Meta silently turned off your device and hourly ad reports

Since August 6, 2026, three of the most useful breakdowns in Meta Ads reporting, device, hourly and frequency, only return data for ad accounts that have specifically opted in. Accounts that have not get an empty result with a normal success response. No error, no email, no banner in Ads Manager. If nobody on your team went looking, there is a good chance your dashboards have been quietly reporting nothing for these breakdowns for weeks.

What changed on August 6, 2026?

Meta's Ads Insights API previously returned device, hourly and frequency breakdowns for any account that requested them. As of August 6, 2026, that data only flows for accounts where the breakdown has been explicitly enabled in account settings. The change was rolled out with minimal public notice, and it hit reporting tools and internal dashboards that pull these breakdowns programmatically hardest, because the failure mode is not an error message, it is a valid, empty response.

Why does this break reporting silently?

The dangerous part is not the opt-in requirement itself, agencies can work with that. It is that Meta's API returns a technically successful response with no data rather than an error a script or dashboard would flag. A reporting tool built to alert on failed API calls will not catch this, because nothing failed. It just returns zero rows for device, hourly or frequency splits, and most dashboards render that as "no spend in this segment" rather than "this account needs to opt in." Anyone reading a chart that shows mobile spend collapsing to zero on August 6 is looking at a settings problem, not a performance one.

What does this do to your ROAS and CAC analysis?

Your headline ROAS and CAC totals are unaffected, because those come from spend and conversion data, not from these breakdowns. What you lose is the ability to see which device, which hour of day, or which frequency band is actually driving those numbers. If your CAC has crept up recently and your plan was to check whether it is a mobile problem or a dayparting problem, that diagnostic path is closed until you opt back in. Teams that were using hourly data to time bid adjustments and budget pacing lost that lever entirely, silently, three weeks ago in most cases.

How to check if your account is affected

1. Open Ads Manager and go to Settings.
2. In the Create view panel, select Delivery.
3. Look under Additional Breakdowns for Impression Device.
4. If there is no checkmark next to it, the account has been returning empty device, hourly and frequency data since August 6, 2026.
5. Repeat for every ad account you manage. This is set per account, not per Business Manager, so agencies running multiple client accounts need to check each one individually.

How to fix it

1. Enable Impression Device under Additional Breakdowns for every affected account.
2. Give it up to 24 hours. Meta backfills the historical breakdown data once the setting is turned on.
3. Re-run any reports covering August 6, 2026 onward and confirm the device and hourly splits populate correctly.
4. If you use a third-party reporting tool or a custom dashboard pulling the Ads Insights API, confirm it is requesting these breakdowns correctly and add a check for empty results rather than assuming a 200 response means valid data.
5. Document which accounts were affected and for how long, since any decisions made in that window using device or dayparting data should be revisited.

What else changed in Meta reporting this year

This is not the only place Meta has narrowed default visibility in 2026. Meta also rewired click-through attribution in March 2026, and CPMs have moved enough this year to justify a standing quarterly plan for Meta cost spikes. None of these are related mechanically, but together they point at the same operational lesson: treat every account setting change as something that needs an active check, not something Meta will flag for you.

Frequently asked questions

What changed in Meta Ads reporting on August 6, 2026?

Meta made the impression_device, hourly-stats and frequency_value breakdowns in Ads Insights opt-in per ad account. Accounts that have not opted in get an empty result with an HTTP 200 success response, not an error, so dashboards and scripts pulling this data can silently show zero without any warning.

How do I check if my ad account is affected?

In Ads Manager, open Settings, then the Create view panel, then Delivery, and look under Additional Breakdowns. If Impression Device does not have a checkmark next to it, that account is not opted in and any report using device, hourly or frequency breakdowns has been returning empty since August 6, 2026.

Does this affect my past reporting data?

No historical data is deleted. Once you opt an account in, Meta backfills the breakdown history within about a day. The gap only affects the period between August 6, 2026 and the date you opt back in, which for most advertisers who have not checked yet is already several weeks of missing device and hourly detail.

Why would Meta make this opt-in instead of just deprecating it?

Meta has not published detailed reasoning, but the pattern matches a broader move toward account-level data controls following privacy and platform changes over the past two years. The practical effect is the same regardless of motive: advertisers who do not actively manage account settings lose granular reporting by default.

Does this affect Meta ROAS and CAC numbers directly?

It does not change your headline ROAS or CAC totals, which come from conversion and spend data, not from the breakdowns. It removes your ability to see which device, hour or frequency band is driving those numbers, which is exactly the detail you need to fix a CAC problem rather than just observe one.

Is this related to Meta's attribution changes earlier in 2026?

It is a separate change. Meta narrowed click-through attribution in March 2026, which changes how conversions get credited. This August update changes whether granular device, hourly and frequency detail is returned at all. Both reduce visibility into performance, but through different mechanisms.

The takeaway

This is a settings problem wearing a performance problem's clothes. Check Additional Breakdowns on every account you run before you trust a chart that shows mobile, hourly or frequency data collapsing to zero. It takes two minutes to fix and up to a day to backfill, and until you check it, you are optimizing blind on exactly the dimensions that usually explain a CAC swing.