Advanced Targeting

Updated: May 21, 2026

Advanced targeting includes:

Mobile and Placement

Advanced Demographic Targeting

Education and workplace

Custom Audiences

Locales

Reach People Interested in Selected Cities and Regions

Broad Category Targeting

Targeting Expansion

Flexible Targeting

You can use any combination of these advanced targeting options in your own custom audiences and lookalikes. By default, Facebook ORs combinations together. Learn more about core or basic targeting.

If you use flexible_spec, you must also provide one of the following under targeting:

geo_locations (geographical targeting field from country, region, city, zip)

custom_audiences

product_audience_specs

dynamic_audience_ids

Limitations

Advertisers running housing, employment and credit ads, who are based in the United States or running ads targeted to the United States have different sets of restrictions. See Special Ad Category.

See our Targeting Restrictions guide for more limitations.

Mobile

This is useful for Mobile App Install ads.

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name=My AdSet' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=REACH' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "geo_locations": {"countries":["US"]},
    "user_device": ["Galaxy S6","One m9"],
    "user_os": ["android"]
  }' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

You can combine categories, such as iPod OR iPad OR iPhone.

These categories are not mutually exclusive. If you select iOS you target all devices running iOS, including iPhone and iPod, without specifying user_device.

For Brand Awareness Objective ads, you can’t target based on mobile device type, such as feature phones or Samsung, or based on iOS version number. You can only choose Android or iOS, or all mobile phones.

Available fields

Field	Description
`user_os` type: array	Required. One or more values from OS option table below. Possible values are at Targeting Search API with `type=adTargetingCategory` and `class=user_os`. You cannot target the minimum version of one platform with the other platform. However you can target both platforms without specifying minimal versions of either. Valid: `['iOS', 'Android']` `['iOS']` `['Android_ver_4.2_and_above']` `['iOS_ver_8.0_to_9.0']` Invalid: `['Android', 'iOS_ver_8.0_and_above']` `['iOS', 'Android_ver_4.0_and_above']`
`user_device` type: array	Optional. Devices must match the value in `user_os`. Get possible values at Targeting Search API with `type=adTargetingCategory` and `class=user_device`.
`excluded_user_device` type: array	Optional. Devices to exclude. Devices must match the value in `user_os`. Get possible values at Targeting Search API with `type=adTargetingCategory` and `class=user_device`.
`wireless_carrier` type: array	Optional. Allowed value is `Wifi`. Target mobile users currently on wifi networks.

Operating system options

Field	Description
`iOS` type: string	iOS devices, including iPhone, iPad, and iPod
`iOS_ver_x.x_and_above` type: string	iOS devices running OS version x.x and above. Options: 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 4.3, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0. Example: `iOS_ver_4.0_and_above` For Meta App Ads: SKAdNetwork and Meta’s Aggregated Event Measurement ad sets only support version range from `iOS_ver_14.0_and_above`. Non-SKAdNetwork or Meta’s Aggregated Event Measurement ad set only support iOS version range from `iOS_ver_2.0_to_14.4`.
`iOS_ver_x.x_to y.y` type: string	iOS devices running OS versions x.x to y.y. Options: 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 4.3, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0. Example: `iOS_ver_8.0_to_9.0`, where x.x must be less than y.y
`Android` type: string	Android devices
`Android_ver_x.x_and_above` type: string	Android devices running version x.x and above. Options: 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2., 4.3, 4.4, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 7.0, 7.1, and 8.0. Example: `Android_ver_4.0_and_above`
`Android_ver_x.x_to y.y` type: string	Android devices running versions x.x to y.y. Options: 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2., 4.3, 4.4, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 7.0, 7.1, and 8.0. Example: `Android_ver_4.2_to_8.0`, where x.x must be less than y.y

Advanced demographic targeting

Target based on relationships, education, finances, and life events.

Examples

First query life_events:

curl -G \
  -d 'type=adTargetingCategory' \
  -d 'class=life_events' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/search

Add these to targeting_spec:

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="My First AdSet"' \
  -F 'daily_budget=10000' \
  -F 'bid_amount=300' \
  -F 'billing_event="IMPRESSIONS"' \
  -F 'optimization_goal="REACH"' \
  -F 'campaign_id="<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>"' \
  -F 'promoted_object={
       "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>"
     }' \
  -F 'targeting={
       "facebook_positions": [
         "feed"
       ],
       "age_max": 24,
       "age_min": 20,
       "behaviors": [
         {
           "id": 6002714895372,
           "name": "All travelers"
         }
       ],
       "device_platforms": [
         "mobile"
       ],
       "genders": [
         1
       ],
       "geo_locations": {
         "countries": [
           "US"
         ],
         "regions": [
           {
             "key": "4081"
           }
         ],
         "cities": [
           {
             "key": 777934,
             "radius": 10,
             "distance_unit": "mile"
           }
         ]
       },
       "interests": [
         {
           "id": "<INTEREST_ID>",
           "name": "<INTEREST_NAME>"
         }
       ],
       "life_events": [
         {
           "id": 6002714398172,
           "name": "Newlywed (1 year)"
         }
       ],
       "publisher_platforms": [
         "facebook",
         "audience_network"
       ]
     }' \
  -F 'status="PAUSED"' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

