App pixels
App pixels are scripts that are installed as part of a third-party app or sales channel. These pixels are created by the app owner, and are set up to use a strict, isolated environment on your store. The isolated environment, called a Strict sandbox, uses Shopify-controlled APIs to collect or retrieve data, reducing the overall impact to the performance, security, and privacy of your website.
Shopify adds only apps to the Customer events page that use the Shopify Web Pixels API. Shopify Web Pixels API is the officially supported way to integrate web pixels. Apps that use the Shopify Web Pixels API offer the most secure, reliable, and performant pixels. An app needs to be installed, and then set up to configure a pixel.
On this page
App pixel permissions and customer privacy settings
When you install an app that has app pixels, it's your responsibility to ensure you're following applicable laws and to set up the appropriate privacy configuration, including consent and data sale opt-out options, to the extent that's required. Learn more about customer privacy.
View permissions and customer privacy settings
You can view a full list of the permissions and customer privacy settings that an app or sales channel has access to. The permissions and customer privacy settings for each app pixel are determined by the third-party app partner, and can't be changed.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer events.
Click the
button for the app pixel that you want to view permissions for, and then do either of the following:- To view the full list of permissions the app or sales channel has access to, click View permissions.
- To view the customer privacy settings for the app pixel, select View customer privacy.
Transmitting app pixels data
App pixels data can be transmitted using web and server pixels.
Web pixels transfer customer events through the browser to the app owner. This is the standard way most pixels transfer information.
Server pixels transfer customer events through a server to the app owner. Certain app owners have access to server pixels. You can check with the app owner if they have access to server pixels.
Server pixels have the following benefits:
- Server pixels can increase the amount of customer events, including checkout events, that are transferred to app owners through a server instead of an intermediary, such as an internet browser.
- Server pixels can increase the number of events that have attached identification from your store, such as an email address.
When you pair server pixels with web pixels, this ensures the maximum amount of customer events to arrive to their destination.
Test an app pixel
After you install an app pixel, you can test it using the Shopify Pixel Helper to make sure the pixel is receiving data correctly when events occur on your site.
You can use the Shopify Pixel Helper to test whether your pixel events fire. The Shopify Pixel Helper lets you test your app pixel on your online store to view the events being received in real-time, alongside the data for those events.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer events.
Click
next to the app pixel that you want to test.Click Test to open the Shopify Pixel Helper on your store.
Optional: Depending on your store's consent settings and the app pixel's customer privacy settings, the Shopify Pixel Helper dialog might display “Pixel is awaiting consent”. Do any of the following to continue testing:
- Accept tracking on your store's cookie banner or preferences.
- Click Give consent to continue test.
- If your pixel still doesn't load, then contact the third-party developer.
To confirm which events are loading, visit each page that you want to test the pixel for.
- To test the pixel on the Thank you page, place a test order.
- Learn more about reviewing events received in the Shopify Pixel Helper.
Optional: To review the complete event data received, click
to expand the Shopify Pixel Helper dialog.
Reviewing events received
When you use the Shopify Pixel Helper to test which events are loading, one of the following statuses displays in the Events received section of the Shopify Pixel Helper dialog:
- A green dot indicates that the event was subscribed to and the callback function was successful.
- A red dot indicates an error occurred.
The Shopify Pixel Helper displays uncaught errors that occur at the top level, or in the callback function. Top-level errors display when the Shopify Pixel Helper loads. Callback error messages display when you click to expand an event with a red dot. If errors occur, then contact the third-party developer about fixing them.
Optimizing data access for app pixels
You can choose how you want your pixel's customer and business data to be shared between your online store and your apps. There are 2 possible data access types for app pixels:
- Always on: The app pixel has access to all of your customer and business data, without limitations.
- Optimized: Shopify intelligently allows data access for optimal analytics and campaign performance.
The Optimized setting limits oversharing of customer and business data with your app pixels. When Shopify detects that a marketing pixel is sharing more data than is needed, Shopify can pause some or all data shared by that pixel until relevant activity resumes. You can change the data access settings of an app pixel between Always on and Optimized at any time.
