Apple iOS 14.5 & Facebook’s Response

What’s happened with iOS 14.5?

This week, the Apple iOS 14.5 software update introduces the App Tracking Transparency feature. This update will force apps to ask for users permission before tracking users across apps with their unique advertising ID. Users will now be prompted to opt in or opt out of tracking when they first open an app on their phone. Apple users will be opted out of tracking by default until they “allow tracking” or change their choice. 

How will iOS 14.5 change things?

We expect users’ adoption of iOS 14.5 will be a relatively slow change. Tracking limitations, therefore, will not be heavily impacted immediately, but will depend on user opt in. While these changes will affect all apps, it will affect every app differently. Apps which require tracking to deliver their core services, such as weather apps or transport apps, will be less affected as opting in will be required to use the apps features. 

However, for apps such as Facebook where tracking is not essential to deliver the core service, there may be significant impact. In response, Facebook has been a key proponent in the iOS 14.5 shift while preparing to implement changes to their advertising platform for months.

Overall, the introduction of the App Tracking Transparency feature is expected to shrink the data pool for advertisers and make attribution more difficult. 

iOS 14.5 impact on Facebook?

This week, Facebook have announced a roll out of their new advertiser experiences and measurement protocols. This will have impacts across campaign implementation, reporting changes and attribution. Campaign implementation may be limited based on whether the advertiser is compliant with their new framework. Reporting and attribution will be affected as Facebook discontinues previous attribution window options and rely on more modelling due to tracking limitations.

In the short term, we do expect some performance fluctuations due to impact to delivery and reporting. Similarly, audience sizes may decrease with the gradual adoption of iOS 14.5.

From a user experience perspective, Facebook & Instagram will feature an educational screen with their opt in prompt.  

What do you need to do?

No action needed. If you are a client of ours, ADMATIC have already prepared your ad account for these changes, and will continue to guide you through Facebook and any other platform changes. We will notify you of any noticeable performance fluctuations as they happen.

Find out more about ADMATIC’s response to iOS 14.5.