How To Prepare Your Facebook Campaigns for the iOS 14 Privacy Update

The latest Apple announcement had many marketers worried about how to prepare their Facebook campaigns for iOS 14. 

The new mobile operating system limited the ability to use third-party cookies — a significant feature for most marketing and advertising campaigns. That means that marketers will have to find alternative methods for measuring conversions, tracking data, and using good old pixels on the websites. 

This blog post will explain what advertisers should expect from the iOS 14 update and explore how to prepare Facebook campaigns and set up tracking so that all your efforts are not in vain.

Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency framework was implemented in iOS 14. The policy states that if app developers engage in what Apple defines as “tracking”, they must show a prompt to the user about their data collection and ask permission to track how users engage with the app.

If the user opts out of tracking, then the app no longer can track their behavior. Facebook states that since more people opt out of Facebook and Instagram, tracking, ad personalization, and campaign reporting will be limited for mobile apps and website users. In addition, it may affect campaign measurement and targeting settings that advertisers use inside the business manager.

Apple has always been an advocate for privacy. And their latest update is no exception. This summer, users started seeing contextual prompts when apps engage in tracking behaviors, including everything from collecting geolocation data to accessing contact information on your device. Previously, access to this information had to be granted to the third parties by the device owner.

iOS 14 changes will affect all apps, but  Facebook showed a massive message in the ads manager, encouraging people to switch to a new way of tracking – server-side. That is why, you should consider moving your tracking to a server-side because of all the tracking rules and restrictions. Chances are it will become a new standard of tracking. 

You can already set up server-side tracking for: