What You Need to Know About How the Upcoming Enhancements to iOS 14 Mean for Advertising on Facebook

Recently, Apple announced some upcoming changes to iOS 14 that will take effect in early 2021. There will be a number of limitations related to ad creation, reporting and targeting.

One major change that can decrease the number of reported advertising conversions is the ability to opt out of tracking their iOs 14 devices.

What Digital Marketers Need to do to Prepare for the Changes to iOS 14

In preparation for these changes, there are steps you can take to be ready for them. We outline what you need to do if you use the Facebook SDK for iOS, App Events API or a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) to prepare your app event setup and management to ensure you are able to advertise effectively on Facebook.

What to do if You Use Facebook SDK for iOS

1. Update to Facebook SDK for iOS version 8.1. Facebook SDK version 8.1 provides support for Apple’s SKAdNetwork. If you use the Facebook SDK for iOS but don’t update it, you won’t be able to create iOS 14 app install campaigns.
2. Installing this update is highly recommended because it will make it possible to:
   • Customize ads delivered to people using iOS 14 devices
   • Share app events from iOS 14 devices as long as the Advertiser Tracking Enabled flag is sent and set to “true”
   • Measure for app install ads
   • Continue to optimize for app installs and event optimization with Automated App Ads
   • Optimize for mobile app installs, app event optimization (AEO) and value optimization (VO)
   • Send the Advertiser Tracking Enabled flag with app events
3. Send the Advertiser Tracking Enabled flag with app events to share user consent status. Developers created the Advertiser Tracking Enabled flag parameter to send along with app events. Use this parameter to indicate if event data for your ads meet the legal obligations, platform terms and commitments you’ve made to your users.

This final step is very important because it relies on users setting the parameter setting to treat an event as opted out from tracking. If no value is received for this parameter, the user will be treated as opting out. For more information about setting the Advertising Tracking Enabled flag, please review this article.

How will the New Changes to iOS 14 Impact Advertising on Facebook?

Check with Your Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs)
You’ll need to find out how and if your MMP integrates with Facebook. The social media platform provides several interoperability options to promote ease of use.

App Events API

If you use the App Events API and don’t have the Facebook SDK for iOS installed, you’ll need to follow these steps:

1. Check to see if your app supports Apple’s SKAdNetwork; this is key to ensuring you can run iOS 14 app install campaigns.
2. Configure a conversion schema for app event optimization and value optimization.
3. You’ll need to set up and share the mobile operating system (OS) and iOS versions along with your app events. If you or your developer do not set this up, Facebook will drop the events. To find out how to do this correctly, please read this article.
4. Send the Advertiser Tracking Enabled flag with app events to share user status. This is a very important step to ensure that your ads are delivered to your target audience. For detailed instructions to set up the Advertiser Tracking Enabled flag, follow these steps in this article.
   We’re hopeful that being aware of the upcoming changes to iOS 14 affect Facebook ads will help you get your business ready in plenty of time. If you have any questions, the Zigma team is always available to provide answers and guidance.