Apple’s iOS 14, released in mid-2021, included changes that directly affect how Facebook receives and processes conversion events involving the Pixel.
All businesses that advertise on mobile apps and companies that optimize, target and report on web conversion events from Facebook tools may be affected. This change can directly affect a company’s Facebook marketing strategy, and as such, marketers and business owners need to be aware of the details.
Let’s take a closer look.
How Will iOS 14 Affect My FB Ads?
Apple now requires that all apps in the App Store that partake in “tracking” show a prompt on iOS 14.5 or newer devices. This is in line with their User Privacy and Data Policy.
Specific types of data sharing and collection are also not allowed at all unless opted into by the user. This is achieved by clicking on the prompt link and providing explicit permission to be tracked and for data to be used for marketing purposes.
The result is that the personalization of ads and the performance reporting of ads are limited to varying degrees for all targeted users of Apple iOS 14.5 devices and later models. Since this is a part of Apple’s new policy, Facebook has had to revisit certain aspects of its ad features and attempt to mitigate the effect on its Facebook Ad clients.
Facebook’s Response
Considering the effect this change would have on Facebook Ad’s customers, the social media giant reacted swiftly to allay fears and put business clients’ minds at rest.
They reacted by processing Pixel conversion and app events from iOS 14.5 or later model devices using Aggregated Event Measurement. The result is that advertisers can ensure that user privacy is respected while still running successful targeted campaigns.
They have been providing clients with constant updates regarding this and have also made resources available to clients to help minimize the effect of this change on their campaign effectiveness.
Advice For FB Ads Users
Marketers and business owners have been given specific advice from Facebook on how to mitigate the effects of this change. According to a post by Facebook regarding the matter, to continue to measure app and web events, users should do the following:
Setup and use Aggregated Event Management for web events
● Verify your domains. Domain verification establishes which Business Account has the authority to edit a web event configuration as the domain owner. Learn how to verify your domains.
● Configure and prioritize your top 8 events on your domain. You can choose up to 8 standard events or custom conversions that can be prioritized for campaign optimization. Page view events and custom events are not available at this time. Visit Events Manager to access the web event configurations tool.
● Learn more about Pixel Updates for Apple’s iOS 14 Requirements.
Set up Aggregated Event Measurement for app events
● Update to Facebook SDK for iOS version 11.2.0 or above to configure your app events.
● Install your iOS mobile app on your device and ensure it’s connected to Facebook. Learn how to connect your app on Facebook for Developers.
● Configure and prioritize your top 8 conversion events. You can choose up to 8 standard events that we’ve received through the Facebook SDK for iOS in the past 90 days.
● Connect your catalog to the Pixels and app SDKs that have events configured for iOS 14.5 or later ad optimization. Catalog sales ads with in-app destinations may direct people using iOS 14.5 or later devices to the web browser in some cases. Therefore, we recommend that you set up event configurations for both your mobile app destination and your website domain fallback destination and connect the Pixels and app SDKs that you used in your event configurations to your catalog.
Set up Apple’s SKAdNetwork for app install campaigns
● Update to Facebook SDK for iOS version 8.0 or above to create iOS 14+ app installs campaigns.
● If you use the app installs objective, configure your app events for SKAdNetwork in Events Manager to measure and optimize for app events, value, and mobile app installs with app events. You can send up to 63 different app events for each app.
App installs campaign considerations
The following considerations apply if you plan to deliver app install ads to iOS 14.5 or later devices.
● You must create specific iOS 14+ app installs campaigns.
● You can create up to 9 iOS 14+ app installs campaigns for each app, from up to 9 ad accounts.
● Each iOS 14+ app installs 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.
● Auction is the only available buying option when creating an ad for iOS 14+ devices; reach and Frequency are not available.
● You can use the following campaign bid strategies: lowest cost, cost cap, minimum ROAS or bid cap. However, if you choose the cost cap or minimum ROAS bid strategy, your ad set should be scheduled to run at least three full days.
All Facebook ad users should contact Facebook Ads Manager for further queries regarding the changes and issues surrounding Apple iOS 14 and Facebook Ads.