# Approvals and changes

> Bytown never changes an ad account on its own. Every change is staged with its exact before and after, and it runs only when you approve it.

Source: https://bytown.co/docs/approvals · Updated October 20, 2026

Reading your data is instant. Changing an account always takes 2 steps: Bytown stages the change, then you approve it. That applies to budgets, bids, keywords, targeting, creative, pauses and removals alike.

**New campaigns start paused.** When Bytown builds a campaign, it creates it paused. Turning it on is a second change that you approve on its own, so nothing spends by surprise.
## The approval card

When Bytown wants to change something, an **Approval needed** card appears in the chat.

[Watch: Optimize Google Ads with AI: Cut Wasted Spend in 1 Click (0:46)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xPcodNEBLk)
### Read the change
The card lists each change with its current and new value, for example a daily budget going from $40 to $48.

### Approve or decline
Choose **Approve** to apply it, or **Decline** to leave the account as it is. A card can hold several changes. The footer shows how many are waiting.

### Watch it apply
After you approve, the card shows that it is applying in Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Microsoft or ChatGPT Ads. That usually takes under a minute.
## What the card can say

| Card shows | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| **Change applied** | The ad platform accepted it. | Nothing. It's live. |
| **Change failed** | The platform rejected it, often a policy or permission issue. | Choose **Try again** or **Fix and retry**, or ask Bytown why it failed. |
| **Change rejected** | You declined it. Nothing was changed. | Choose **Stage again** if you change your mind. |
| **Approval expired** | It waited too long. Nothing was changed. | Choose **Stage again** to stage it fresh. |
| **Couldn't confirm** | Bytown couldn't confirm the result in time. | Choose **Check again** before retrying. |

Note: You can't edit a change on the card. To adjust it, tell Bytown what to change in the chat, or use **Fix and retry**, and it stages a new card.

## How long a change waits

An approval card in the Bytown app waits 1 hour. A change staged from an AI assistant waits 15 minutes. After that it expires and nothing happens. Expiry is a safety net: an old proposal never runs on numbers that have since moved.

## Changes from AI assistants

When you use Bytown from Claude, ChatGPT, Muse, Grok or Instinct, the assistant shows you the same plain-language summary and asks you to confirm in that conversation. You confirm assistant changes right there, in the chat where they were proposed. They don't appear as cards in the Bytown app. See [How the connector works](/docs/ai-assistants).

## Who can approve

The business owner can approve changes. On agency-managed accounts, the agency decides who else can make changes. A team member without that permission can still read results, ask questions and see reports.

## Common questions

### What happens to my ad spend after I approve?

The change goes live on the ad platform and spends exactly as approved, against the ad account's own billing. A change you confirm is your instruction to run it, as the terms of service set out. Bytown's job is to show you the full before and after first, so the spend never surprises you.

### Can I undo a change?

There is no one-click undo yet. Ask Bytown to reverse it, for example to put a budget back to $40, and it stages that as a new change for your approval. Because every card shows the old value, you always know exactly what to restore.