First Party Data
Shopify's Facebook & Instagram Data Sharing Settings: What Standard, Enhanced and Maximum Send to Meta
Shopify's Facebook & Instagram app has three data sharing levels. Standard sends events through the Meta pixel in the shopper's browser only. Enhanced and Maximum add the Conversions API, which sends the purchase from Shopify's servers with the customer's name, location, email and phone. Turn sharing off when another tool sends your server events, or when the pixel is a health and wellness brand's clean pixel.
That last case is step 1 of the fix in our guide to Meta's health and wellness restrictions. This post covers what each level sends, the second data access setting most stores miss, how to change both, why the app double counts beside another server-side sender, and why a clean pixel must never be connected to it. If purchases are missing from Meta, start with our guide to Meta not tracking Shopify purchases instead. We checked every Shopify and Meta detail on their help centers on October 24, 2026.
What are the data sharing levels in Shopify's Facebook & Instagram app?
Shopify's help center calls the sales channel Facebook and Instagram by Meta; in the admin it appears as Facebook & Instagram. Its data sharing settings offer three levels: Standard, Enhanced and Maximum. Here's what each one sends, event by event:
| What's sent | Standard | Enhanced | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| PageView, ViewContent, Search, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, AddPaymentInfo | Browser pixel | Browser pixel | Browser pixel |
| Purchase | Browser pixel | Browser pixel and Conversions API | Browser pixel and Conversions API |
| Customer information shared for matching | Browsing behavior | Name, location, email and phone, plus browsing behavior | Same as Enhanced |
| What a browser ad blocker can stop | Every event | Every event except the server-side purchase | Every event except the server-side purchase |
Shopify lists those seven events as the ones the pixel tracks automatically, and names only the purchase as sent between Shopify's and Meta's servers. It also says events with an order value use the order's total price, which includes duties, taxes and discounts, so expect Meta's purchase value to differ from net sales in Shopify's reports.
Three details from Shopify's pages are easy to miss:
- Install date matters. Shopify says the privacy settings behind each level differ depending on when you installed the app.
- Maximum is loosely defined. Shopify describes it as Enhanced plus being "updated with Facebook's latest advertising technology", without saying what that adds to the data sent.
- Off is a fourth state. Shopify's pixel guide says you have to activate data sharing before you can connect a pixel, so with sharing off the app has no pixel to send events to. The channel's catalog sync and shops are separate features.
On Meta's side, its Shopify setup page tells merchants to select Enhanced or Maximum.
Our take. If the app is your only server-side sender to Meta, use Maximum. Meta recommends Enhanced or Maximum, and Shopify describes no downside to Maximum. If anything else sends purchases to the same pixel from a server, the right level is off.
How do you change the data sharing level?
From Shopify's pixel guide:
- In your Shopify admin, go to Sales channels > Facebook & Instagram.
- Click Settings, then open the data sharing settings. Shopify's own pages call this section both Data sharing settings and Share data settings.
- In Customer data sharing, turn the toggle on.
- Choose Standard, Enhanced or Maximum.
- Select your pixel from the list, or click Create new, then click Confirm.
To switch pixels, click Change in the same section and connect another one. To stop sharing, turn the toggle off and save.
If anyone ever pasted Meta pixel code into your theme, remove it. Shopify warns that theme code plus the app's pixel puts more than one pixel on the store, which can produce duplicate or incorrect data. On desktop the code sits between the <head> tags in theme.liquid (Online Store > Edit code); in the mobile admin, look under Online Store > Preferences > Meta pixel.
What is the app's data access setting?
Meta's Shopify setup page adds a second instruction: in your data access settings on Shopify, choose Always on or Optimized, and Meta recommends Always on. This is a separate Shopify control for app pixels, under Settings > Customer events, and it sits on top of the data sharing level (Shopify's app pixels guide).
| Data access | What Shopify says it does |
|---|---|
| Always on | The app pixel gets all your customer and business data, without limits |
| Optimized (the default) | Shopify can pause some or all of the data a marketing pixel shares when it detects oversharing, and resumes when relevant activity returns |
Shopify announced Optimized as the default for marketing pixels in its changelog on January 13, 2026. It says it weighs signals such as referring traffic, sales, shop maturity, storefront configuration and synced campaign settings, and pauses sharing when a pixel shows no signals for days or weeks.
To change it, go to Settings > Customer events, click the pixel, select Always on or Optimized and click Save. To see whether Shopify paused a pixel, open its View details page: the activity log records each Data access granted or Data access paused change, with the reason, from June 3, 2026 onward.
If the app's browser events drop in Events Manager while nothing changed on your side, check that log first. Shopify doesn't say whether a pause also stops the app's server-side purchases, so compare the browser and server lines for Purchase in Events Manager too.
Why does the app double count alongside another server-side tool?
At Enhanced or Maximum, the app sends every purchase to Meta from Shopify's servers. Add a second server-side sender on the same pixel, such as a tracking app, a Conversions API Gateway or a custom integration, and Meta receives two server copies of each order.
