After announcing via two blog posts on Wednesday that it will no longer collect the IDFA for iOS 14 devices, Facebook sent a follow-up message to its ad partners with more detail about what that will mean in practice. Here’s the full text:
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Today (August 26, 2020), we are providing details about our approach to Apple’s iOS 14 changes and recommendations to help our partners prepare. While developers await more details from Apple on their policy, we’re sharing how we’ll address the changes given the impact it will likely have on businesses’ ability to market themselves efficiently and monetize through ads.
We will not collect ID for Advertisers (IDFA) on our own apps on iOS 14 devices, and we will not adopt Apple’s prompt. We believe this approach provides the most certainty and stability for our partners. We may revisit this decision as Apple offers more guidance.
Additionally, we will take the opportunity to highlight the choices people have over how their information is used on Facebook and to remind them about our Off- Facebook Activity feature, which allows people to see a summary of off-Facebook activity that apps and websites provide to Facebook and disconnect it from their Facebook accounts.
We continue to support product solutions that help Facebook users access, download and control their data in meaningful ways, including tools people can use to see why they have been shown an ad and to opt out of ads from specific advertisers. What’s good for people is ultimately good for business, and we are committed to helping our partners prepare for Apple’s changes.
We recommend our partners take the following steps to prepare for iOS 14:
Update to the latest version of the SDK to support iOS 14. The new version of the Facebook SDK will provide support for Apple’s SKAdNetwork API, which limits the data available to businesses for running and measuring campaigns. The iOS 14 release schedule has not yet been provided by Apple, but we will release the Facebook SDK beforehand and will provide you with specific dates after Apple’s timeline is confirmed.
Use non-IDFA match methods such as adopting Facebook Login or using Advanced Matching to share (with applicable permissions) hashed customer contact information (e.g., email address).
To help preserve the fidelity of app install campaign measurement, we will require the creation and usage of a dedicated iOS 14 ad account. To run app install ads targeting iOS 14 users, prepare to create a new ad account via a new account creation experience that will launch in early September.
We believe that industry collaboration is critical for changes to platform policies, as these updates have a far-reaching impact on the developer ecosystem. We look forward to continuing to engage with industry groups to get this right for people and businesses.
You can read more in the Facebook Business blog here.
Q. How will this change impact performance of my Facebook app install campaigns in iOS 14?
A: Impact to performance will depend on how you implement the new Facebook SDK and the extent to which you market to people using iOS 14. If you’ve implemented Apple’s prompt and a high percentage of people on iOS opt out, for example, we expect that you will see a drop in conversions of your Facebook app campaigns in iOS 14.
Q. Why do I need to run iOS 14 app install campaigns from a separate account?
A: Measurement for app install campaigns for iOS 14 users will rely on Apple’s SKAdNetwork API, which differs significantly in methodology from Facebook’s current offerings. In an effort to maintain measurement fidelity while continuing to support existing measurement capabilities for Android and iOS 13 & older versions, we will require advertisers running app install campaigns for iOS 14 to do so from a new iOS 14 dedicated ad account. For the early September timeframe, this new ad account will only apply for App Install ads for iOS 14 users. All other products, app engagement ads (using traffic, conversion objective) and dynamic ads (using product catalog sales objective) will continue to be supported through existing ad accounts, without reliance on the SKAN API. Android and iOS 13 & older campaigns for all three products – app install ads, app engagement ads and dynamic ads can continue to run through existing ad accounts.
Q. Can I use Conversion Lift to measure app events?
A: We will likely no longer be able to measure mobile app installs and other app events from iOS 14 devices in Conversion Lift tests. We will continue supporting the measurement of Mobile App Installs and other app events from Android and iOS 13 devices.
Q. How will this change impact reporting of my Facebook Android/iOS-13 campaigns?
A: Android and iOS 13 & older campaigns can continue to run through existing ad accounts with full measurement capabilities.
== EXTERNAL RESOURCES ==
Facebook Business blog: Preparing Our Partners for iOS 14
Audience Network blog: Preparing Audience Network for iOS 14
Facebook for Developer website:
Apple Developer website:
o Apple User Privacy and Data Use
o Apple SKAdNetwork Documentation
Facebook Measurement Product Updates Regarding the Upcoming iOS 14 changes
As a result of Apple’s changes, businesses will be limited in their ability to measure the performance of iOS 14 ad campaigns on Facebook and through 3rd party measurement partners.
