A timeline of Apple’s recent iOS updates
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2025 8:13 am
And by the way….while I’m writing this I’m in the middle of wrapping my head around the current state. So, I thought it would be helpful to bring you all along for the ride.
Let’s get into it.
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This all started back in June 2020 – and I covered the timeline of events through December 2020 in our last post. Here are the key events that have occurred since then:
In February, Facebook released their new resource center in Ads Manager to provide alerts, checklists, and resources to help advertisers navigate the changes.
On April 26th, iOS 14.5 was released. This officially launched App Tracking Transparency.
With this rollout on April 26th, Facebook added an educational banner to promote the importance of personalized ads right before the Apple prompt for their apps:
During their Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2021, Apple revealed their plans for iOS 15. This announced Mail Privacy Protection and kicked off a big conversation around the impact to email marketing. (PS: Ben shared why he’s not concerned about these updates in one of the recent episodes of Ecommerce Marketing School.)
On June 30th, Facebook shared that they’re going to start running tests to educate consumers on the importance of personalized ads in an effort to minimize opt outs as part of ATT.
Recently, Facebook rolled out 2 new updates to help advertisers with performance. This includes the expansion of conversion modeling to 7-day click and allowing for optimization beyond the initial 8 event limitations.
And now that we know the timeline of events, let’s talk about how it’s gone so far.
What we know about the rollout of iOS 14.5
Since rolling out iOS 14.5 in April, adoption has been fairly slow for consumers. According to this article from Branch, only 20% of iOS users had updated to iOS 14.5 as of June 2021. And for those that updated to iOS 14.5, the team at Flurry have been watching closely and reported a 13-15% opt in average by the third week after the rollout. This means, approximately 14% of users who saw the Apple Prompt agreed to opt into app tracking (yes, that means 86% did not).
Now it’s important to keep in mind that the 14% benchmark is still only a measure of the ~20% of users who upgraded to iOS 14.5 by this point. And your Facebook targeting includes devices outside of iOS (like Android, desktop devices, and more).
As time goes on, it’s certain that we’ll see iOS 14.5 adoption and Apple prompt engagement grow rather quickly. But for now, let’s ignore the numbers.
Because here’s the thing…they shouldn’t really matter. A strong overseas chinese in australia data foundation and following the basics will always win. And regardless of adoption and fluctuation during these iOS changes, Facebook is rolling out updates and producing new resources to help advertisers maintain performance during this time.
But we can’t ignore the fact that these changes have had an impact on advertising performance. So, let’s review what we’ve learned, what it means, and what actions you should be taking.
The impact of iOS 14.5 on advertisers (so far)
1. Delayed conversion reporting: as an advertiser myself, this is where I’m experiencing most pain from the changes. Before the iOS changes, advertisers could feel confident in the significance of data within a recent timeframe to make account decisions and optimizations. But with the delay in conversion reporting, your performance results can dramatically change overnight. This makes it difficult to optimize based on Facebook reported performance data over the last 7 or 14 days.
2. Initial increase in costs: many advertisers noticed an increase in costs across the board during the peak time of these changes. Especially in CPM (cost per one-thousand impressions) and cost per result. The good news is, as long as you follow the recommended steps, focus on the basics (more on this later) and have been patient with your account management during this time, you should start to see results regulate back to baseline.
Let’s get into it.
Get our best content on ecommerce marketing in your inbox 2 times a week
This all started back in June 2020 – and I covered the timeline of events through December 2020 in our last post. Here are the key events that have occurred since then:
In February, Facebook released their new resource center in Ads Manager to provide alerts, checklists, and resources to help advertisers navigate the changes.
On April 26th, iOS 14.5 was released. This officially launched App Tracking Transparency.
With this rollout on April 26th, Facebook added an educational banner to promote the importance of personalized ads right before the Apple prompt for their apps:
During their Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2021, Apple revealed their plans for iOS 15. This announced Mail Privacy Protection and kicked off a big conversation around the impact to email marketing. (PS: Ben shared why he’s not concerned about these updates in one of the recent episodes of Ecommerce Marketing School.)
On June 30th, Facebook shared that they’re going to start running tests to educate consumers on the importance of personalized ads in an effort to minimize opt outs as part of ATT.
Recently, Facebook rolled out 2 new updates to help advertisers with performance. This includes the expansion of conversion modeling to 7-day click and allowing for optimization beyond the initial 8 event limitations.
And now that we know the timeline of events, let’s talk about how it’s gone so far.
What we know about the rollout of iOS 14.5
Since rolling out iOS 14.5 in April, adoption has been fairly slow for consumers. According to this article from Branch, only 20% of iOS users had updated to iOS 14.5 as of June 2021. And for those that updated to iOS 14.5, the team at Flurry have been watching closely and reported a 13-15% opt in average by the third week after the rollout. This means, approximately 14% of users who saw the Apple Prompt agreed to opt into app tracking (yes, that means 86% did not).
Now it’s important to keep in mind that the 14% benchmark is still only a measure of the ~20% of users who upgraded to iOS 14.5 by this point. And your Facebook targeting includes devices outside of iOS (like Android, desktop devices, and more).
As time goes on, it’s certain that we’ll see iOS 14.5 adoption and Apple prompt engagement grow rather quickly. But for now, let’s ignore the numbers.
Because here’s the thing…they shouldn’t really matter. A strong overseas chinese in australia data foundation and following the basics will always win. And regardless of adoption and fluctuation during these iOS changes, Facebook is rolling out updates and producing new resources to help advertisers maintain performance during this time.
But we can’t ignore the fact that these changes have had an impact on advertising performance. So, let’s review what we’ve learned, what it means, and what actions you should be taking.
The impact of iOS 14.5 on advertisers (so far)
1. Delayed conversion reporting: as an advertiser myself, this is where I’m experiencing most pain from the changes. Before the iOS changes, advertisers could feel confident in the significance of data within a recent timeframe to make account decisions and optimizations. But with the delay in conversion reporting, your performance results can dramatically change overnight. This makes it difficult to optimize based on Facebook reported performance data over the last 7 or 14 days.
2. Initial increase in costs: many advertisers noticed an increase in costs across the board during the peak time of these changes. Especially in CPM (cost per one-thousand impressions) and cost per result. The good news is, as long as you follow the recommended steps, focus on the basics (more on this later) and have been patient with your account management during this time, you should start to see results regulate back to baseline.