What is a Coarse-Grained Value?

At WWDC 2022, Apple announced updates to the fourth generation (v4.0) of its SKAdNetwork (SKAN). SKAdNetwork 4.0 will have a new coarse-grained value, or coarse conversion value, that lets advertisers and ad networks receive directional post-install quality insights when the volume of campaign conversions isn’t high enough to meet the privacy threshold needed to unlock the standard conversion value (0-63). A coarse-grained value is a type of hierarchical conversion value and can be reported as low, medium, or high.

The coarse conversion value can be set to one of three possible values and is included in conversion postbacks in place of the standard conversion value (0-63) – now called the fine-grained value (or fine conversion value) – when the crowd anonymity tier is low or medium. In other words, when the attributed conversion volume is too low to allow the conversion value to be shared, the coarse value will be included in its place. Note that the coarse-grained and fine-grained values are mutually exclusive; the coarse-grained value will never be sent in tandem with the fine-grained value.