Facebook Pixel Destination Setup Guide

This guide will help you set up Facebook Pixel as a destination in the RudderStack dashboard. It also lists the configuration settings required to correctly send data from the supported sources to Facebook Pixel.

Connection compatibility

Destination Information
Status: Generally Available Supported sources: Android (Java) , Android (Kotlin) , iOS (Obj-C) , iOS (Swift) , Web, Unity, AMP , Cloud, Warehouse, React Native , Flutter, Cordova, Shopify Refer to it as Facebook Pixel in the Integrations object.

Connection Modes
Source	Cloud mode	Device mode	Hybrid mode
AMP
Android (Java)
Android (Kotlin)
Cloud
Cordova
Flutter
iOS (Obj-C)
iOS (Swift)
React Native
Shopify
Unity
Warehouse
Web

Supported Message Types
Source	Identify	Page	Track	Screen	Group	Alias	Record	AudienceList
Cloud mode
Supported sources
Device mode
Web

In the web device mode integration, that is, using JavaScript SDK as a source, RudderStack loads the Facebook Pixel native SDK from the https://connect.facebook.net/ domain.

Based on your website’s content security policy, you will need to allowlist this domain to load the Facebook Pixel SDK successfully.

Setup

1. In your RudderStack dashboard, set up a source.
2. Go to the Overview tab of your source and select Add Destination > Create new destination.

3. Select Facebook Pixel from the list of destinations. Then, click Continue.

Connection settings

Configuration settings

Configure the settings in the below sections to receive your data correctly in Facebook Pixel.

Event settings

Event mapping settings

RudderStack maps some events to the Facebook custom events by default. You can use this option to override the default mappings and map your events to specific Facebook custom events.

PII properties settings

The following settings help you control how RudderStack handles personally identifiable information (PII) before sending events to Facebook Pixel, helping you comply with Facebook’s data policies and privacy requirements.

Default denylisted PII properties

Destination settings

Other settings

Web device mode settings

Use updated mappings

If you toggle on the Use Updated Mappings dashboard setting, RudderStack takes the following traits:

{
  firstName: "Alex",
  lastName: "Keener",
  email: "alex@example.com",
  phone: "12345678910",
  gender: "Male",
  birthday: "01012001",
  city: "New Orleans",
  country: "USA",
  zip: "90009", // You can also send postalCode instead
  state: "Louisiana",
  foo: "bar",
}

It then sends the above traits to Facebook Pixel in the following format:

{
  fn: "Alex",
  ln: "Keener",
  em: "alex@example.com",
  ph: "12345678910",
  ge: "Male",
  db: "01012001",
  ct: "New Orleans",
  country: "USA",
  zp: "90009",
  state: "Louisiana",
  foo: "bar"
}

If you enable both the Enable Advanced Matching and Use Updated Mapping settings, RudderStack maps external_id from the following fields, in the specified order:

1. userId
2. context.traits.userId
3. context.traits.id
4. anonymousId

Limited data usage

If you toggle on the Limited Data Usage dashboard setting, RudderStack takes the data processing information from the event payload and sends it to Facebook.

Note that the data in the RudderStack event payload should be as shown:

"context": {
  "dataProcessingOptions": [
    [
      "LDU"
    ],
    1,
    1000
  ],
  "fbc": "fb.1.1554763741205.AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz1234567890",
  "fbp": "fb.1.1554763741205.234567890",
  "fb_login_id": "fb_id",
  "lead_id": "lead_id",
  "device": {
    "id": "df16bffa-5c3d-4fbb-9bce-3bab098129a7R",
    "manufacturer": "Xiaomi",
    "model": "Redmi 6",
    "name": "xiaomi"
  },
  "network": {
    "carrier": "AirCarrier"
  },
  "os": {
    "name": "android",
    "version": "8.1.0"
  },
  "screen": {
    "height": "100",
    "density": 50
  },
  "traits": {
    "email": "john@example.com",
    "anonymousId": "c82cbdff-e5be-4009-ac78-cdeea09ab4b1"
  }
}

You can send the value of fbc parameter via context.fbc as shown in the above payload. If not provided, RudderStack autogenerates it using the following values:

• Fetches fbclid from context.page.url
• Uses originalTimestamp as the creation time
• Sets subdomainIndex to 1
• Sets version to fb

The context.dataProcessingOptions will be mapped to data_processing_options in Facebook as is mentioned in the Facebook developer docs.

FAQ

Where can I find the Pixel ID?

1. Go to Facebook Events Manager.
2. Click the Datasets icon in the left navigation bar and click Datasets. All the Pixels associated with your account will be listed here along with their IDs.

Where can I find the Business Access Token?

1. Go to Facebook Events Manager and select the Facebook Pixel.
2. Click the Settings tab.

3. In the Conversions API section, click Generate access token under Set up direct integration.

See the Facebook documentation for more information on how to use this access token or to generate your access token via your own app.

Can I hash my user data before sending it to RudderStack?

Yes. Facebook Pixel requires all user data, data coming from context.traits, to be hashed. This includes email, phone, birthday, address, etc. By default, RudderStack will automatically hash all of the necessary properties for you. However, if you would like to hash these traits before sending to RudderStack then you need to add this code to the event.

rudderanalytics.track(
  "some_event_name",
  { some_properties },
  {
    integrations: {
      "Facebook Pixel": {
        hashed: true,
      },
    },
  }
)

The integrations object with these key-values will tell RudderStack not to hash the traits in context.traits because they are already hashed. Otherwise, RudderStack will hash your data again and Facebook will not be able to match the traits. Please keep in mind that Facebook will not accept un-hashed data.

I can see my events being sent in the RudderStack dashboard but are not visible in the Facebook Pixel dashboard. What could be the reason?

It may take up to 24 hours for your events to reflect in the Facebook Pixel dashboard.
You can also verify if your events are flowing correctly by enabling the Use as Test Destination setting in the RudderStack dashboard. It reflects the events in the Facebook Pixel dashboard in real time.