Apple and Facebook may be two of the biggest tech companies, but at first glance they seem very different. Apple has made most of its 274,5 billion dollars in sales in 2020 with iPhones, iPads, Mac computers and AirPods headphones. Facebook, meanwhile, sells few devices and instead pulled nearly all of its 85,9 billion through targeted online advertising.

But there is one area where they intersect: the privacy of the people who use their products.

Apple vs Facebook: Two brands, two different visions

For several years, the two giants have been clashing through interposed communications. Thus, we have Apple campaigning for the preservation of user privacy. While Facebook wants to be the defender and support of small businesses.

Recently, Apple released an update for its iPhones and iPads that hit the advertising world hard. The new operating software, iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5, requires app developers to explicitly request permission to track user behavior on Apple's App Store and across the Internet. This hits hard at Facebook's business, which has been built over the past decade on technology designed to do this with or without users' consent.

What are the consequences of the Apple update on the functioning of Facebook ads.

Apple introduced in iOS 14.3 a new privacy information section in the AppStore called AppTrackingTransparency. Apple assigns a unique identifier to its phones (the IDFA) which tracks what you do on your iPhone.

With this new AppTrackingTransparency framework, an app that wants to use this unique identifier to track what you do on your iPhone will have to ask your permission to do so.

App developers will now be forced to be transparent about the different information they can collect about their users. Facebook will also have to collect the consent of its users to be able to track them as it has done so far. The reason for the fear is the possibility of systematic refusals from iOS users, for example 46% of Americans own an iPhone.

This change will impact advertisers who use pixels, Conversions API or other Facebook Business Tools that optimize or target events from a web domain, or report on these events. This new AppTrackingTransparency framework went into effect on April 26. Here are the consequences that these measures will have on the activity of advertisers.

So now there will be:

• Less data collection which will result in less precise targeting
• Less visibility on web conversions or in apps for iPhone users with therefore incomplete campaigns
• Few conversions recorded and poorer campaign optimization
• Fewer pre-purchase signals tracked, which will reduce the size of audiences by retargeting
• And finally, an increase in the cost per purchase

What solutions to adapt?

Facebook therefore had to take steps to implement the change in the privacy policy for iOS users. Users on iOS 14.5 are opt-out by default and only the event set at the top of the list of eight priority and tracked events. Statistical models are used to compensate for data loss from iOS 14.5 users.

There are now actions to take depending on the type of advertiser you are.

For advertisers who run web campaigns

Domain verification

1. To do this, you have to enter Facebook business
2. "company settings"
3. “brand safety”
4. " areas "
5. " add "
6. "enter the domain name",
7. you then have the choice between registering txtdns or bringing an HTML file to your site.

Event Management

Facebook has now implemented a limit of eight conversion events per domain name; Including all standard, custom events or custom conversions set up in your event handler. 

Initially they are first chosen automatically by the system then you have the possibility to choose them as well as to set the orders of priority yourself in the parameters. 

Ad sets that optimize for events beyond the prioritized eight are automatically paused. If a user triggers multiple events, only the event with the highest priority will be reported by the pixel.

For app advertisers

• The first step is to update the Facebook SDK for iOS to 8.1 to be able to support iOS 14.5.
• The application can only be associated with a single advertising account.
• You now need to create app install campaigns (maximum of nine simultaneous campaigns, five ad sets per campaign).
• After publication, iOS 14 campaigns cannot be paused.