We now target:

Location: Japan or United States: Menlo Park (+10 mi) California or United States: Texas

Age: 20 - 24

Gender: male

Interests: Association football (Soccer)

Behaviors: All frequent travelers

Life Event: Newlywed (1 year)

Home Ownership: Renters

Here’s another example targeting by location, demographic, relationship status and interests:

curl \
  -F 'name=My AdSet' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=REACH' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "age_max": 43,
    "age_min": 18,
    "genders": [1],
    "geo_locations": {
      "regions": [{"key":"3847"}],
      "cities": [
        {
          "key": "2430536",
          "radius": 12,
          "distance_unit": "mile"
        }
      ]
    },
    "interests": [{"id":6003139266461,"name":"Movies"}],
    "relationship_statuses": [
      2,
      3,
      4
    ]
  }' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Possible options

Name	Description
`relationship_statuses` type: array	Array of integers representing relationship status. `1`: single `2`: in_relationship `3`: married `4`: engaged `6`: not specified Default: `ALL`, if you specify Null or do not provide a value. Restrictions: Do not use `0`.
`life_events` type: array	Array of objects with ‘id’ and optional ‘name’ fields: `[{'id': 123, 'name': 'foo'}, {'id': 456}, 789]`
`industries` type: array	Array of objects with ‘id’ and optional ‘name’ fields
`income` type: array	Array of objects with ‘id’ and optional ‘name’ fields
`family_statuses` type: array	Array of objects with ‘id’ and (optional) ‘name’ fields

Education and work

Use Targeting Search API for all options.

Name	Description
`education_schools` type: array	Schools, colleges, and institutions. Limit: 200 education schools. Example: `[{id: 105930651606, 'name': 'Harvard University'}, {id: 105930651607}, 105930651608]`
`education_statuses` type: array	Array of integers to target based on education level. `1`: HIGH_SCHOOL `2`: UNDERGRAD `3`: ALUM `4`: HIGH_SCHOOL_GRAD `5`: SOME_COLLEGE `6`: ASSOCIATE_DEGREE `7`: IN_GRAD_SCHOOL `8`: SOME_GRAD_SCHOOL `9`: MASTER_DEGREE `10`: PROFESSIONAL_DEGREE `11`: DOCTORATE_DEGREE `12`: UNSPECIFIED `13`: SOME_HIGH_SCHOOL
`college_years` type: array	Array of integers. College graduation Limit: Earliest year allowed is 1980
`education_majors` type: array	Majors. Example: `[{'id': 123, 'name': 'Computer Science'}, {'id': 456}, 789]` Limit: 200
`work_employers` type: array	Company, organization, or workplace Example: `[{'id':'50431654','name':'Microsoft'}, {'id':50431655}, 50431656]` Limit: 200
`work_positions` type: array	Self-declared work. Example: `[{'id':105763692790962, 'name':'Contractor'}, {'id':105763692790963}, 105763692790964]` Limit: 200

Custom Audiences

Create a custom audience and add users. You can use the audience in targeting, either for inclusion or exclusion. Include up to 500 custom audiences in custom_audiences and 500 custom audiences in excluded_custom_audiences.

excluded_custom_audiences in targeting_specs is different than excluded_custom_audiences in APP_COMBINATION Custom Audience.

Field	Description
`custom_audiences` type: array	Array of audience IDs or audience objects. `'id'` field only: `[123, 456]` or `[{'id': 123}, {'id': 456}]`
`excluded_custom_audiences` type: array	Array of audience IDs or audience objects. `'id'` field only: `[123, 456]` or `[{'id': 123}, {'id': 456}]`

targeting:{
     "geo_locations":{
       "countries":["US"],
     },
     "age_min":25,
     "age_max":40,
     "custom_audiences":[{"id":6004192254512}]}
     "excluded_custom_audiences":
       [{"id":6004192252847}],
 }

Locales

Provide granular targeting on locale:

Field	Description
`locales` type: array	Locales, see Targeting Search, Locales. Indices in a sub-array ‘locales’. Target Accounts Center accounts with language other than common language for a location. Provide an ID for the language, such as 5 for German. Limit: 50. See mapping of virtual ‘locales’ to language sets at Targeting Search, Locale with `type=adlocale`.

Reach people interested in selected cities and regions

This feature expands upon our existing location targeting feature, by enabling advertisers to reach people who have shown intent to travel to, make purchases in, or general interest in the cities and regions you’ve selected, within the same country.

To opt in, set the geo parameter under individual_setting in targeting_automation to 1.

To opt out, set the geo parameter under individual_setting in targeting_automation to 0.

