Create an audience list for App campaigns for engagement

When you create an App campaign for engagement, you'll be asked to add audiences. This article goes over how to create a new audience list for App campaigns for engagement.

Note: Starting in spring 2021, you’ll be able to easily target potential customers you want with a new simplified way to create your data segments comprised of app users. This builds on what’s already available in your Audience manager tools.

The simplified flow lets you create complex audience segments easily by displaying all available app actions with the ability to combine multiple inclusion and exclusion conditions.

Instructions

To create a new audience list for App campaigns for engagement, you’ll need to use one of the 4 supported audience list types. You can also use a combination of one (or more) of the supported lists to create a custom audience.

Click one of the list types below to reveal the instructions for how to create it.

Create a list of all app users

Open the Audience Manager by following the instructions in About Audience lists in Audience manager.
Click the plus button .
Click App users.
Enter your audience name.
In the "App" section, select your app.
Select Any Action and enter the number of days to include all app users who have been active in that range (the default is 30 days and 540 days is the maximum number of days supported).
Select a pre-fill option.
If desired, enter a description for your new audience.
Click Create audience.

Pre-filled lists

Google Ads can pre-fill your list with people who have interacted with your business in the previous 30 days, additional active users get added to the audience list over time based on the number of days specified. However, you may be able to avoid audience population delays by following these steps to create a fully populated all users audience list (if applicable):

If you have implemented the Firebase SDK and are using Google Analytics for Firebase to create audiences, once your Firebase project is linked to your Google Ads account, an “All users” audience list for your app gets automatically created and becomes available in Google Ads. Learn more about linking Firebase and Google Ads accounts.
Additionally for Android, when you link your Google Play Account to your Google Ads account, this will automatically create an “All users” audience list for you as well. This list will appear in your Audience Manager. Learn more about linking Google Play and Google Ads accounts.

Create a list of users who haven't used your app recently

Open the Audience Manager by following the instructions in About Audience lists in Audience manager.
Click the plus button .
Click App users.
Enter your audience name.
In the “App” section, select your app.
Select Any Action and enter the number of days to include all app users who have been active in that range (the default is 30 days and 540 days is the maximum number of days supported).
Click Exclude Action and select the action name and number of days as required, to exclude these users.
Select a pre-fill option.
If desired, enter a description for your new audience.
Click Create audience.

Create a list of users who have used your app recently

Open the Audience Manager by following the instructions in About Audience lists in Audience manager.
Click the plus button .
Click App users.
Enter your audience name.
In the “App” section, select your app.
Select Any Action and enter the number of days to include all app users who have been active in that range.
Click Exclude Action and select the action name and number of days as required, to exclude these users.
Select a pre-fill option.
If desired, enter a description for your new audience.
Click Create audience.

Create a list of users who took specific actions within your app

Open the Audience Manager by following the instructions in About Audience lists in Audience manager.
Click the plus button .
Click App users.
Enter your audience name.
In the “App” section, select your app, select the app actions based on which users you’d like to include or exclude.
Combine multiple actions as required.
Select a pre-fill option.
If desired, enter a description for your new audience.
Click Create audience.

Create a list of uploaded mobile device IDs

Note: This only applies to eligible advertisers.

Open the Audience Manager by following the instructions in About Audience lists in Audience manager.
Click the plus button .
Click Customer list.
Enter your audience name.
Next to “Data to upload”, select Upload mobile device IDs.
Select your app’s platform.
In the field under “Look up your app,” enter your app name and select your app when it appears.
Click Choose file.
Select the file you’d like to upload, and click Open.
Select the membership duration.
If desired, enter a description for your new audience.
Click Upload and create list.

Create a custom combination audience

To create a custom combination audience, follow the instructions in Create a custom combination list.

Note: For App campaigns for engagement, any audiences you add to this combination list must be one of the four audience types listed above. If you add another kind of audience list, your App campaigns for engagement ads may not serve.

Use audiences created in Google Analytics for Firebase

Audiences including app users, that have been created in Google Analytics for Firebase and exported into your linked Google Ads account, can now be used for App Campaigns for Engagement. Learn more about linking Firebase and Google Ads accounts.

Note: Audiences that include web users are not supported in App campaigns for engagement.

Keep in mind

Choosing an audience list other than the ones listed above won’t cause any immediate errors, but your App campaign for engagement ads may not serve as a result.
Be sure to double check that your audience list contains the correct device IDs for your app’s operating system (for example, ADID for Android, and IDFA for iPhone and iPad).