We are committed to supporting advertisers through this transition and working to ensure that they can continue to market effectively on our platform despite Apple’s changes. We are making updates to our measurement products to ensure that businesses have the best possible measurement of their marketing performance with Facebook.
- For ads reporting (Ads Manager, Ads Reporting, Insights API),there will be a number of changes for iOS 14 app install campaigns, which will rely on data from Apple’s SKAdNetwork (SKAN) API:
a. The SKAN API will report back data aggregated at the campaign level. Reporting at the ad set, campaign, and account levels will match results returned by the SKAN API, while reporting at the ad level will be modeled based on aggregated data received from the SKAN API, unless there is only one ad for a given campaign.
b. Demographic breakdowns will no longer be available.
c. The SKAN API will not provide support for attribution window breakdowns (1D, 7D, 28D).
d. The SKAN API will not provide support for real-time reporting. Data will be reported back data with a randomized delay of up to three days.
e. Cross-account reporting can only be done within the same account type, not across iOS14 and non-iOS14 accounts.
f. A/B testing Mobile App Installs and post-install events from iOS 14 devices will be only available at campaign-level. There will be no impact to reporting for Android and iOS 13 campaigns.
- For managed Conversion Lift, self-serve Conversion Lift and Facebook Attribution, we will likely no longer be able to measure app Installs and app events from iOS14 devices. We will continue supporting measurement of app installs and app events from Android and iOS13 devices.
- For mobile measurement partners, Facebook will share SKAdNetwork data with MMPs, for advertisers that have given the MMP Business Manager permissions, via the Ad Insights API for all iOS14 mobile app install (MAI) campaigns. For advertisers utilizing the FB SDK, Facebook will support MAI and AEO. We are still exploring how to support advertisers that utilizes only the MMP SDK for other non-app-install iOS14 objectives (e.g. Traffic, Conversions, Product Catalog Sales), app event optimization, and value optimization. Reporting for Android and pre-iOS14 will remain as it is today.
Please expect to see detailed notifications in each measurement product’s user interface as we get closer to iOS14 launch.
Q. How will this change impact reporting for my Facebook iOS-14 app install campaigns?
A: For measurement of app install events or post-install events optimized through iOS 14 app install campaigns, we will have to rely on data received from Apple’s SKAdNetwork (SKAN) API. Some key limitations of the data provided by the SKAN API:
We will not be able to provide 1D, 7D, or 28D click-through or view-through attribution window breakdowns.
Will report back data aggregated at the campaign level. Reporting at the ad set and ad levels will be modeled, unless there is a 1:1 mapping with the campaign. We will not be able to support reporting at the creative level for those using multiple creatives within an ad.
Does not allow for support of breakdowns (age, gender, region, placement, etc.) for app install or post-install event metrics. Will report back data that is several days delayed. Will not provide support for real-time data.
Will not be able to support impression-time or conversion-time reporting. Due to the delay of reports and lack of visibility into when the ad click happened, we can only support reporting based on the time the data gets returned through the SKAN API.
Q. Why are we only supporting 9 campaigns when Apple is offering support for 100?
A: For iOS 14 app install campaigns, we will need to rely on signals from Apple’s SKAdNetwork API to attribute app installations to a particular campaign. While Apple’s SKAdNetwork API claims to offer 100 campaign slots per app, given the complexity of the data associated with each campaign, it is not feasible to store all of a campaign’s information into a single slot. In addition to storing all the information needed to enable campaign reporting, we also need to reserve slots for metadata crucial to driving campaign delivery and performance. As our delivery and ranking models adjust to the new limitations of data from the SKAdNetwork API, we anticipate being able to free up additional slots to support more campaigns.
Q. How will this change impact reporting for my Facebook iOS-14 non- app install campaigns?
A: For measurement of app events optimized through non-MAI campaigns in existing accounts, we will NOT rely on data from the SKAdNetwork API. We will only be able to show data for users with Advertiser Tracking Enabled flag set to ‘true.’
Q. How will this change impact reporting of my Facebook Android/iOS-13 campaigns?
A: Android and iOS 13 & older campaigns can continue to run through existing ad accounts with full measurement capabilities.
