Google preparing to shut down Ads API v19 in February 2026

Google announced on December 15, 2025, that version 19 of the Google Ads API will sunset on February 11, 2026. Starting on that date, all API requests using v19 will begin to fail, forcing developers to complete migrations to newer versions before the sunset deadline.

The announcement from Ben Karl and the Google Ads API Team provides developers approximately two months to upgrade their implementations. Version 19 first launched on February 26, 2025, giving it a lifespan of nearly 12 months before deprecation—consistent with Google's documented version support timeline.

According to the deprecation documentation, Google maintains a maximum of four major API versions simultaneously. The company releases new versions every three to four months on average, with each major version receiving support for approximately 12 months. Minor versions receive support for around 10 months.

The sunset means developers face mandatory code modifications before February 11. The Google Ads API team emphasized that "all v19 API requests will begin to fail" starting on the sunset date. This hard cutoff differs from deprecation, which marks a version as no longer current while maintaining functionality until sunset.

The sunset announcement arrived amid Google's shift to monthly API releases starting January 2026. That change increases major releases from three to four annually while introducing monthly minor versions containing non-breaking feature additions.

Migration timeline compresses as holiday season concludes

The February sunset date leaves minimal breathing room for developers who delayed migration during the November-December holiday period. Google's monthly release schedule excludes end-of-year periods, recognizing reduced development activity during traditional holiday seasons.

Developers must upgrade to version 20, 21, or 22 to maintain API access beyond February 11. Version 20 launched on June 4, 2025, while version 21 arrived on August 6, 2025. The most recent major release, version 22, became available on October 15, 2025.

The deprecation documentation specifies that developers can upgrade directly to non-sequential versions. Organizations running v19 implementations can jump directly to v22 without migrating through v20 or v21, though they must review cumulative breaking changes across multiple versions.

Google maintains upgrade guides for each version transition. The company published specific guidance for upgrading from v18 to v19, though developers targeting v22 must review changes across all intermediate versions to account for deprecated fields and renamed metrics.

Tracking version usage through Cloud Console

Google provides methods for developers to identify which API versions their projects currently use. The company directs developers to the Google Cloud Console to review recent API request patterns.

The APIs & Services section of the Cloud Console displays recent requests plotted across graphs. Developers can examine the Methods table to see which specific API methods received requests. Method names include the API version, service, and method name in formats like "google.ads.googleads.v19.services.GoogleAdsService.Mutate."

Developers can filter these metrics by timeframe to understand version usage across different periods. This functionality helps organizations audit their implementations and identify which code paths require upgrades before the February sunset.

The Cloud Console visibility addresses a common challenge where organizations operate multiple applications or integrations against the Google Ads API. Different code repositories or development teams may use different versions, making centralized version tracking essential during migration periods.

Client library support ends for sunset versions

The deprecation schedule affects both API endpoints and client library availability. Google maintains officially supported client libraries for Java, C#, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Perl that simplify API integration.

According to the deprecation documentation, Google stops including deprecated API versions in new client library releases after the deprecation date. This practice reduces client library file sizes by removing outdated code. The documentation emphasizes that "deprecated API versions are still available in previously released client library versions."

Developers can continue downloading and using older client library versions that include v19 support until the API version sunsets. After February 11, 2026, client libraries no longer support v19 in any new client library versions.

The client library version compatibility table shows that Java client library versions starting at 36.0.0 support v19. The maximum version supporting v19 remains unspecified in the documentation, as Google continues publishing updates until the sunset date.

For v20, Java client library support begins at version 38.0.0. Version 21 requires minimum Java client library version 39.0.0, while v22 support starts at version 41.1.0. Similar minimum version requirements exist for other programming language client libraries.

Version overlap provides transition flexibility

Google's version support strategy maintains overlap between release and sunset dates to facilitate gradual migrations. The overlap between when all client libraries release for the latest version and when the previous version sunsets spans at least 20 weeks.

This overlap period enables organizations to test new versions thoroughly before legacy versions expire. Development teams can validate functionality, identify breaking changes, and adjust integration code while maintaining production systems on older versions.

The documentation specifies that client libraries support any available service versions. This capability allows developers to specify different versions for different services within single applications during transition periods, enabling incremental migration strategies.

Version 19 includes three releases: the base v19 from February 26, plus v19.1 from April 16 and v19.2 from August 6. All three v19 variants share the February 2026 sunset date. The minor version releases added features without breaking existing implementations, allowing developers to adopt new capabilities while maintaining v19 compatibility.