"targeting": {
  "age_range": [25, 35],
  "geo_locations": {
    "countries": ["GB"],
    "cities": [{"key":"2430536", "radius":12, "distance_unit":"mile"}]
  },
  "targeting_automation": {
    "individual_setting": {
      "geo": 1
    }
  }
}

Limitations

This feature works when you have selected cities or regions in your location targeting (i.e., geo_locations field).

Example request

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="advantage audience test"' \
  -F 'is_autobid="true"' \
  -F 'daily_budget="100"' \
  -F 'billing_event="IMPRESSIONS"' \
  -F 'campaign_id="<CAMPAIGN_ID>"' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "age_range": [25,35],
    "geo_locations":
      {
        "cities": [{"key":"2430536","radius":12,"distance_unit":"mile"}]
      },
    "targeting_automation": {"individual_setting": {"geo": 1 } }}' \
  -F 'access_token="<ACCESS_TOKEN>"' \
https://facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

For more information about the feature, see How to reach people interested in your selected cities and regions⁠.

Enable age and gender suggestions

Currently, this feature is available to select advertisers but will gradually roll out to all advertisers in the coming months.

To use age or gender as suggestions, simply configure the individual_setting parameter in the targeting_automation field. This setting will also be returned when retrieving the ad set, if it exists for the adset.

Limitations

This feature is only available for the OUTCOME_SALES and APP_INSTALLS objectives.

When using age and gender suggestions, ads will be shown beyond these settings when it’s likely to improve performance of the ads.

Age as a suggestion

Set the age parameter under individual_setting in targeting_automation to 1. Then, include the age_range field in your audience specification.

Example request

{
  "geo_locations": {
    "countries": [
      "US"
    ]
  },
  "age_min": 18,
  "age_range": [25, 35],
  "targeting_automation": {
    "individual_setting": {
      "age": 1
    }
  }
}

Gender as a suggestion

Set the gender parameter under individual_setting in targeting_automation to 1.

Example request

{
  "geo_locations": {
    "countries": [
      "US"
    ]
  },
  "age_min": 21,
  "genders":[1],
  "targeting_automation": {
    "individual_setting": {
      "gender": 1
    }
  }
}

Create an ad set with suggestions

Example request

 curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="advantage audience test"' \
  -F 'is_autobid="true"' \
  -F 'daily_budget="100"' \
  -F 'billing_event="IMPRESSIONS"' \
  -F 'campaign_id="<CAMPAIGN_ID>"' \
  -F 'promoted_object={"pixel_id": "<PIXEL_ID>","custom_event_type": "PURCHASE"}' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "age_min": 18,
    "age_range": [25,35],
    "genders":[1],
    "geo_locations": {
      "countries": ["US"]
    },
    "targeting_automation": {"individual_setting": {"age": 1, "gender": 1 } }}' \
  -F 'access_token="<ACCESS_TOKEN>"' \
https://facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Example response

{
  "id": "<AD_SET_ID>",
}

Retrieve an ad set with suggestions

Example request

curl -X GET \
  -d 'fields="targeting"' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_SET_ID>/

Example response

{
  "targeting": {
    "age_max": 65,
    "age_min": 19,
    "age_range": [
      25,
      35
    ],
    "genders": [
      1
    ],
    "geo_locations": {
      "countries": [
        "US"
      ],
      "location_types": [
        "home",
        "recent"
      ]
    },
    "targeting_relaxation_types": {
      "lookalike": 0,
      "custom_audience": 0
    },
    "targeting_automation": {
      "advantage_audience": 0,
      "individual_setting": {
        "age": 1,
        "gender": 1
      }
    }
  },
  "id": "<AD_SET_ID>",
}

Custom broad category targeting

Use Broad Categories for custom targeting created or permissioned specifically for your account. To include the cooking category and small business owner category:

curl \
  -F 'name=My AdSet' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=REACH' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "geo_locations": {"countries":["US"]},
    "user_adclusters": [
      {"id":6002714885172,"name":"Cooking"},
      {"id":6002714898572,"name":"Small Business Owners"}
    ]
  }' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

To target based on BCT plus location and demographics:

curl \
  -F 'name=My AdSet' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=REACH' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "geo_locations": {"countries":["US"]},
    "relationship_statuses": [2],
    "user_adclusters": [{"id":6002714886772,"name":"Food & Dining"}]
  }' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

You have options:

Name	Description
`user_adclusters` type: array	Array of ID-name pairs for BCT clusters. See below for information on retrieving BCT’s. Limit: 50 ID-name pairs.

To query this targeting for Ad account, make an HTTP GET:

https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/broadtargetingcategories

The response is an array of JSON key-value pairs:

Name	Description
`id` type: long	ID of broad category is used for ad targeting spec
`name` type: string	Name of broad category
`parent_category` type: string	Parent category of broad category
`size_lower_bound` type: int	Lower bound audience size of broad category
`size_upper_bound` type: int	Upper bound audience size of broad category
`type` type: int	6=BCT
`type_name` type: string	BCT

Resources

Targeting Search

Reach Estimate

Targeting Descriptions

Custom Audiences