FAQ & Troubleshooting for App Ads

No, you can simply copy and paste your Apple App Store or Google Play URL, and our Ads Create Tool will pull basic information such as the title and icon image from the respective app store.

You should register your app, however, if you would like to:

• Measure and track installs, and as a result open up CPA and oCPM bidding options for better performance
• Run mobile app engagement ads

To measure installs, you need to register your app and either integrate our SDK or work with a Mobile Measurement Partner. Learn more here. To run mobile app engagement ads, please follow our tutorial here.

Yes, we allow anyone to run mobile app install ads from our Ads Create Tool simply by dropping the link to their Apple App Store or Google Play URL. For mobile app engagement ads, you will need to register your app, but can also run ads without the SDK.

However, without installing and using the SDK, Facebook will not be able to provide install or app event reporting, and thus you will not have the option to use more advanced bidding options (oCPM, CPA) or see performance beyond clicks.

CPA bidding (cost per action) is a powerful bidding type, which is available to you only after your app has met certain install rate and install history thresholds over a period of time. Eligibility is determined for each unique combination of Ad Account, App, and Store. To see whether an account/app combination is eligible for each platform, enter the AID and app ID into App Ads Helper. In App Install Ads Bid Types, enter the ad account that is being used to create ads. You will see a green check mark if CPA bidding is available, and a red X if it is not.

If eligible, see Cost Per Action (CPA).

Using the Facebook SDK or a Mobile Measurement Partner enables you to measure when your app is installed or when additional actions are taken in your app. With this, you can choose to begin using our advanced bidding options, such as oCPM bidding to optimize delivery for installs or CPA bidding to pay per install. You will also have better insight into performance by understanding which ads drove what installs or actions.

When a user first launches your app with the SDK, we log the install in your Analytics for Apps under "App Installs." You will also see app events reported under the "App Events" tab.

There will be no user-facing changes to your app as a result of adding measurement capabiltiy via the Facebook SDK or a Mobile Measurement Partner SDK.

When a user first launches your app with the SDK, we log the install in your Analytics for Apps under "App Installs." You will also see app events reported under the "App Events" tab. In addition, you can check the App Summary Page - after choosing your app, there is a time stamp 'Last Mobile Install Reported" for iOS and Android so that you can confirm that an install is being reported.

Yes, if you point your test app at your Facebook app ID we will record installs at that Facebook app ID. You then just need to go to your Facebook App Dashboard to see recorded installs.

No, it is not required. However, we do recommend you submit your app to the App Center to take advantage of all the organic channels through which people can discover your app.

You can associate advertising accounts with your app so that users who don't have a developer or administrator role can run ads for your app. (See App Roles.)

To do so, start by viewing your app in the App Dashboard (on the Facebook Developers site, click My Apps in the top navigation, and choose your app). In Settings, check whether the advertising account has already been added. If not, add it using the steps in App Setup.

If you would like to give someone else access to your Analytics for Apps so they can see installs and other events reported by your app, give them a role on your app as described in Help Center, Analytics Settings. To allow access for someone who does not have a role:

1. Have your browser open to any page on the Facebook Developers site.

2. Click My Apps in the top navigation, and choose your app.

3. Click the View Analytics button.

4. Click Settings.

5. Select Yes for Allow User with Authorized Advertising Account to Access Analytics.

For Android, users that already have your app installed are automatically excluded as long as you provide us your app's package name in the app settings page.

For iOS, add an array key called URL types to your app's main .plist file, and give it a single array sub-item called URL Schemes. Then add a single item to URL Schemes with your app ID prefixed with "fb", e.g. "fb1234567".

You should integrate the Facebook SDK for measurement if you have used a Facebook SDK before and want a quick way to measure installs and actions. Integrate our SDK and add a couple of lines of code to measure installs for your ad. If you choose to, you can also use our SDK to measure events taken within your app with our app events for iOS or for Android. This helps you measure the effectiveness of your ads at not just driving installs, but user engagement and any other post install actions within your app.

You can also work with one of our Mobile Measurement Partners if you want deeper insights (i.e ROI or lifetime values) or if you want measurement aggregated across several ad networks. Mobile measurement partners provide performance metrics (including attribution, lifetime value, downstream conversions, ROI, etc) and analysis across acquisition channels.

Measurement Partners integrate directly with Facebook and will not require you to pass deeplinks or other tracking parameters to measure your ad performance. As a result of this integration, they can account for cross-device behavior and outcomes that were not proceeded by a click, and can more accurately deduplicate attribution claims over time. Integration steps will differ by partner and we recommend reaching out to them directly for support.

You can learn more about both options by reading our Measurement for Mobile App Ads tutorial.

If you're seeing installs reported for a mobile app engagement ad, it's because people have uninstalled your app or are viewing the ad on a device different from the one they downloaded the app on (ex: a second tablet or a new phone). If the device detects that the app is not currently installed, the ad will ask the user to re-install the app or install it for the first time on the new device. These installs are reported as engagement.

