If you’ve ever tried to run an affiliate program for an iOS or Android app, you already know the frustration. A fitness creator posts a glowing review, their followers download your app and subscribe, and your affiliate platform shows… nothing. The sale happened inside the App Store. The platform never saw it. You’re back to guessing who drove what, and your affiliate is back to wondering if they’ll ever see a commission.
This is the core problem that Insert Affiliate was built to solve. It’s a dedicated affiliate tracking platform for mobile apps, focused specifically on in-app purchases and subscriptions on iOS and Android. The founder, Michael Butler, has said publicly that he built it because he couldn’t find anything that worked for his own subscription app. That origin story shows in the product.
It integrates directly with the leading in-app purchase platforms, including RevenueCat, Adapty, and Apphud, so it can actually see what happens after someone taps “Subscribe” inside your app. That’s the gap most tools leave wide open, and it’s a significant one for any app business that wants to grow through creator partnerships.
Key Features of Insert Affiliate
In-App Purchase Tracking That Actually Works
Most affiliate platforms are built for e-commerce. They track clicks, cookies, and web checkouts. Mobile apps process payments through Apple and Google, which breaks that entire model. Insert Affiliate integrates at the SDK level, with support for Kotlin, Swift, Java, React Native, Flutter, Unity, and plain JavaScript. It attributes in-app purchases and subscription renewals back to the affiliate who drove them, even when the transaction happens entirely inside the App Store or Google Play.
A Two-Sided Dashboard Built on Transparency
One of the biggest reasons affiliate programs fall apart is trust. Creators don’t want to promote an app on the promise of payment they can’t verify. Insert Affiliate gives affiliates their own real-time dashboard where they can watch their earnings as they accumulate. No waiting for a monthly spreadsheet, no arguing over numbers. Both sides see the same data, which tends to make affiliates promote harder.
Automated Payouts with Self-Billing Invoices
Managing payouts manually gets old fast. Insert Affiliate handles commission payments automatically and generates self-billing invoices, removing the admin work that quietly kills most affiliate programs once they grow past a handful of partners. You can pay directly via Stripe from within the dashboard.
Creator Discovery Marketplace
Finding the right affiliates is usually the hardest part. Insert Affiliate includes a built-in marketplace where you can search across millions of social creators, build a shortlist, and manage outreach without leaving the platform. No extra fees for access. It’s a recent addition and a practical answer to the “I don’t know where to find creators” problem that most app teams hit early.
Web and In-App Tracking in One Place
Some apps sell through both their mobile app and a web checkout. Insert Affiliate covers both, tracking Stripe web payments alongside store transactions from the same dashboard. That kind of unified view is uncommon at this price point.
Picture This Scenario: How a Meditation App Could Finally Pay Their Affiliates Correctly
A meditation meditation app with around 4,000 active subscribers. At 9am on a Tuesday, the founder Priya sits down to sort out her affiliate payments for the month. She had three wellness creators who had been promoting her app for six weeks, all working on a handshake agreement while she figured out the tech. Her existing affiliate tool showed zero conversions from any of them, despite a noticeable spike in new subscribers after one creator posted a YouTube review.
She’d set up Insert Affiliate two weeks earlier, connecting it to her RevenueCat account. The integration took about an hour, mostly following the SDK docs. When she opened the Insert Affiliate dashboard that Tuesday morning, she could see 47 new subscription attributions tied to one creator’s link, with another 12 linked to a second creator’s campaign.
By 10:30am, she had processed commission payments to both affiliates directly through the dashboard using Stripe. Each affiliate received a self-billing invoice automatically. Both creators got notification emails with their updated earnings dashboard. One of them messaged her later that day to say it was the first time they’d worked with an app developer whose tracking they actually trusted.
That last part matters more than the automation. Getting paid correctly builds the kind of relationship that keeps creators promoting your app for months, not just for the initial post.
How Insert Affiliate Fits Into Your App’s Setup
Step 1: Connect Your IAP Platform
Start by linking your existing in-app purchase setup, whether that’s RevenueCat, Adapty, Apphud, or another supported provider. This is what allows Insert Affiliate to receive purchase events and match them to affiliate links.
Step 2: Add the SDK to Your App
Install the SDK for your app’s language or framework. The docs cover Kotlin, Swift, Java, React Native, Flutter, Unity, and JavaScript. Most teams complete this in an afternoon.
Step 3: Create Affiliate Links and Invite Partners
Generate unique tracking links for each affiliate from the dashboard. You can invite creators directly or find new ones through the built-in marketplace. Each affiliate gets their own login to see their real-time earnings.
Step 4: Track, Review, and Pay
Once live, the dashboard shows attributed purchases and subscription renewals per affiliate. When it’s time to pay, you process commissions directly through Stripe with automatic invoice generation. The whole loop closes inside one tool.
Who Should Try Insert Affiliate
If you’re building an iOS or Android app with in-app purchases or subscriptions, and you want to work with creators without the spreadsheet chaos, this is worth a serious look. It’s particularly useful for solo founders and small teams who don’t have the bandwidth to manage affiliate admin manually. The free plan gets you started without a credit card. You can explore it at insertaffiliate.com or book a call with the team if you want a walkthrough before committing.f