EU political advertising requirements span multiple versions

One significant feature introduced across multiple versions affects campaigns containing European Union political advertising content. Google added the "contains_eu_political_advertising" field to the Campaign object in v19.2, v20.1, and v21.

This field indicates whether campaigns contain political advertising content targeted toward the European Union. Campaigns marked as containing EU political advertising will no longer serve in the EU starting September 22, 2025.

The documentation specifies that for existing campaigns, developers should set the "contains_eu_political_advertising" field before attempting to change proximity, location, or location group targeting at campaign or ad group levels. API calls creating or updating these targeting criteria for existing campaigns fail with a "CriterionError.MISSING_EU_POLITICAL_ADVERTISING_SELF_DECLARATION" error if the campaign hasn't completed self-declaration.

For v19.x and v20.x, the requirement to set this field is not yet enforced, though enforcement will arrive in the future. Google promised advance announcement of this enforcement change.

Trials and Experiments throw an "ExperimentError.MISSING_EU_POLITICAL_ADVERTISING_SELF_DECLARATION" error if experiment campaigns haven't self-declared whether they contain political advertising targeting the European Union.

Migration resources consolidate across documentation

Google directs developers encountering questions during upgrades to contact googleadsapisupport@google.com. The company also maintains a Google Advertising and Measurement Community Discord server where developers can discuss migration challenges.

The announcement includes direct links to upgrade documentation and release notes. These resources detail feature additions, deprecations, and breaking changes requiring code modifications. Developers utilizing renamed metrics or deprecated fields must update queries and field references to maintain compatibility.

The release notes for v19 through v22 document hundreds of changes across assets, campaigns, conversions, Demand Gen features, Performance Max capabilities, planning services, reporting resources, and video advertising. Major additions include AI Max for Search campaigns in v21, targetless bidding for App campaigns in v22, and expanded automation capabilities across multiple campaign types.

Breaking changes in newer versions include removal of feed-related entities in v19, renamed video metrics in v21 and v22, and adjustments to batch operation limits. Organizations with complex implementations spanning multiple services must review changes comprehensively to ensure smooth transitions.

The sunset timeline aligns with Google's broader pattern of regular version retirement to maintain security, performance, and feature consistency across the platform. The February 11 deadline applies absolute enforcement, meaning development teams face hard cutoffs rather than gradual degradation of functionality.

For marketing technology vendors, agencies, and advertisers operating programmatic Google Ads implementations, the v19 sunset requires immediate attention to deployment calendars. Organizations must allocate development resources to complete migrations, execute testing protocols, and deploy updated code before the February deadline.

Timeline

• February 26, 2025 – Google releases Ads API v19 with account management improvements, asset automation, and conversion goal enhancements
• April 16, 2025 – Google releases Ads API v19.1 introducing Demand Gen channel controls and Local Services feedback mechanisms
• June 4, 2025 – Google releases Ads API v20 with expanded Performance Max campaign-level negative keyword support
• August 6, 2025 – Google releases Ads API v21 introducing AI Max for Search campaigns and campaign search term view
• August 6, 2025 – Google releases v19.2, v20.1, and v21 with EU political advertising self-declaration requirements
• September 4, 2025 – Google announces monthly API releases beginning January 2026, extending major version support to one year
• October 15, 2025 – Google releases Ads API v22 adding targetless bidding for App campaigns and generative AI asset creation
• December 15, 2025 – Google announces Ads API v19 sunset for February 11, 2026
• February 11, 2026 – Google Ads API v19 sunset takes effect; all v19 requests begin failing

Summary

Who: Google Ads API developers, marketing technology vendors, agencies, and advertisers using version 19 of the Google Ads API for programmatic campaign management.

What: Google will sunset version 19 of the Google Ads API on February 11, 2026. All API requests using v19 will fail starting on this date. Developers must upgrade to version 20, 21, or 22 before the sunset deadline to maintain API access.

When: The sunset takes effect on February 11, 2026. Google announced the sunset on December 15, 2025. Version 19 originally launched on February 26, 2025, giving it approximately 12 months of support consistent with Google's documented version lifecycle.

Where: The sunset affects all Google Ads API v19 endpoints across Google's advertising platform. Developers can track their current version usage through the Google Cloud Console by examining APIs & Services metrics for recent requests.

Why: Google maintains a maximum of four major API versions simultaneously, with each receiving approximately 12 months of support. Version retirement enables Google to maintain security, performance, and feature consistency while directing developer resources toward current platform capabilities. The sunset aligns with Google's broader shift to monthly API releases beginning January 2026.