Why Does My Facebook Ad Say Scheduled?

Seeing your carefully crafted Facebook ad stuck with a "Scheduled" status can be confusing, especially when you're ready to start getting results. The good news is that this status is rarely a cause for concern. This article explains exactly what the "Scheduled" status means, walks you through the entire ad review process, and shows you what to do if you want to change your ad’s start time.

A Quick Guide to Facebook Ad Statuses

Before diving deep into the "Scheduled" status, it helps to understand the different stages your ad goes through from creation to delivery. Your ad's status tells you where it is in this lifecycle. You can find this status in the "Delivery" column in your Facebook Ads Manager.

Here are the most common statuses you’ll encounter:

Draft: Your ad, ad set, or campaign is still being created and hasn't been submitted for review. It's saved, but you need to click "Publish" to move it forward.
In Review: You’ve published your campaign, and it's being reviewed by Facebook's automated and sometimes manual systems to ensure it complies with their Advertising Policies.
Processing: This status often appears for a few minutes after you publish a new ad or make a significant edit. Facebook is updating your campaign information across its systems.
Scheduled: This is our main topic. It means your ad has been approved (or is still in review but has a future start date) and is waiting for that scheduled start date and time to arrive.
Active: Congratulations! Your ad is approved and currently running or ready to be shown to your target audience.
Learning: After an ad becomes active, it enters the "learning phase." The ad delivery system is actively gathering performance data to learn the best way to deliver your ads. The system needs about 50 optimization events (like conversions or link clicks) within a 7-day period to exit this phase.
Learning Limited: The ad set isn't getting enough optimization events (for example, purchases or leads) to exit the learning phase. Performance may be hindered because the delivery system can’t fully optimize.
Not Approved/Rejected: The ad was reviewed and found to be in violation of Facebook's Advertising Policies. You'll need to edit the ad to fix the issue or appeal the decision.
Campaign/Ad Set/Ad Off: You (or someone with access to the account) have manually paused the campaign, ad set, or ad, preventing it from running.
Completed/Ended: The campaign has reached its scheduled end date or spent its lifetime budget and is no longer running.

What "Scheduled" Actually Means

In 99% of cases, the "Scheduled" status is a feature, not a bug. It simply means your ad is ready to go but is set to start at a future date or time.

Here’s the breakdown:

1. You Set a Future Start Date

This is the most common reason for the "Scheduled" status. When you create a campaign, you have the option in the ad set level to specify a start and end date for your ads. If you set the start date to tomorrow, next week, or even next month, Facebook will queue your ad up accordingly.

Example: Let's say you're a marketing manager for an e-commerce store planning a 48-hour flash sale that starts Friday at 9 AM. On Tuesday, you build your entire campaign - you write a few ad variations, create your custom audiences, and set your budget. In the "Budget & Schedule" section of your ad set, you choose a start date of this coming Friday at 9:00 AM.

After you click "Publish," Facebook will review your ads. Once they are approved, their status will switch from "In Review" to "Scheduled." They will sit peacefully in this state until 9:00 AM on Friday, at which point their status will automatically change to "Active" and they will begin delivering.

This is extremely useful for planning your campaigns in advance without having to be in Ads Manager at the exact moment they need to launch.

2. Time Zone Differences

Another thing to keep in mind is time zones. Your Facebook Ad Account has a specific time zone associated with it, which is chosen when the account is created. All of your ad schedules are based on that time zone.

If you're managing ads for a client in a different time zone or are traveling, you might think an ad should have already started. For instance, if it’s 9 AM your time but only 6 AM in your ad account's time zone, the ad will remain "Scheduled" for another three hours.

You can check your ad account's time zone in the Ad Account Settings of your Business Settings.

How to Change Your Ad's Schedule

What if you change your mind? Maybe the event you're promoting moved up, or you just want to get your ads running right away. Fortunately, changing the schedule is simple.

