Advantage+ app campaigns: default-on setup versus sunset of legacy AAC
Ads Manager defaults App Promotion toward Advantage+ On; Marketing API deprecates legacy AAC/ASC creation, with remaining campaigns estimated to pause in V26.0.
Meta’s current help and developer records separate three states that buyers often collapse into one: Advantage+ as the default Ads Manager setup for App Promotion, the continued ability to narrow settings until Advantage+ turns Off, and the Marketing API sunset of legacy Advantage+ shopping (ASC) and Advantage+ app (AAC) campaign objects. Default-on is not the same as “manual app campaigns have already disappeared”. About Advantage+ app campaigns; ASC and AAC deprecation.
What became default in Ads Manager
Meta’s Advantage+ app-campaign help describes an automation-first App Promotion path that uses Meta AI for bidding, audiences and placements, with streamlined setup and bulk ad creation. Separately, Meta documents that Sales, Leads and App Promotion campaigns have Advantage+ campaign budget enabled by default, and that narrowing budget, audience or placements too far can turn Advantage+ Off for that section. Set up Advantage+ campaign budget.
That supports a practical distinction for media managers:
- Default-on: new App Promotion creation leans into Advantage+ On.
- Optional Off: narrowing controls can leave Advantage+ Off; that is not documented here as impossible.
- Not evidenced here: a hard Ads Manager ban on every non-Advantage+ app structure for every account.
What the Marketing API is sunsetting
On 13 February 2026 Meta for Developers described Automation Unification: App, Sales and Leads campaigns default to an automation-first Advantage+ setup. From Marketing API V25.0, ASC and AAC campaigns can no longer be created or updated via the Marketing API; that restriction extends to all MAPI versions after 90 days (by 19 May 2026). In V26.0 (estimated September 2026) remaining ASC and AAC campaigns will be paused. Existing Customer Budget Cap (ECBC) campaigns stay editable until V26.0 and need explicit migration paths. ASC and AAC deprecation MAPI V25.0.
API object retirement is evidence of platform direction. It is not, by itself, a studio-by-studio proof that every live manual app campaign in Ads Manager has already stopped.
Practical implication
Treat Advantage+ On as the planning default for new App Promotion work, inventory any ASC/AAC or ECBC dependencies before the estimated V26.0 pause, and record whether a given ad account can still publish with Advantage+ Off. Do not read Meta’s average CPA case claims in marketing pages as this studio’s result.
Inspect the evidence
Download the announcement-to-outcome evidence timeline. The extraction separates documented facts from our analysis and unknowns.
| Field | Evidence or limit |
|---|---|
| Earlier record | 2025-04 — Archive coverage treated Advantage+ app campaigns as Meta’s preferred automation path for games, without a completed default/sunset scorecard. |
| Later evidence | 2026-02-13 — Meta for Developers: ASC/AAC create/update blocked from MAPI V25.0; all versions by 2026-05-19; remaining campaigns estimated paused in V26.0 (Sept 2026). |
| Later evidence | Help centre: Advantage+ app campaigns documented; Advantage+ campaign budget on by default for App Promotion. |
| Outcome supported | Default-on Advantage+ setup for App Promotion is documented; legacy ASC/AAC API path is in active deprecation |
| Still unconfirmed | Exact Ads Manager behaviour per account; whether every manual app structure is gone; V26.0 pause date beyond “estimated September 2026” |
| Next check | Export open ASC/AAC/ECBC objects; confirm Advantage+ On/Off state on a new App Promotion draft in each priority ad account |
Further reading in the existing archive: What Meta Advantage+ App Campaigns Mean for Game UA. That link provides background; this check does not independently verify its full contents.
