Definition:
A custom in-app event is any user-defined action or milestone that occurs after app installation and is tracked to measure user behavior and value.
Custom In-App Event Definition
Custom in-app events differ from custom events which are created by the developer and are specific to the goals of the app, as opposed to default events like session starts or app opens that are tracked automatically.
Also referred to as post-install events, they are one of the most powerful tools available to mobile marketers for understanding what users actually do inside an app and which of those actions predict long-term value.
What Is a Custom In-App Event?
Default events give you a baseline. They tell you that a user opened the app, started a session, or closed it. Custom events go further. They capture the actions that matter specifically to your app and your goals, the moments that separate an engaged user from a passive one.
A custom event can be almost anything that happens inside your app. Some common examples:
- Watching a tutorial
- Submitting an email address on a sign-up page
- Completing a purchase
- Starting a subscription
- Reaching a specific milestone or level
- Viewing a particular piece of content
What makes these events valuable is not just that they happened, but what they tell you about the user who triggered them. A user who completes a tutorial in their first session behaves very differently over time than one who skips it. Custom events let you capture and act on that difference.
Why Custom In-App Events Matter
Custom events help answer some of the most important questions in mobile marketing:
Which users are most valuable? By tracking actions that correlate with retention and revenue, you can identify the behaviors that distinguish high-value users from low-value ones and use that knowledge to find more of the former.
Which acquisition channels drive engaged users? Install volume is only part of the story. Custom events let you look beyond the install and see which channels are bringing in users who actually engage with your app in meaningful ways.
What actions predict retention or revenue? Some in-app behaviors are strong early signals of long-term value. Identifying those events and optimizing toward them is one of the more effective ways to improve the quality of your user base over time.
Custom Events vs Default Events
It is worth understanding where the line sits between the two.
| Event Type | Definition | Examples |
| Default Events | Tracked automatically by the SDK | App open, session start, session end |
| Custom Events | Defined by the developer for specific goals | Tutorial completion, purchase, sign-up |
Custom events are designed to capture what makes your app and your users unique. While it is technically possible to configure a session event as a custom event, it is generally not advisable. Custom events are most useful when they define something that sets certain users apart, like an action that not everyone takes, and that tells you something meaningful about those who do.
How Custom In-App Events Work in Tenjin
Once a custom event is defined in the Tenjin SDK integration, Tenjin begins tracking it and surfacing the data across your reports and dashboards.
Attribution and UA Reports
You can analyze custom events alongside your acquisition data to see which campaigns and channels are driving users who complete the actions that matter most to your app.
User Cohorts
Custom events let you group users by shared behavior. Users who watched a tutorial, users who made a purchase, users who reached a specific milestone — each of these becomes a cohort you can analyze and compare.
Funnel Analytics
Tenjin supports custom event funnel analytics, allowing you to map out the sequence of events that leads to your most important outcomes and identify where users are dropping off along the way. This feature can be enabled by contacting Tenjin support.
SDK Status Confirmation
Once a custom event has been received by Tenjin from the SDK, it appears highlighted in green on the app page under your SDK integration status, confirming that tracking is active and data is flowing correctly.
Sending Custom Events Back to Ad Networks
Custom events do not have to stay inside your analytics platform. Once you have defined and set up tracking for your key events, you can send them back to ad networks via Tenjin's templated custom event callbacks.
Ad networks can then use this data to run value optimization campaigns. These are campaigns that optimize toward a specific custom event and find more users likely to perform that action. If your most valuable users tend to complete a tutorial in their first session, for example, a value optimization campaign can use that signal to find and target similar users at scale.
This feedback loop between your in-app data and your acquisition campaigns is one of the more impactful ways custom events contribute to growth not just as a measurement tool, but as an active input into how and where you spend.