Can you track app uninstalls on iOS?

Not as an event — iOS never tells your app it's being deleted, and there is no uninstall callback. What you get instead is App Store Connect's Installations and Deletions report: daily deletion counts per app, running 2–3 days behind and limited to users who opted in to share data. That's enough to build real uninstall analytics — a deletion rate, a trend line, and spike detection after releases — just not user-level tracking.

How do you calculate an app uninstall rate?

Divide deletions by installations over the same window — deletions this week ÷ installations this week. The absolute number matters less than the trend: a stable rate is your baseline, and a jump right after a release is your app telling you the update disappointed. Compare same weekday to same weekday, and give App Store Connect data 2–3 days to settle before reading anything.

Do attribution SDKs track uninstalls accurately on iOS?

Only approximately. Attribution platforms infer iOS uninstalls by sending silent pushes and watching for the push token to die — a method that is delayed, misses users who disabled notifications, and breaks in edge cases like device restores. It exists for big ad-spend teams reconciling campaign costs. For indie developers, App Store Connect's deletion counts answer the same questions without an extra SDK.

FunnelHound / Guides / App uninstall analytics

App uninstall analytics for iOS: what you can actually track

By Emin — indie iOS developer building FunnelHound · Published 12 Aug 2026

Let's clear this up front: iOS has no uninstall event. Your app is never told it's being deleted, and no SDK changes that. What Apple gives you is a daily deletion count in App Store Connect — delayed, opt-in-limited, but real. Uninstall analytics on iOS means turning that count into a rate, a trend, and an alarm that rings when a release makes people leave.

Why there's no uninstall event on iOS

When someone deletes your app, the sandbox is wiped and your code never runs again — by design. There's no callback, no exit interview, no "are you sure?" hook for you to attach telemetry to. Android developers had years of silent-push workarounds; on iOS the equivalent trick (send an invisible push, see if the token died) is unreliable and Apple-frowned-upon. Anyone selling you per-user iOS uninstall tracking is selling you an approximation with a confident face.

The data you do get: deletions in App Store Connect

App Store Connect reports Installations and Deletions per app, per day. That's the raw material. It runs 2–3 days behind, and it only counts users who agreed to share data with developers — so the real number is higher than what you see. The click-path and the fine print live in our guide to finding deletion data in App Store Connect; this page is about what to do with it once you have it.

Metric #1: uninstall rate

Deletions alone mislead — more downloads mechanically means more deletions. The metric that means something is the ratio: deletions ÷ installations over the same window. If you install 1,000 and delete 300 every week, that 30% is your baseline. The baseline itself varies wildly by category (games churn hard, utilities linger), so don't borrow anyone else's number — establish yours, then watch the trend. A rate that creeps from 30% to 45% over a month is a retention problem announcing itself politely before it shows up in revenue.

Metric #2: the post-release spike

The single most useful uninstall signal for an indie developer: deletions in the 7 days after a release versus the 7 days before. A spike right after an update means the update itself disappointed — a broken flow, a pushier paywall, a redesign nobody asked for. This is the fastest honest feedback loop you have, because deleters don't leave reviews. They just leave. Mark your release dates on the chart and the pattern becomes impossible to miss.

What about attribution SDKs?

Adjust, AppsFlyer and friends offer "uninstall measurement" on iOS by silently pinging push tokens and reporting the ones that stopped answering. It's delayed by days, misses everyone who declined notifications, and exists mainly so ad-spend teams can subtract churned installs from campaign ROI. If you're spending five figures a month on user acquisition, fine. If you're an indie, it's an extra SDK, an extra privacy-label entry, and a worse version of the number Apple already gives you for free.

Make the leaky bucket visible

Uninstall analytics fails in practice for one boring reason: the data lives three clicks deep in a dashboard nobody opens daily. FunnelHound puts deletions on your iPhone next to the rest of the funnel — installs and deletions side by side, release dates marked as milestones, so a post-update spike is something you see, not something you discover a month later in a revenue dip. Pair it with the change-measurement habit and every release becomes an experiment with a readout.

See your uninstalls next to your installs

FunnelHound shows App Store Connect deletions on your iPhone, right beside downloads — with your release dates marked. Spikes have nowhere to hide.

Get FunnelHound

Share this on X

Data notes: App Store Connect deletion data is opt-in-limited and lags 2–3 days as of 2026. Uninstall-rate baselines vary heavily by category — treat the ratios here as illustrations, not benchmarks. The silent-push inference method is described as attribution vendors document it; accuracy claims are theirs, skepticism is ours.