Apple Ads Basic Integration

Apple Search Ads Basic doesn’t have an API, so there’s no automatic sync here. Instead, you download a CSV from Apple and upload it to Apps Finboard manually.

Prerequisites

  • An Apple Search Ads Basic account
  • Access to the Apple Ads Basic dashboard
  • Owner access to your Apps Finboard project

How it works

Apple Search Ads Basic does not offer an API for automated data retrieval. Instead, you:

  1. Download a CSV report from the Apple Ads Basic dashboard
  2. Upload it to Apps Finboard through the data source page

No API credentials are needed - the data source only requires periodic CSV uploads.

Step 1: Add the data source in Apps Finboard

  1. In your Apps Finboard dashboard, go to your project’s Data Sources page
  2. Click Add Data Source and select Apple Ads Basic
  3. No credentials are required - just click Save

Step 2: Export a CSV from Apple Ads Basic

  1. Sign in to your Apple Ads Basic dashboard
  2. Navigate to your app promotion
  3. Select the date range you want to export
  4. Click the download/export button to save the report as a CSV file

Step 3: Upload the CSV to Apps Finboard

  1. Go to the data source detail page for your Apple Ads Basic source
  2. Use the CSV upload section to upload the file you downloaded
  3. Apps Finboard will process the file and store the cost data

Repeat Steps 2-3 periodically (e.g., weekly or monthly) to keep your cost data up to date.

What gets imported

The CSV has aggregated campaign spend. Apps Finboard extracts:

  • Total spend per app for the date range in the CSV
  • Currency (from the CSV header)

Since the CSV only contains totals for the entire date range (not daily breakdown), Apps Finboard distributes the cost evenly across each day in the range. This is an approximation - the actual daily spend is unknown.

Important limitations

  • No automatic sync - you must manually download and upload CSVs
  • Averaged daily values - daily cost is calculated as total spend ÷ days in range, not actual daily spend
  • Consider upgrading - if you need precise daily cost data and automated syncing, consider migrating to Apple Search Ads Advanced, which has full API support