iOS 14 FAQs
Everything you need to know about the changes to iOS 14 and how this affects the Facebook Pixel
If you have a Facebook Pixel set up for your event pages, and you regularly run conversion ads, then you will probably have seen the messages in Ads Manager about the changes to iOS 14.
What are the changes?
Apple has added new privacy features in iOS 14.5, which means iOS users now need to ‘opt-in’ to tracking for each iOS app on their device. So in the case of the Facebook app on iOS, advertisers will only be able to process web activity if a user has opted-in within the app.
Why is this happening?
Apple has doubled down on user privacy in recent months. The new changes allow Apple to improve security for its users, while at the same time restricting opportunities to advertise on its platform, and hurting fellow tech giants and competitors Facebook and Google in the process.
When will the changes come into effect?
The changes will come into effect with the launch of iOS 14.5 (w/c 26th April 2021).
What is Facebook doing about this?
Facebook’s new tool Aggregated Event Measurement enables advertisers to process web activity for opted-out devices, essentially circumventing the restrictions put in place in iOS 14.5.
Why is Facebook asking me to verify my domain?
Aggregated Event Measurement is an API tool and requires domain verification in order to work.
Domain verification is - in most cases - a simple and easy way to protect your domain from misuse (e.g. link editing) on Facebook. The caveat is that you need to own the domain.
Since you are selling tickets on ra.co - a domain that you don’t own - you will be unable to complete the domain verification required in order to set up Aggregated Event Measurement.
Can RA verify my domain or share its domain verification with my Business Manager?
No. The new changes mean that only 8 events can be configured per domain, all of which we use internally. Given we work with thousands of promoters, all of whom sell tickets on one domain (ra.co), such capacity constraints mean we will be unable to offer individual access.
So what does this mean for me as an RA promoter?
We currently configure pixels on ra.co to deliver the following three web events:
- PageViews (standard event)
- Purchase (conversion event)
- Initiate checkout (conversion event)
As things stand, it seems conversion tracking on third-party platforms will no longer be possible.
This means that when building campaigns in Ads Manager, both the Purchase and Initiate checkout web events on ra.co will no longer be available for tracking or optimisation, and you therefore won’t be able to run conversion ads or measure website purchases in Ads Manager.
You can still optimise your campaigns for PageViews - as this is not a conversion event - but you won’t be able to track any actions taken by iOS users unless they have specifically opted-in.
You can also still track desktop and android users across the three web events - and use this data to build custom audiences for retargeting - but audience sizes will be smaller than before.
This will be the same for all ticketing platforms, but we are actively investigating workarounds.
In the meantime, we suggest you choose ‘Traffic’ as your campaign objective and start optimising your ads to deliver and track Landing page views instead of Link clicks.
If you’re an event promoter or event organiser and you still need help, go to RA Pro and login. Then use the “Help” button in the corner to contact us.