No, you do not need to use deep links to run engagement ads.

However, if you want to send someone to a specific location in your app from an engagement ad, you need to set up a deep link. This requires that your app can handle incoming deep links and that you have registered a URL scheme so that Facebook can send people to the appropriate place in your app from your ad.

If you have already registered your app using the App Dashboard, for example, to set up exclusion for mobile app install ads or to use other parts of the Facebook platform, your app already supports a URL scheme.

Developers can debug deep links with our deep-link debugger.

You can learn more about how to use deep links for your mobile app engagement ads in our tutorial.

Mobile app install ads do not currently support view tags or clicks tags. Mobile app engagement ads do support additional tags. To do this you’ll need to use deep links to drive traffic from your mobile app engagement ads.

We provide a number of predefined standard app events. In addition to these, you can create custom events. Campaigns with the mobile app install (MAI) objective already optimize for app installs, so if your goal is app installs, choose the MAI objective at the campaign level instead of the engagement objective.

You can work with one of our Mobile Measurement Partners if you want deeper insights, including ROI, or if you want measurement aggregated across several ad networks. Mobile measurement partners provide performance metrics (including attribution, lifetime value, downstream conversions, ROI, etc) and analysis across acquisition channels. Integration steps will differ by partner.

You can also use app events for iOS or for Android to measure single purchases, for instance, in your app and the value associated with those individual purchases, but this is not considered true ROI analysis.

If you have integrated app events for iOS or for Android, you can see what actions were taken as a result of your campaigns.

First, go to your Ads Manager and choose the appropriate campaign. If you are only measuring installs, you will see these both reported at the top of the page for the campaign overall as well as for each individual ad.

One of the reasons may be a difference in the attribution windows reported. By default, Facebook reports 28 day click-through and 1 day view-through installs in Ads Manager. You can update the attribution window used by Facebook in the "Reports" tab under the "Actions" section.

To align MMP and Facebook reporting, please make sure that you are comparing installs over the same time period (14 day or 28 day click-through only installs, for instance).

Star ratings for our mobile app ads will reflect those from Apple’s App Store or Google Play dependent upon the app’s platform.

Our system will automatically pull in the name and description for all the locales your app is available in. We will then display the appropriate version based on the user's locale. Note that this will also apply to the ad previews shown on our interfaces. Thus, for example, if the app has localized titles in USA, Canada and France, and if the person creating the ad is based in the US, the ad preview will only show the US version of the app name even if they are targeting another country. But the actual ad will render fine and display the name specific to the actual country the viewer is in.

Mobile app install ads serve in mobile web and native apps. Mobile app engagement ads only serve in native apps.

• The Facebook SDK includes code to access Apple’s Advertising Identifier (IDFA), but that code is only executed in certain situations.
• The Facebook SDK for iOS only accesses IDFAs in the following scenarios: 1) if your app serves ads within the app through Facebook’s Audience Network, or 2) if your app logs app installs or other mobile App Events in order to attribute those events to your ad campaigns.
• If you are not logging App Events with the FBSDKAppEvents class, then the Facebook SDK is not accessing the IDFAs. Additionally, the Facebook SDK does not require AdSupport.framework to be included.
• If you want to track App Events without collecting IDFA, visit the Facebook Events Manager.

Ad creation starts with the app. Select it from the drop-down menu in the ad creation flow or start with your App Store or Google Play link. You will choose your Page later on in the ad creation process. You will need roles on both the app and the Page in order to successfully create the ad.

Yes. You will have an opportunity to create a Facebook Page if you do not have one.

Yes, this is ok. The best practice here will be advertiser specific.

No. Additionally, we only ever charge on a per tap (i.e. click) basis if you choose a Click based pricing option and that tap goes to that platform's app store. We do not charge on a per click basis if you choose an install or impression based pricing option.

Please visit this web page to learn how to best set up your Facebook Page.

There is no need to do this for running mobile app ads. You can choose the Page that will advertise your app at the time of ad creation.

First, go to your Analytics for Apps page: Analytics for Apps.

Then, click "Mobile App Installs” from the left-hand navigation, and check your last install reported to confirm proper installation of the SDK. Note that this dashboard shows both paid and organic. In addition, you can check the App Dashboard - after choosing your app, there is a time stamp 'Last Mobile Install Reported" for iOS and Android so that you can confirm that an install is being reported.

Please go to the App Dashboard and select the app you are trying to create an ad for.

If you do not see the app you are trying to advertise, please ensure you are listed as an admin on your app or that your developers have associated your ad account with the app.

First, click "Settings" on the left-hand navigation.

Go to the app ads helper and select the app you are trying to check.

This helper will check which platforms your app is set up for, if anyone has installed your app, and if you've had any installs (paid or organic) in the last 7 days.