Which device ID format should I use?

When implementing Leanplum, it is important to think thoroughly about which device ID format you should use. By default, the Leanplum SDK captures the IDFV for iOS, and the MD5 hash of the MAC address for Android. However, the Leanplum SDK allows you to easily switch to capture the IDFA for iOS and the Google Advertising ID for Android, or to set your own custom device ID.

While the format you decide on does not change anything about how users will be seen and counted by Leanplum, it will have an effect on three main use cases:

• Uploading existing user push tokens
• Integrating with 3rd-party platforms such as a mobile attribution provider
• Exporting raw data

If you are going to import existing user push tokens prior to launching with Leanplum, it is imperative that the device ID format used in the historical data is the same device ID format used by the Leanplum SDK.

Likewise, if you are using a mobile attribution provider and want to see attribution data in Leanplum, you will need to check with your provider to see which device ID formats they use for tracking. Typically, they will use IDFA for iOS (although most attribution providers also capture the IDFV), and Google Advertising ID for Android, so you will want to set the device ID format captured by the Leanplum SDK to match those.

Finally, if you will be exporting raw data from Leanplum, you may want to set the device ID to match whatever format you are capturing on your own servers.