Q. How will this change impact Lift measurement and Holdout test for my Facebook app campaigns?
A: We will likely be unable to measure Mobile App Installs and other app events from iOS14 devices. Active studies running through September 14 are likely to see a reduction in Conversion Lift and other metrics due to the lack of iOS14 Mobile App Installs and other app events.
Q. How will this change impact A/B testing for my Facebook app campaigns?
A: We will continue supporting A/B tests at the Campaign level for Mobile App Installs from iOS14 devices. A/B tests at the Ad Set level and breakdowns of results (e.g. age, gender) for iOS 14 app events will no longer be available.
Q. How will this change impact using Facebook Attribution for my Facebook app campaigns?
A: We will likely no longer be able to measure Mobile App Installs and other app events from iOS14 devices. The Line of Business connecting to SDKs will start seeing decline in Mobile App Installs and other app events as iOS 14 adoption grows. We will also stop using impressions and clicks from 3rd party tags in iOS14 apps and for events where we can’t determine where it comes from. We will continue supporting measurement of Mobile App Installs and other app events from Android and iOS 13 campaigns.
Q. How will this change impact using Facebook Analytics for app events measurement?
A: The iOS 14 launch will result in loss of conversion events, which will affect the unique/new user counts, funnel, outcome, overlap, journey features in FBA as we count the events to arrive at these numbers.
Preparing App Ads for Apple’s iOS 14 Requirements
As part of preparing for the launch of iOS 14 and ensuring that you can continue to market effectively on our platform, please review the following changes for app advertising products on Facebook.
To run app install ads targeting iOS 14 users, we will require the creation and usage of a dedicated iOS 14 ad account, via a new account creation experience that will launch in early September. This new ad account will use reporting from the SKAdNetwork API. This account will only be for the purpose of running app install ads using the app install objective.
Due to significant restrictions imposed by Apple’s SKAdNetwork API, for app install ads targeting iOS 14 users, we will operate with the following limitations starting in early September (which we may adjust with future releases):
Ads Manager only (no support for Marketing API to create and edit campaigns targeting iOS 14)
One iOS 14 ad account per app
Nine published/created campaigns at any given time
One ad set per campaign; but no limit on number of ads
We recommend reviewing all the ad accounts currently running app install campaigns for your app and consider consolidating budgets as you prepare to operate with one ad account for iOS 14 app install ads. If you typically create separate campaigns or ad sets per geo, consider grouping by geos, product category, language, ARPU (average revenue per user) to operate with a limited number of campaigns in September.
Thank you for your continued partnership.
Q. Why has Facebook defined the ConversionBit schema for iOS 14 to only capture post-install data within 24 hours of app launch?
A: In order to balance the needs of optimizing performance of both install optimization and app event optimization for iOS 14, we decided to implement a schema that captured the install events as early as possible while logging a maximum number of app events that we see advertisers optimize towards. Since for most apps, the app event selected for optimization occurs within 1 day of app launch, the 24 hour post-back allowed us to provide support for the majority of advertisers. In future releases, we will offer a conversion event mapping tool to enable advertisers to inform Facebook to extend the window to capture app events that happen outside of the 24-hour window. For example, a Day 3 Free trial will require a window up to 5 days.
Q. How will this impact advertisers’ ability to upload custom audiences and find LALs?
A: Advertisers using both new iOS 14 ad accounts and their original ad accounts will be able to create Mobile App Custom Audiences. However, there will be some differences in lookalike audience creation and sharing capabilities for dedicated iOS 14 ad accounts vs. advertisers’ non-iOS 14 ad accounts. In non-iOS 14 ad accounts, advertisers will be able to create lookalike audiences from Mobile App Custom Audiences, but not in dedicated iOS 14 ad accounts. In dedicated iOS 14 ad accounts, advertisers will be able to create new App lookalike audiences that are not based on specific Mobile App Custom Audiences, but rather on specific apps and app events. These new App lookalikes may only be shared among iOS 14 ad accounts. Similarly, ‘traditional’ lookalikes based on Mobile App Custom Audiences (i.e. created in non-iOS 14 ad accounts) may only be shared among non-iOS 14 ad accounts.
