Meta ads in-app event mapping

At a glance: Send your app's rich in-app events from AppsFlyer to Meta ads.

Meta in-app events mapping

Advertisers map their in-app events, SDK or Servers-to-servers, to Meta predefined events. Advertisers can also send Meta postbacks about each app launch or any known app uninstall.

This enables advertisers to utilize Meta's advanced optimization capabilities, as well as build Custom and Lookalike Audience segments.

Predefined event mapping

Meta ads offers a wide range of events that are already predefined and can be mapped.

Find here the list of rich in-app events that can be sent to Meta with additional parameters providing extra information about the quality of events.

Learn more about mapping events on Meta

In-app_event_postbacks_en-us.png

Note that there's no predefined event for sending uninstalls to Meta ads. To send uninstalls, use a custom event.

Below is the list of other predefined Meta events that don't have additional parameters:

Meta event identifier Description Recommended AppsFlyer SDK name
Donate The donation of funds to your organization or cause. af_donate
Schedule The booking of an appointment to visit one of your locations. af_schedule
SubmitApplication The submission of an application for a product, service or program you offer, such as a credit card, educational program, or job. af_submit_application
FindLocation When a person finds one of your locations via web or app, with an intention to visit. For example, searching for a product and finding it at one of your local stores. af_find_location 
Contact A telephone or SMS, email, chat or other type of contact between a customer and your business. af_contact
CustomizeProduct The customization of products through a configuration tool or other application your business owns. af_customize_product
Adimpression—for Android
Fb_mobile_purchase—for iOS
Optimizes ad revenue on the Meta ads platform. See details below. af_ad_revenue

Mapping ad revenue data for campaign optimization

Meta ads can optimize your campaigns based on your ad revenue data. This is done by mapping the af_ad_revenue event to the following Meta ads event:

Event name in AppsFlyer Platform  Mapped to partner event Meta ads optimization based on:

af_ad_revenue
Android Adimpression Specific ad revenue
iOS fb_mobile_purchase In-app purchases

Availability limitations

Custom in-app events mapping

AppsFlyer allows you to map any custom in-app event to send to Meta, by using the CUSTOM Meta Event Identifier option.

The event name and the event value (including the event parameters) configured in the SDK are forwarded to Meta, as is, and displayed under its original AppsFlyer SDK event name - not as "custom".

Note that you are able to use these events to optimize your campaigns.

Automatic parameter mapping with the custom event

Through the AppsFlyer deep integration with Meta, many of the AppsFlyer standard SDK event parameters are automatically mapped to Meta's predefined parameters. For example, the af_revenue parameter is converted to the _valueToSum parameter in Meta, which allows you to send a revenue per event that can be measured and optimized in Meta.

 Note

Automatic parameter mapping can differ between CUSTOM and predefined events.

For predefined events, af_price is mapped to _valueToSum in some cases (for example, fb_mobile_add_to_cart). In other cases, af_revenue is mapped to _valueToSum (for example, in fb_mobile_purchase).

For events mapped to CUSTOM, af_price is always mapped to fb_price, and af_revenue to _valueToSum.

The following table details all the AppsFlyer event parameters, which when mapped through the CUSTOM event to Meta, are automatically mapped to Meta parameters.

AppsFlyer Parameter Meta Parameter
af_city fb_city
af_class fb_travel_class
af_content fb_content
af_content_id fb_content_id
af_content_list fb_content_id
af_content_type fb_content_type
af_country fb_country
af_currency fb_currency
af_date_a fb_checkin_date
af_date_b fb_checkout_date
af_departing_arrival_date fb_departing_arrival_date
af_departing_departure_date fb_departing_departure_date
af_description fb_description
af_destination_a fb_origin_airport
af_destination_b fb_destination_airport
af_destination_list fb_destination_ids
af_hotel_score fb_hotel_score
af_level fb_level
af_max_rating_value fb_max_rating_value
af_num_adults fb_num_adults
af_num_children fb_num_children
af_num_infants fb_num_infants
af_order_id fb_order_id
af_payment_info_available fb_payment_info_available
af_preferred_neighborhoods fb_preferred_neighborhoods
af_preferred_num_stops fb_preferred_num_stops
af_preferred_price_range fb_preferred_price_range
af_preferred_star_ratings fb_preferred_star_ratings
af_price fb_price
af_quantity fb_num_items
af_region fb_region
af_registration_method fb_registration_method
af_returning_arrival_date fb_returning_arrival_date
af_returning_departure_date fb_returning_departure_date
af_revenue _valueToSum
af_search_string fb_search_string
af_success fb_success
af_suggested_destinations fb_suggested_destinations
af_suggested_hotels fb_suggested_hotels
af_travel_end fb_travel_end
af_travel_start fb_travel_start
af_user_score fb_user_score

Predefined events automatic mapping to the _valueToSum parameter

For predefined events, the Meta parameter _valueToSum is mapped either to the af_price or to the af_revenue parameters.

The following table details this mapping for all predefined Meta events with the _valueToSum parameter:

Meta event _valueToSum mapped to
fb_mobile_level_achieved none
fb_mobile_add_payment_info none
fb_mobile_add_to_cart af_price
fb_mobile_add_to_wishlist af_price
fb_mobile_complete_registration none
fb_mobile_tutorial_completion none
fb_mobile_initiated_checkout af_price
fb_mobile_purchase af_revenue
fb_mobile_rate af_rating_value
fb_mobile_search af_revenue
fb_mobile_spent_credits af_price
fb_mobile_achievement_unlocked none
fb_mobile_content_view af_price
StartTrial af_price
Subscribe af_revenue

Event and parameter limitations

The following limits apply to events you send to Meta ads:

  • The following characters are not allowed:
    • Colon (:)
    • Period (.)
    • Non-Latin (English) character sets: As of January 12, 2020, Meta rejects Chinese characters. AppsFlyer has not tested other character sets and you should use these only after verifying with Meta if they support these character sets in postbacks. 
  • Event names are case-sensitive. To avoid discrepancies, make sure you use the correct case in the event names for all media sources and app versions.
  • Maximum number of parameters: 25.
  • Length of event names and parameters: 2–40.
  • Maximum parameter length: 100 characters.
  • Maximum parameter length for the af_content parameter: 1000 characters.
  • Characters permitted: Alphanumeric characters, underscores, hyphens, or spaces. Don't use non-Latin (English) characters. Using non-Latin letters results in inconsistent results.

Considerations regarding in-app event naming:

  • Event names on AppsFlyer can be named the same as Meta event names (for example, fb_price), however, these should not be sent as CUSTOM events to Meta.
    To keep on the safe side, refrain from naming events the same as Meta event names.
  • To perform in-app events postback mapping with Meta, get events data from all sources, including organic.

 Important!

With the exception of the above parameters, AppsFlyer sends the CUSTOM events data as is to Meta. It is the responsibility of the app owner to verify the event data is according to Meta requirements, using valid Meta parameters (see the table above). Otherwise, these parameters aren't sent to Meta.