Google Analytics UTM iOS Testing

I have installed Google Analytics SDK using the Google Analytics v3 iOS guide and I have verified that it is hitting analytics through the real time view of the analytics dashboard. I then followed all the campaign tracking v3 iOS guide, including the troubleshooting steps "Self-serve diagnosis for iOS conversion tracking." The IDFA data was getting sent to GA as verified by viewing the "Audience->Demographics->Overview" page, and all the other steps also verified we had set up the tracking correctly. I then submitted the app, waited for review, and tested the install tracking by creating the following UTM link using the google link generator at the bottom of the Campaign tracking guide (note that the link here is bogus data, but shows the general link structure):

http://ift.tt/1OjjJDd

I then uninstalled my app on the phone I was using to test, clicked on the link to get directed to the app store and installed my app from there. I proceeded to wait 3 days and then looked for the install in the "acquisition->sources->all" tab of analytics and did not see the campaign show up. I then looked more closely at the guide, which has the following warning:

"Note: iOS Install Tracking only works for ads served through mobile ad networks, such as AdMob that serves in-app ads."

Which seems to suggest that the only way to verify that the UTM link install gets tracked correctly is by paying an ad network to serve an add in an app and then click on that ad?? That seems absurd. So we did some backwards engineering. In Android, all one has to do is click on the link and the install gets successfully tracked. That suggested that the restrictions imposed by IDFA (an Apple innovation) made it difficult for analytics to serve a 'one link tracks all installs' solution. Looking back at the UTM link, I noted that there is an idfa{idfa} portion that presumably is supposed to include the idfa of the phone clicking on the link, which would only be possible if the app serving the add or some other entity that knows the phone's IDFA number changed the link to include that phone's IDFA. We then obtained the phone's IDFA number through the GA logs and edited the UTM link to include the IDFA number within the brackets so the portion that used to be idfa{idfa} now was idfa{}. We then clicked on that link and are now waiting for another three days to see if it shows up in GA acquisitions... We also made an Admob account and tied it into the analytics account to track the app... but it appears that is just another way to view the exact same information that is presented in the analytics dashboard.

What is the proper way to test UTM campaign tracking? Do I really have to create a mobile add, run it and click it? Should clicking on the link as generated by Google work fine and show up in GA acquisitions, and the absence of its presence signifying my UTM tracking is not working?