Facebook Ads and IOS 14 – Affected By the Latest Update?

Spoiler alert! Yes, Facebook Ads will be affected by the latest update. But this is not the important part.

Knowing about the areas it will affect is important. On top of that, what you should do about it is important.

Read on to find out about these things.

Facebook has been warning ad people about the upcoming Apple’s new app policies since last year.

The first thing you should do about it is to not panic. If you have been involved with the digital advertising world for a few years, you’d know that these updates are common. Sometimes, they change it because of government regulations. At times, it’s their internal affairs.

Here’s an example where I talk about how Google Ads match types changed.

So don’t panic about these things. They are happening now, and they will happen in the future. Panicking won’t change anything. What you should do is understand them and take necessary actions.

Changes to IOS 14

Apple’s SKAdNetwork API and Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement are Facebook’s new ad measurement protocols. Facebook has started rolling them out in the last week of April after the release of iOS 14.5. According to the platform’s prediction, advertisers and partners should be seeing the changes caused by Apple changes.

In the third week of April, Apple announced that the general availability of iOS 14.5 is happening in a few days. Because of the changes in it, apps in the App Store will be required to ask for permission if they want to track users on other apps and websites for ads and measurement. The framework Apple is using for this purpose is called AppTrackingTransparency.

We can consider the fact that Facebook earns most of its revenue from ads. So no matter if tracking users on third-party platforms is ethical or not, they are going to defend it. There’s a whole controversy about the Facebook data privacy scandal that you can read here. 

But our main concern today is how the new iOS updates will affect advertisers and what to do about it.

The new iOS updates will cause limitations for publishers monetizing via Audience Network. That’s because if you update to iOS 14.5 and launch Facebook or Instagram, you’ll be opted out of tracking on your device automatically. After that, you’ll have the option of opting-in using the AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) prompt.

Apple is taking user privacy more seriously now. Strict iOS 14.5 is a part of it. The updated operating system requires developers to provide information about some of their app’s data collection practices on their product page.

With these measures, Apple ensures that the apps are transparent about tracking users or using any data that is linked to their identity or device.

These changes are not limited to iOS 14.5. They extend to iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5 as well.

What This Means for You

As I was talking about in the previous section, these strict rules will cause your revenue to decline if you are using Audience Network for monetization.

Facebook is using different techniques to curb its effects. One of those techniques is exclusively using bidding to fill ads in iOS apps from April 2021. Previously, bidding has shown great results in terms of revenue and operational efficiency, so the platform is shifting towards a bidding-only model.

If you have not migrated your current iOS apps to bidding, you should do it by May 31, 2021. And if you work on Androids, you can migrate your current Android apps to bidding by 30 September 2021.

Any new iOS apps joining Audience Network on or after 1 March 2021 will be bidding-only. The same goes for any new Android apps joining on or after 31 May 2021.

Apple’s changes will probably hurt targeting, optimization, and measurement campaign effectiveness for people who advertise on mobile devices and the web.

Facebook has educated developers and publishers about the actions they can take in response to these changes. This will help in continuing their monetization efforts.

Necessary Steps to Tackle The IOS Requirements

I know that you won’t be prepared for the changes in the latest Apple operating system. So I’m helping you meet Apple’s requirements. You can use the following steps to ensure continued monetization on your App Store apps from Audience Network.

Switch your apps to apps to Audience Network SDK 6.2.1 or higher if you haven’t already done so. The latest Facebook SDK for iOS is SDK 6.3. If you choose not to update your current SDK, your ad monetization will be limited to iOS 14.5 or later users.

The advertising tracking enabled flag informs Facebook whether to use that event to deliver personalized ads. Implement this flag for each event. Not setting it or setting it to false means that you won’t receive personalized ads.

Add the suggested SKAdNetwork IDs to the Xcode project's Info. List in order for advertisers to measure the success of ad campaigns. If you miss these IDs, your ad monetization will be limited to iOS 14.5 or later users.

Final Words on Facebook Ads and IOS 14

I have discussed the latest changes to iOS14, and what Facebook Ads people should do about it.

Finally, I also want to talk about how many people’s campaigns had major issues because of it, and that anyone who is using Facebook ads at scale should be taking this seriously.

So use the methods that I’ve discussed in today’s article to ensure good monetization.

Are you seeing any changes in your ad revenue? Do you agree with these changes by Apple? Do let me know in the comments below.