Where do users come from
An indie developer was billed for 56 installs and 33 were bots; we have eight apps and the same question, so here is what we do instead of buying installs.
On 11 September 2026 the developer of the puzzle app Dayzle wrote that CA$220 of Google app ads over two weeks was billed for 56 installs: 33 behaved like bots (opened once, zero seconds on screen, never returned, running an old build), 7 came from countries the campaign did not target, and 13 were real people; the post passed 500 points on Hacker News. The question is ours too, with eight apps shipped. So instead of buying installs we are doing two things — making the apps and this site findable (canonical URLs, structured data, RSS, Naver Search Advisor registration, all shipped this week) and putting games where people already are (two are live inside Apps in Toss). Wherever a game goes next, the number we watch is rounds finished, not installs; in an app with no login, unless events like 'round finished' are instrumented first, installs are all an ad campaign can count.
We read a post about 56 paid installs, 33 of which were bots. If the most common way to pay for users ends like that, where do users come from.
Where the 56 installs came from
fact It was written on 11 September 2026 by the developer of the puzzle app Dayzle (the original, checked 12 September 2026). He spent CA$220 over two weeks on Google app ads for Android, and the goal was 'installs'. 56 installs were billed. Of those, 33 opened the app once, spent zero seconds on every screen, and never came back. They were running an old build the store no longer distributes. 13 were classified as real people. Another 7 installs came from countries the ad did not target, and the remaining 3 were not classified in the original post.
fact The discovery started with a single number (same post, checked 12 September 2026). Google reported 21 installs in a day, while the app's own dashboard counted 1. Opening the raw data, 20 of the 21 new Android devices showed the pattern above. He wrote that those twenty devices were twenty-eight different models across nineteen states. His explanation is this. Google optimises for the goal the advertiser gives it, and the goal was installs, so the more a bot farm repeated 'install', the better that placement looked, and the more ads went there. He reported the invalid traffic and changed the goal from 'open the app' to 'solve one puzzle'.
fact The post got more than 500 points and more than 260 comments on Hacker News (checked 12 September 2026) and was posted on GeekNews as well. Several commenters pointed at the structure. A bot farm is on the side that shows the ads. The advertiser pays Google, and Google pays the publisher that showed the ad. According to the author's reply, the installs themselves are not what earns the farm money. An install only makes that placement look good so it draws more ads, and what the farm is paid is the price of showing those ads, by the structure above. The advertiser bears the loss alone.
Why this is not someone else's problem
Eight apps are out and the users are still few. Rather than wait for build it and they will come, we have set out to build the road to people ourselves, too. So ads that buy installs have always stayed the last option on the list. That post put one more price tag on that option. Not just the money, but the risk of trusting a number a bot made and making the next decision on it.
Most of our apps have no login. With no event that counts something a person did, the number an ad campaign would show is installs. So it has not been turned on.
Found, not bought
fact This week the site and the app descriptions were reworked so that search can find them (11 September 2026). Someone looking for a cube app does not search for '한눈 큐브 (Cube at a Glance)'. The work is writing the answer in advance, in the words that person does search. It is slow, but there are no bots in it.
Where there is no install
Sweet Drop has been open inside Apps in Toss since 30 August 2026, and 반장키우기 since 8 September 2026 (inside Apps in Toss they are called 디저트 머지 and 반장 키우기). They open right inside Toss, so there is no install to step over. Where nothing has to be downloaded, there is no goal for a bot to fill in. How people arrive there and how many stay is what we are watching now.
An install can be a number the placement made, not a number a person made. So wherever a game goes next, the number counted is rounds finished, not installs. In an app with no login, unless events like 'round finished' or 'one cube solved' are instrumented first, installs are all an ad campaign can count.
This post is not an answer, it is a worry. If you are worrying about the same thing, tell us at hi@oddduck.ooo. Everyone is welcome except bots.