Every expert says the same two things about Google Ads for apps. Start with an install campaign. Google is unpredictable at the start.
We ran both claims as tests. $73K across 6 campaign types, and a separate $27K across 6 bid strategies with no install campaign at all.
Max ROAS beat tROAS everywhere
Across both platforms. Across all markets. Every single time.
The reason is signal. tROAS restricts volume before Google has enough data to know what it is optimizing for. You are constraining a system that has not learned yet.
The sequence that works: start with Max ROAS, let it run 10 to 14 days, and only add tROAS later if you need a strict floor and have the budget to feed it.
iOS versus Android depends on the bid strategy
iOS ROAS hit 67%. Android was 37%. That looks settled until you check which campaigns those numbers came from.
That ranking only holds for Max Conversion Value. On tD0ROAS and MaxAction, Android outperformed iOS.
The bidding strategy and the operating system interact. What works on one platform does not automatically carry to the other, and a platform-level ROAS number without the bid strategy attached tells you very little.
Search eats the budget, Display earns it back
The network split was the part I did not expect.
Bars show share of budget. The ROAS figure is what each network returned.
Search takes the budget. Display earns it back. If you are not segmenting by network, you are missing half the picture.
You do not need an install campaign first
The second test: 6 bid strategies, $27K, 9 days, no install campaign, subscription app in the US.
Read individually, the campaigns looked chaotic. tROAS swung from 0% to 148%. tCPA hit 284% one day and zero the next. Watch any single campaign on any single day and you either panic or celebrate, and both reactions are wrong.
Read together, the total across all six was stable at 15% to 26% ROAS every single day. One dips, another picks up.
That is the argument for judging the account, not the campaign. It is also the argument for fewer campaigns: we cut from six to two or three, one target campaign for efficiency and one max campaign for volume. The same structure that works on Meta.
What I would do on a new account
- Start with Max ROAS, not tROAS, and not an install campaign
- Give it 10 to 14 days before judging anything
- Segment reporting by network from day one
- Read the account total daily, and the individual campaigns weekly
- Add tROAS only when you need a floor and have budget to spend against it