They answer different questions
SKAdNetwork is Apple's privacy-preserving framework for attributing installs to ad campaigns. It reports aggregated, delayed conversions with no user-level or device-level detail. That is exactly what an ad network needs and exactly what an affiliate program cannot use, because a commission has to name a single partner and a single conversion.
Affiliate attribution needs per-conversion, per-affiliate precision: this subscription, this affiliate, this amount, minus refunds. SKAdNetwork deliberately withholds that granularity to protect privacy.
What each is good for
Use SKAdNetwork when you are buying paid install campaigns and want privacy-safe, campaign-level measurement. Use affiliate attribution when you are paying named partners a commission on the subscriptions they drive.
- SKAdNetwork: aggregated ad-campaign measurement, timing noise, no per-user detail.
- Affiliate attribution: deterministic per-conversion credit via the StoreKit 2 appAccountToken.
- SKAdNetwork cannot pay a specific affiliate. Affiliate attribution is not an ad-network measurement tool.
How the affiliate path stays precise
Attribloom sets a per-referral appAccountToken on the purchase and confirms it through App Store Server Notifications v2. That is a deterministic value your own app sets, not an aggregated postback, which is why it can credit one affiliate for one subscription and reverse the commission on a refund. The two systems can run side by side: one measures your ad spend, the other pays your partners.