful with its wording too. The documentation carries a disclaimer: «Availability for this solution will be gradually rolling out starting in May 2025.»
My test
- Latest Firebase version.
- All traffic sources disabled except UAC.
Results
- Spend: $1,300.
So that, it turns out, is the price of this article.
- Google Ads purchases: 62.
- Google Ads installs: 362.
Actual
- Installs: 732.
- Purchases: 112.
Notes
- Purchases were tracked directly through Firebase, without Apphud — not ideal.
- ATT consent was around 45%, so discrepancies in events are expected.
Bottom line: I have found no trace of ICM so far; all MMPs work the old way; the real effect on attribution is zero.
As soon as real changes appear, I will post an update.
If ICM has genuinely started working for you, I am very keen to hear the cases in the comments.
And happy New Year once more.
UPD 1: as Alexander correctly points out, ICM does not work in Europe. My experiment was launched in the US. «Important (iOS only): ICM is not available for traffic originating from users in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom and Switzerland.»