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FacebookAds

expo-ads-facebook provides access to the Facebook Audience SDK, allowing you to monetize your app with targeted ads.

Platform Compatibility

Android DeviceAndroid EmulatoriOS DeviceiOS SimulatorWeb

Installation

expo install expo-ads-facebook

If you're installing this in a bare React Native app, you should also follow these additional installation instructions.

Configuration

Creating the placement ID

You need to create a placement ID to display ads. Follow steps 1 and 3 from the Getting Started Guide for Facebook Audience to create the placement ID.

Configuring app.json

In your project's app.json, add your Facebook App ID and Facebook Display Name under the facebookAppId and facebookDisplayName keys.
  • In the Expo client, all of your Facebook API calls will be made with Expo's Facebook App ID. This means you will not see any related ad info in your Facebook developer page while running your project in the Expo client.
  • To use your app's own Facebook App ID (and thus see any related ad info in your Facebook developer page), you'll need to build a standalone app.

Development vs Production

When using Facebook Ads in development, you'll need to register your device to be able to show ads. You can add the following at the top of your file to register your device:
import * as FacebookAds from 'expo-ads-facebook';

FacebookAds.AdSettings.addTestDevice(FacebookAds.AdSettings.currentDeviceHash);
You should see fake ads after you add this snippet.
To use Facebook Ads in production with real ads, you need to publish your app on Play Store or App Store and add your app in the Facebook console. Refer the Submit Your App for Review section in the Getting Started Guide for more details.

Usage

Interstitial Ads

Interstitial Ad is a type of ad that displays a full-screen modal dialog with media content. It has a dismiss button as well as a touchable area that takes the user outside of your app to the advertised content.
Example:
import * as FacebookAds from 'expo-ads-facebook';

FacebookAds.InterstitialAdManager.showAd(placementId)
  .then(didClick => {})
  .catch(error => {});
The method returns a promise that will be rejected when an error occurs during a call (e.g. no fill from ad server or network error) and resolved when the user either dimisses or interacts with the displayed ad.

Native Ads

Native ads can be customized to match the design of your app. To display a native ad, you need to:

1. Create NativeAdsManager instance

The NativeAdManager is responsible for fetching and caching ads as you request them.
import * as FacebookAds from 'expo-ads-facebook';

const adsManager = new FacebookAds.NativeAdsManager(placementId, numberOfAdsToRequest);
The constructor accepts two parameters:
  • placementId - which is a unique identifier describing your ad units
  • numberOfAdsToRequest - which is a number of ads to request by ads manager at a time

2. Wrap your component with withNativeAd HOC

Next, you need to wrap the component you want to use to show your add with the withNativeAd higher-order component. The wrapped component will receive a prop named nativeAd, which you can use to render an ad.
import * as FacebookAds from 'expo-ads-facebook';

class AdComponent extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <View>
        <Text>{this.props.nativeAd.bodyText}</Text>
      </View>
    );
  }
}

export default FacebookAds.withNativeAd(AdComponent);
The nativeAd object can contain the following properties:
  • advertiserName - The name of the Facebook Page or mobile app that represents the business running each ad.
  • headline - The headline that the advertiser entered when they created their ad. This is usually the ad's main title.
  • linkDescription - Additional information that the advertiser may have entered.
  • adTranslation - The word 'ad', translated into the language based upon Facebook app language setting.
  • promotedTranslation - The word 'promoted', translated into the language based upon Facebook app language setting.
  • sponsoredTranslation - The word 'sponsored', translated into the language based upon Facebook app language setting.
  • bodyText - Ad body
  • callToActionText - Call to action phrase, e.g. - "Install Now"
  • socialContext - social context for the Ad, for example "Over half a million users"
More information on how the properties correspond to an exemplary ad can be found in the official Facebook documentation for Android and for iOS.

