Facebook tracking and the Apple iOS 14.5 update.

2 min read

Update 26th of April 2021 – Apple released iOS 14.5. We are monitoring the impact that this will have on our clients. This change will impact how Facebook is able to track users visiting your website. This is what Facebook have said “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 App Tracking Transparency framework.”

In this video, Danny explains what this change means for your business, what you can do to rectify these changes, and what we’re doing for our clients.

 

If you don’t have time to watch the video above, here we explain the main takeaways and action points:

According to Sprout Social, 98.3% of users accessed Facebook via a mobile device (79.9% of users only used mobile to access Facebook exclusively). This means the vast majority of users on Facebook are on a mobile device and around 50% of these are iOS devices. According to Statista iOS devices market share for 2020 is 49.88% while Android had just 0.01 percentage point lower with 49.87%.

What’s changing?

Apple is making changes to its operating system which affects Facebook’s ability to track conversion events through the pixel.

iOS 14 users will be given the option to opt-out of tracking; this is likely to impact your audiences for retargeting and other custom audiences.

What does it mean for you and your business?

Although we mostly measure Facebook performance in Google Analytics, Facebook optimises towards nominated conversion actions – if these are inaccurate, or undetected, Facebook’s automation won’t be optimising as best as it could be.

Without making the recommended changes, ads and campaigns will not run.

What effects will it have?

  • Delayed conversion reporting.
  • Estimated results, not actual results.
  • Little or no audience breakdown data.

Is there anything we can do to fix or at least close the expected gap this change will have on tracking?

  • You must verify your domain. This can be found under Brand Safety > Domains
  • Configure pixel-based conversion events with Aggregated Event Measurement in Events Manager. More info and instructions HERE.
  • Maximum of 8 conversion events per domain. Select the most valuable for your business
  • Depending on the availability of dev resources and your CRM, you may also want to consider utilising the Facebook Conversion API. This will enhance the conversion information sent back to Facebook and improve match rates and estimated conversions.

What has Fountain done so far?

  • We have delivered training to our frontline service delivery teams.
  • We are in the process of completing the above steps for our clients as a matter of urgency
  • We continue to monitor the situation and will make all of the necessary changes as recommended by Facebook.

Useful resources:

Facebook resources

Apple resources

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