How data access optimization works for app pixels
Shopify considers multiple signals, such as patterns in paid and organic referring traffic, sales, shop maturity, storefront configuration, and synced campaign settings, to determine whether a marketing pixel is oversharing data.
For example, you connect a new marketing app to your store, and you test it out for a few months. As part of a strategy shift, you stop using it and let the subscription expire, and it’s no longer a key tool you rely on for new customers. In the background, the pixel still has access to all of your data until you remember to disconnect it. If the app pixel's data sharing setting is set to Optimized, then after a long enough period of inactivity, data sharing pauses automatically to protect your business. However, if that app was still driving results for your store and needed data to keep doing it, then even in the absence of active use, data wouldn’t pause.
Optimized data sharing for app pixels has the following benefits:
- Reduces unnecessary data sharing from marketing pixels by pausing data when oversharing is detected for a known referrer, such as a marketing channel.
- Uses observed patterns from referring traffic, sales, storefront settings, campaign settings, and other signals over time to decide when to pause and resume data sharing.
- Automatically resumes sharing when relevant activity returns, including any referred traffic or new activities sent by the app through the Marketing Activities API.
Optimized data sharing doesn’t affect the following elements:
- Doesn’t block data that marketing tools need to run and deliver results for your business.
- Doesn’t block data for actively used marketing tools, including those who are currently referring any traffic or sales to your store.
- Doesn’t block events designed for standalone analytics services, even when a pixel connects an app that has marketing and analytics use cases.
- Doesn’t affect webhooks. Webhook delivery continues as expected, as webhooks should be used for transactional use cases, not marketing.
Change data access settings for app pixels
By default, your app pixel's data access setting is Optimized. You can change the data access settings of an app pixel between Always on and Optimized at any time.
A 
icon displays next to any app pixels with Always on access that aren't referring traffic to your store, and are therefore good candidates for data access optimization.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer events.
Click the name of the pixel that you want to update.
On the detail page, select from the following options:
- To dynamically adjust data access for optimal performance, select Optimized.
- To allow data access with no limitations, select Always on.
Click Save.
View the activity log for app pixels
The activity log is a historical view of the changes to an app pixel's data access. It captures all data access changes made from June 3, 2026 onward. Changes made before that date aren't included.
Each entry includes a data access status and the reason for the change. The possible data access statuses are as follows:
- Data access granted
- Data access paused
The reason for each change is either an automated change, because the app pixel's data access is optimized and changes based on detection of signals, or a manual change that you made to the data access setting.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer events.
For the app pixel that you want to view the activity log for, click
, and then click View details.To view activities on a specific date or within a date range, click Date to open the date picker, and then select a date or date range.
Click Save to apply the dates.
Troubleshooting an app pixel
If your app pixel doesn't load or fire during testing, and you've already reviewed the Pixel Helper for errors, then try the following troubleshooting measures.
Review your customer privacy settings
If your pixel doesn't load or fire during testing, then there could be customer privacy settings preventing it from loading.
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer privacy to search for customer privacy settings in your Shopify admin that might apply to your session. Depending on your customer privacy settings, take the following steps:
- If you have customer privacy settings that require consent in your region, then ensure that you've provided consent through your cookie banner.
- If you don't have any customer privacy settings that block the pixel from loading, then clear your browser's cookies to reset your cookie banner and provide consent.
- If you're using a custom domain in your online store, then you must also change your customer account domain to a subdomain of your online store domain, such as
account.example.com. Otherwise, pixels and cookie consent won't work for the new Order status page because the domain must be the same as where consent is obtained. Learn more about custom domains on customer account pages.
If you use a third-party tool to manage consent, then contact your third-party provider for support.
Additional troubleshooting
Ensure that the app is installed and configured correctly according to the third-party documentation. If you’re still experiencing issues when testing the app pixel, then reach out to the third-party developers.