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How iOS 14’s Update Will Impact Your Facebook Ads



Apple has announced changes with iOS 14 that will impact how we receive and process conversion events from tools like the Facebook pixel. Businesses that advertise mobile apps, as well as those that optimize, target, and report on web conversion events from any of Facebook business tools will be affected. Specifically, Apple will begin to require that apps in the App Store that engage in what Apple defines as "tracking" to show a prompt to iOS 14 users, in accordance with their AppTrackingTransparency framework. Apple’s policy will prohibit certain data collection and sharing unless people opt into tracking on iOS 14 devices via the prompt. As more people opt out of tracking on iOS 14 devices, ads personalization and performance reporting will be limited for both app and web conversion events.


Actions you can take to prepare

Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement allows for measurement of web events from iOS 14 devices. Here is what you can do to prepare so that you can continue to deliver and measure the performance of your campaigns. If you plan to deliver ads optimized for conversion events that occur in your business’s app:

If you plan to deliver ads optimized for conversion events that occur on your business’s website:

  • You may need to verify your website’s domain to help avoid any future disruption of your website campaigns. Domain verification must be done for the effective top level domain plus one (eTLD+1). For example, for www.books.jasper.co.uk, books.jasper.co.uk and jasper.co.uk the eTLD+1 domain is jasper.co.uk. Additionally, Facebook will support domains that are already registered in the Public Suffix List. This would enable businesses to verify their eTLD+1 domains if the hosting domain (eTLD) is registered in the Public Suffix List. For example, if ‘myplatform.com’ is a registered domain to the Public Suffix List, then an advertiser ‘jasper’ with the subdomain ‘jasper.myplatform.com’ would be able to verify ‘jasper.myplatform.com.’ Domain verification should be prioritized for domains with pixels used by multiple businesses or personal ad accounts. This will enable you to configure pixel conversion events when Aggregated Event Measurement becomes available.

  • Configure 8 preferred web conversion events per domain in Events Manager. Aggregated Event Measurement limits domains to 8 conversion events that can be used for campaign optimization. Facebook will initially configure the conversion events we believe are the most relevant to your business based on your activity. Ad sets optimizing for a conversion event that is no longer available will be paused when Aggregated Event Measurement launches in early 2021. While not usable for optimization, events not configured as one of the 8 conversion events for a domain can still be used for partial reporting in Ads Manager and website Custom Audience targeting.

  • If you already set up your pixel using IMG tags or plan to do so, we recommend that you follow Facebook's developer documentation. Visit Facebook for Developers for more information.

  • Learn more about how to use Facebook Pixel to reach devices on iOS 14 and measure performance.

If you plan to deliver ads optimized for both web and app conversion events, take all the actions listed above.


Ad creation limitations

You can use your existing ad accounts to advertise to iOS 14 users, but you’ll need to create separate iOS 14 app install campaigns due to reporting limitations from Apple’s SKAdNetwork API. The following are additional limitations that you’ll need to consider. If you plan to deliver ads optimized for conversion events that occur in your business’s app:

  • You can only associate your app with a single ad account. However, you can use the same ad account to advertise for multiple apps.

  • Each app is limited to 9 iOS 14 campaigns at once. Each campaign is limited to 5 ad sets of the same optimization type. You can’t vary your optimization choice across ad sets in the same campaign. There is a 72 hour reset period after you turn off or delete one of your 9 permitted iOS 14 campaigns before it will no longer count against your limit. This will help minimize the risk of incorrect campaign optimization and reporting due to the delayed reporting of conversion event data from Apple’s SKAdNetwork API.

  • Auction is the only available buying option when you create an ad for iOS 14 devices, Reach and Frequency are not available.

  • Once your campaign is published, you can’t turn on or turn off the iOS 14 campaign toggle. You’ll have to turn off or delete your campaign.

If you plan to deliver ads optimized for conversion events that occur on your business’s website:

  • Your pixel may only optimize for a maximum of 8 conversion events for each domain. Facebook will initially configure the conversion events we believe are the most relevant to your business based on your activity. All other events will be unavailable for campaign optimization. You will be able to manage your preferences in Events Manager. When you create your ad set you’ll choose only one of the 8 designated conversion events to optimize for. Ad sets that were optimizing for a pixel conversion event that is no longer available, will be turned off. In advance of this limitation, consider if changes will need to be ma