3. Add AdMediaView and AdIconView components

AdMediaView displays native ad media content whereas AdIconView is responsible for displaying an ad icon.
Note: Don't use more than one AdMediaView and AdIconView component (each) within one native ad. If you use more, only the last mounted one will be populated with ad content.
import * as FacebookAds from 'expo-ads-facebook';
const { AdIconView, AdMediaView } = FacebookAds;

class AdComponent extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <View>
        <AdMediaView />
        <AdIconView />
      </View>
    );
  }
}

export default FacebookAds.withNativeAd(AdComponent);

4. Mark which components trigger the ad

Note: In order for elements wrapped with AdTriggerView to trigger the ad, you also must include AdMediaView in the children tree.
import * as FacebookAds from 'expo-ads-facebook';
const { AdTriggerView, AdMediaView } = FacebookAds;

class AdComponent extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <View>
        <AdMediaView />
        <AdTriggerView>
          <Text>{this.props.nativeAd.bodyText}</Text>
        </AdTriggerView>
      </View>
    );
  }
}

export default FacebookAds.withNativeAd(AdComponent);

5. Render the ad component

Now you can render the wrapped component and pass the adsManager instance you created earlier.
class MyApp extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return (
      <View>
        <AdComponent adsManager={adsManager} />
      </View>
    );
  }
}

BannerAd

The BannerAd component allows you to display native as banners (known as AdView).
Banners are available in 3 sizes:
  • standard (BANNER_HEIGHT_50)
  • large (BANNER_HEIGHT_90)
  • rectangle (RECTANGLE_HEIGHT_250)

1. Showing ad

In order to show an ad, you first have to import BannerAd from the package:
import * as FacebookAds from 'expo-ads-facebook';

function ViewWithBanner(props) {
  return (
    <View>
      <FacebookAds.BannerAd
        placementId="YOUR_BANNER_PLACEMENT_ID"
        type="standard"
        onPress={() => console.log('click')}
        onError={error => console.log('error', error)}
      />
    </View>
  );
}

API

import * as FacebookAds from 'expo-ads-facebook';

NativeAdsManager

A wrapper for FBNativeAdsManager. It provides a mechanism to fetch a set of ads and use them.

disableAutoRefresh

By default the native ads manager will refresh its ads periodically. This does not mean that any ads which are shown in the application's UI will be refreshed, but requesting next native ads to render may return new ads at different times.
adsManager.disableAutoRefresh();

setMediaCachePolicy (iOS)

This controls which media from the native ads are cached before being displayed. The default is to not block on caching.
adsManager.setMediaCachePolicy('none' | 'icon' | 'image' | 'all');
Note: This method is a no-op on Android

InterstitialAdManager

InterstitialAdManager is a manager that allows you to display interstitial ads within your app.

showAd

Shows a fullscreen interstitial ad asynchronously.
InterstitialAdManager.showAd('placementId')
  .then(...)
  .catch(...);
Promise will be rejected when there's an error loading ads from Facebook Audience network. It will resolve with a boolean indicating whether user didClick an ad or not.
Note: There can be only one showAd call being performed at a time. Otherwise, an error will be thrown.

AdSettings

AdSettings contains global settings for all ad controls.

currentDeviceHash

Constant which contains current device's hash.

addTestDevice

Registers given device to receive test ads. When you run app on simulator, it should automatically get added. Use it to receive test ads in development mode on a standalone phone.
All devices should be specified before any other action takes place, like AdsManager gets created.
FacebookAds.AdSettings.addTestDevice('hash');

clearTestDevices

Clears all previously set test devices. If you want your ads to respect newly set config, you'll have to destroy and create an instance of AdsManager once again.
FacebookAds.AdSettings.clearTestDevices();

setLogLevel (iOS)

Sets current SDK log level.
FacebookAds.AdSettings.setLogLevel(
  'none' | 'debug' | 'verbose' | 'warning' | 'error' | 'notification'
);
Note: This method is a no-op on Android.

setIsChildDirected

Configures the ad control for treatment as child-directed.
FacebookAds.AdSettings.setIsChildDirected(true | false);

setMediationService

If an ad provided service is mediating Audience Network in their SDK, it is required to set the name of the mediation service
FacebookAds.AdSettings.setMediationService('foobar');

setUrlPrefix

Sets the URL prefix to use when making ad requests.
FacebookAds.AdSettings.setUrlPrefix('...');
Note: This method should never be used in production

Troubleshooting

Facebook provides a table of common errors when attempting to serve ads, this should be your first reference if you run into any issues.
There are also some changes with iOS 14 that impact the Audience Network's ability to serve ads. According to facebook, "some iOS 14 users may not see any ads from Audience Network, while others may still see ads from us, but they'll be less relevant".