Meta pairs a browser event with its server copy only when the event ID and event name match (Meta's deduplication guide). Two senders that each generate their own event IDs don't match, so both purchases count. The same goes for pixels: the app's pixel plus theme code or another app's pixel sends every browser event twice.
The symptoms in Events Manager:
- Purchase above Shopify's online order count for the same days.
- A low rate in the Purchase event's Event Deduplication tab.
- Two event ID formats side by side in Sampled Activities. In the stores we audit, the app's IDs often start with
sh-.
Our guide to Meta attribution pitfalls and event duplication traces each source of duplicates and how deduplication works. The fix is one server-side sender per pixel. If another tool sends your server events, turn the app's data sharing off, and keep the app installed if you use its catalog sync or shops. Shopify itself tells merchants who use an agency or another app to check that the app's pixel won't cause duplicate or incorrect data.
Why must health and wellness brands keep the app away from a clean pixel?
Step 1 of the setup on our health and wellness page is a new pixel with nothing else connected, so Upstack is the only thing that sends it data. New pixels usually get flagged again because something else sends them unfiltered data, and the app's data sharing is one of the usual culprits, alongside the browser pixel and other integrations.
The app's sharing works against the setup in three ways:
- It runs the browser pixel on your store. The setup is server-side only, with the browser pixel off the store. Every level, Standard included, uses the browser pixel.
- It sends from your store's domain. The clean pixel's events come from a neutral domain. The app's events carry your store's pages and URLs.
- It has no field filter. Shopify's settings choose a level, not fields, and its help pages describe no way to drop a field. Standard tracking forwards product names, categories and URLs with every event, and those are the fields that tell Meta what you sell.
What to do:
- Turn the app's data sharing off for the store, not just for the new pixel, because every level runs the browser pixel on your pages.
- Never pick the clean pixel when the app asks for one. Meta's Shopify setup walks you through pixel setup as part of connecting the app, and the data sharing settings list the pixels you've created, each with a Connect button. Reinstalls and reconnections are when a clean pixel gets picked by mistake.
- Check the clean pixel after setup. In Events Manager, its Sampled Activities should show only the Conversions API as the connection method, and its Event Breakdown by URLs only the neutral domain. A browser event or a store URL means something else is connected.
- Recheck after staff or agency changes. In the accounts we work with, data sharing is often switched back on by a new team member.
Keep the old pixel. It holds your audiences and history, and our guide to moving Meta campaigns to a new pixel covers shifting campaigns over one to two weeks. Upstack doesn't remove a category Meta has assigned, and your ads still have to follow Meta's ad policies. This isn't legal advice.
Which data sharing setting should you choose?
| Your setup | Data sharing level | Data access |
|---|---|---|
| The app is your only sender to Meta | Maximum | Always on, as Meta recommends |
| Another tool sends server events to the same pixel | Off | Not needed for Meta |
| Health and wellness brand on a clean pixel | Off for the whole store | Not needed for Meta |
| Purchases missing from Meta, cause unknown | Diagnose first with our six checks | Check the activity log |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Enhanced and Maximum?
Both use the Meta pixel plus the Conversions API for purchases, and both share name, location, email and phone for matching. Shopify says Maximum is also kept up to date with Meta's latest advertising technology, without saying what that changes in the data sent. Meta recommends either.
Does Shopify's Facebook & Instagram app use the Conversions API?
Yes, at Enhanced and Maximum. Shopify names only the purchase as sent through the Conversions API. PageView, ViewContent, Search, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout and AddPaymentInfo go through the browser pixel at every level.
Should I turn off Facebook & Instagram data sharing if I use another tracking app?
Yes, if that app sends server-side events to the same pixel. Two server senders with their own event IDs aren't deduplicated, so Meta counts each purchase twice. Keep one server-side sender per pixel.
Can I keep the Facebook & Instagram app installed with data sharing off?
Yes. Catalog sync and selling on Facebook and Instagram are separate features of the channel. With data sharing off, the app has no pixel to send events to.
Why did my Meta events drop when I changed nothing?
Check the pixel's data access setting. Optimized has been Shopify's default for marketing pixels since January 2026, and Shopify can pause a pixel's data sharing when it detects oversharing. Open Settings > Customer events, then the pixel's activity log, and switch to Always on if Shopify paused it.
Key takeaways
- Standard uses the browser pixel only. Enhanced and Maximum add the Conversions API for the purchase and share name, location, email and phone.
- Shopify doesn't say what Maximum sends that Enhanced doesn't; Meta recommends either.
- Data access is a second setting, under Customer events. Shopify defaults to Optimized; Meta recommends Always on.
- Run one server-side sender per pixel. If another tool sends your server events, turn the app's data sharing off.
- Health and wellness brands should turn the app's data sharing off for the store and never connect it to a clean pixel.
Request a demo and we'll check what your Shopify store sends to Meta today.
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