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Setup is not available yet. There is no screen, agent tool or documented API operation to connect Google Analytics 4 today, so you cannot connect it, and there is nothing to ask your Apostra contact to switch on. This page describes how the connection will work so you can see what it asks for before it opens. Apostra will announce it when setup is available.
Most advertisers already run Google Analytics 4 on their site. Once setup is available, connecting it to an advertiser lets Apostra read your own site reports for that advertiser: how many visits a campaign brought, and how many of those visits did something you count as a result, such as signing up. You will connect once for each advertiser. You sign in with Google, choose one GA4 property, and choose which of that property’s key events count. Connecting will not at first add anything to your campaign reports: the daily read that brings site outcomes into reporting is a later step, and this page will cover it when it ships.

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What Apostra asks Google for, and why

Apostra asks for one permission: read-only access to Google Analytics (analytics.readonly). It asks for nothing else, and it checks every time it uses the access. If Google ever returns more than read-only access, Apostra refuses to use it and the connection shows as needing a reconnect. Read-only access lets Apostra do three things:
  • List the GA4 properties you can see, so you can choose one.
  • List the key event names of the property you chose, so you can choose which count.
  • Read that property’s reports.
Reports and key event names are totals and names. They never contain people. Apostra uses what it reads only to show you your own reports for your own advertiser, and for nothing else. Apostra never stores your Google token. Google sign-in runs through WorkOS, which holds the token encrypted and refreshes it. Apostra asks WorkOS for a valid token each time it needs one, uses it for that one piece of work, and drops it.

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Who can connect, and what access they need

  • One connection for each advertiser. The Google Analytics property belongs to the advertiser, not to whoever clicked Connect. Everyone with access to the advertiser can see the connection’s state. Only an account admin can connect, change the property or key events, reconnect, or disconnect.
  • The person who signs in needs access to the property in Google Analytics. They need at least read access to the property they choose. The connection reads as that person. If they lose access to the property, or leave your organization, the connection becomes unhealthy (see below). Any account admin can reconnect it, and the property and key events you chose are kept. A person who connected an advertiser is deleted from Apostra only after their connection is released: Apostra removes their Google sign-in at WorkOS and disconnects the connection, clearing their sign-in details. The property and key events are kept for the next admin who reconnects.
  • Staff acting for your account and service tokens cannot connect it. The Google sign-in has to be a person’s own.

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Choose a property and key events

After you sign in, choose one GA4 property from the list Google returns. Then choose which of its key events count. Key events are GA4’s name for what used to be called conversions, and you set them up in Google Analytics.
  • You can choose up to 10 key events.
  • You can choose none. The connection still works, and key events are simply left out.
  • Apostra stores the property’s ID, name, timezone and currency, as Google reports them, and the key event names you chose.
Until you choose a property, the connection stays pending.

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Connection states

A connection is always in one of these states. An unhealthy connection also says why. Apostra checks an active connection against Google at most every five minutes. If Google or WorkOS cannot be reached when it checks, the connection keeps the state it had and the check reports that it could not be completed. A failed check is never read as the connection being unhealthy.

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Reconnect, change, or disconnect

  • Reconnect. Sign in with Google again. The property and key events you chose are kept, so you do not choose them again. If a different admin signs in, the connection now reads as that person, and the first person’s Google sign-in with Apostra is removed unless another of your advertisers still uses it.
  • One sign-in at a time. If another admin has started signing in with Google for the same advertiser and has not finished, you cannot reconnect until they finish or 15 minutes have passed. Apostra tells you when this happens. The person who is signing in can start again at any time.
  • Change the property or key events. Choose again. Apostra reads the property’s details and key events from Google, so it only accepts events the property actually defines.
  • Disconnect. Apostra removes the Google sign-in at WorkOS and clears who connected it. Your property and key event choice is kept, so connecting again restores it. If another advertiser in your organization uses the same person’s Google sign-in, Apostra leaves that sign-in in place for it.
  • Bring data in covers the other ways to get your own data into Apostra.
  • Key event is defined in the glossary.
  • Errors explains how Apostra reports a request it cannot complete.