If You Want Your Ad to Start Immediately

Let's say your ad is scheduled to start next Monday, but you want it to go live now. Here are the steps to follow:

Go to your Facebook Ads Manager.
Navigate to the Ad Sets tab.
Find the ad set you want to start and check the box next to its name.
Click the "Edit" button that appears above.
In the ad set settings panel that slides out on the right, scroll down to the “Budget & Schedule” section.
Under "Schedule," you will see the Start date. Click on it and change the date and time to the current date and time.
Click the green "Publish" button in the bottom right corner.

After you publish the changes, the status might briefly switch to "Processing." Because the ads were likely already approved, they should become "Active" shortly after and start delivering.

Editing Other Aspects of a Scheduled Ad

You aren't limited to just changing the schedule. You can edit almost anything about a scheduled ad, ad set, or campaign, such as the ad creative, the daily budget, or the target audience. However, keep in mind that significant changes may trigger a new review from Facebook, even if it was previously approved. This is usually quick, but something to be aware of if your ad is scheduled to go live very soon.

From Scheduled to Active: What Happens Next?

Once your ad’s scheduled start time finally arrives, it moves into the next phase of its life. Here's what to expect.

The Shift to "Active"

At the exact start time, the status will automatically update from "Scheduled" to "Active." You don't need to do anything. You can check Ads Manager, and you'll see your ad is now running. Most ads start delivering impressions almost immediately.

Entering the Learning Phase

As soon as your ad set is "Active," it also enters the "Learning" phase. This is one of the most important (and most misunderstood) parts of a Facebook ad's lifecycle.

During this phase, Facebook's algorithm is rapidly testing and learning. It shows your ad to different types of people within your target audience to figure out who is most likely to take the action you want (e.g., click a link, sign up for a newsletter, make a purchase).

To exit this phase and achieve stable performance, Meta recommends an ad set needs to get around 50 of your desired optimization events within a 7-day window. Until then, your results - like Cost Per Result - might fluctuate. This is normal.

The most important rule during the learning phase is to avoid making significant edits. A significant edit, like changing the targeting, adding a new ad creative, or drastically changing the budget, can reset the learning phase, forcing the algorithm to start all over again. Try to let it run without interruption until it moves from "Learning" to "Active."

Troubleshooting Other Common Delivery Issues

While "Scheduled" is typically straightforward, other statuses can be more problematic. Here’s a quick troubleshooting guide for some other common issues:

Stuck "In Review"

Most ads are reviewed within 24 hours, but sometimes it can take longer. If your ad has been in review for more than 48 hours, something might be stuck. Double-check that it doesn't contain any borderline content that might be holding it up. Sometimes, making a tiny, insignificant change (like adjusting the ad text slightly) and re-saving can re-trigger the review system and get it approved.

Not Delivering

If your ad status is "Active" but it's not getting any impressions, run through this quick checklist:

Budgets and Bids: Is your budget too low or your manual bid cap too constraining? The delivery system may not be able to find people to show your ad to within your set cost limits.
Audience Size: Is your audience too narrow? An audience size that's too small can lead to delivery problems.
Billing Issues: Is your payment method up to date and valid? Check the "Billing" section of Ads Manager to make sure there are no issues.
Ad Is Off: Check that the toggles at the Campaign, Ad Set, and Ad level are all switched on. It's easy to accidentally pause one level, which stops the entire thing from running.

Final Thoughts

Seeing the "Scheduled" status on your Facebook ad simply means a future start date has been set. It's a useful feature for planning campaigns ahead of time, ensuring everything is approved and ready to launch at the perfect moment. By understanding what this status - and others - means, you can manage your ads with confidence and keep your campaigns on track.

Tracking ad performance across Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Shopify, and your CRM can feel like juggling a dozen open tabs. It's easy to get lost in different dashboards just to understand which ads are active and how they’re performing. For that, we built Graphed to simplify marketing analytics. You can connect all your data sources in one place and use natural language to create real-time dashboards and reports. Instead of digging through Ads Manager, you can just ask, "Show me my Facebook ad spend vs. Shopify revenue this month," and get an instant visualization, giving you time back to focus on strategy, not just reporting.