Ads on Apple Maps for local businesses

This guide is built from Apple's Ads on Apple Maps page, the Apple Business help pages Promote your business on Maps, Create ads, Set and adjust budgets, Understand the billing cycle, Reporting options and metric definitions and Move to Apple Ads, the Apple Business User Guide page Promote your business on Apple Maps, Ads on Apple Maps and privacy, and the credit eligibility criteria and promotional credits terms. Your free place card on Apple Maps comes first; claiming it is covered in our Apple Business Connect and Bing Places guide.

Where the ads show in Maps

Apple names two places. Before a search, ads appear in Suggested Places, "just as customers begin exploring." After a search, an ad can appear at the top of the relevant search results in one of three formats: three images, one image, or text only. You do not pick between them. The Create ads page says "You won’t be able to choose the specific ad placement — it will be automatically selected based on your business’s category and what customers are searching for."

From the ad, people can call, get directions and use the other actions on your place card. Every ad carries an "Ad" mark and a distinct place icon, and Apple says people "can tap this mark to see the information used to serve the ad."

Who can run them

• Countries: Apple's Maps page says "Ads on Apple Maps are available in the United States and Canada. Only advertisers with businesses in those countries are eligible to run ads on Apple Maps." The User Guide adds that American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands are excluded, and that you need business locations and an organization address in those countries.
• An Apple Business account: you sign up and verify your organization in Apple Business first, then turn on ads from the same account.
• Business types: ads must follow Apple's photo guidelines and advertising policies. The Create ads page says your ad "can’t promote weapons or ammunition, home services (like plumbing, electrical, locksmith, HVAC, pest control, roofing, or general contracting services), bail bond services, cryptocurrency ATMs, or political candidates, parties, and issues." Home service companies should look at Google Local Services Ads instead.

Setting up a campaign

Apple's help page lists six steps:

1. Sign up for Apple Business: enter your organization's details, verify it, claim your locations and upload photos.
2. Select Ads, agree to the Apple Advertising Services Terms of Service and add your organization details. Choose the currency and time zone carefully: Apple says they "can’t be changed later".
3. Create an ad (see the next section).
4. Choose locations to promote. Picking all locations also covers any you add later; you can also pick specific ones from a list.
5. Choose a monthly budget maximum: a suggested amount or your own.
6. Review the summary and add a payment method.

What goes into the ad

• Assets: up to three images of your business and what you offer, or a single logo, not both. Apple says three images unlock all the search results formats.
• Promotional text (optional): no special characters or emojis. You set its language and can add other languages; people whose device uses a language you added see that version.
• Name: for your own use in Apple Business; customers do not see it.
• Offers: the policy summary says ad content "can’t deceptively misrepresent offerings or promote items as free if charges or fees apply." Assets cannot be low quality, distorted, blurry or illegible.

The preview shows one of your locations as an example, and Apple notes some elements may differ from the live ad. Good photos on the place card help here too; see our notes on showcases and Actions.

What Apple Maps ads cost and how billing works

Apple publishes no fixed price per ad. In Apple Business you set a monthly budget maximum, which Apple describes as the most you want to spend "over the course of an average calendar month, which is calculated as 30.4 days." The campaign keeps spending against it until you pause it. If you change the budget mid-month, the month's calculation resets and the new budget is prorated over the days left.

You pay for taps in Apple Business: the reporting page defines spend as "The sum of the cost of each customer tap on your ad within the reporting period." Charges "will usually occur every $500 USD spent, or every seven days, whichever comes first", and each charge is emailed and listed on the Payments & Billing page. If you run ads in both the US and Canada, charges can be split by the Apple billing entity in each country, and Apple suggests telling your card issuer to expect foreign transactions. Pausing does not remove your payment details; a balance still due may be charged.

For how this compares with budgets elsewhere, see our Google Ads budgets and bidding guide, and for map pins on drivers' routes, our Waze ads guide.

The sign-up credit and its terms

The Maps page says: "Try ads on Apple Maps. The first $150 is on us. Terms apply." The eligibility page (effective October 12, 2026) sets the terms:

• A one-time 150 USD credit per eligible brand, or 200 CAD for accounts set to Canadian dollars. Apple says "This is a one-time sign-up credit offer, available once per brand, for new ads on Maps advertisers only."
• To get it you sign up for Apple Business, add a valid credit card as the ads payment method and start an ads on Maps campaign.
• Agencies are not eligible, and neither are advertisers who pay with a line of credit.
• It applies to the first month's spend; unused credit rolls over for later Maps spend, and spend above it goes to your card. It has no cash value and cannot pay taxes or fees.
• "Apple may modify or end this offer at any time."

An earlier Grand Opening Promo (15% of monthly spend back as credit) closed to new brands: it covered campaigns started on or before October 11, 2026.

Apple Business or Apple Ads

Most small businesses run Maps ads in Apple Business. Apple moves you to Apple Ads, the same platform used for App Store ads (see our app install ads guide), if you already advertise on the App Store, have more than five locations, your client partner asked for access for you, or you requested access and Apple confirmed it.

Apple Ads adds campaign and ad group schedules, groups of locations, keyword categories and phrases, and a choice of bid strategy: Maximize Engagements (automated, cost per tap) or Manage Bids, where you set bids and can pay per tap or per thousand impressions. Your monthly budget becomes a daily one (the monthly amount divided by 30.4). Apple warns: "Moving your ad campaign management to Apple Ads is permanent." You keep managing your locations in Apple Business, but no longer run ads or see ad results there.

Reporting

The Campaign Overview shows impressions, taps and actions for the current billing cycle; the Campaign Performance page adds spend, date ranges, a chart and a download by ad, plus a Location Insights report. Actions are place card actions attributed to your ad: currently directions, calls, website, photos, share and get the app. Dates are in UTC, and Apple says reporting "may not reflect data received in the last several hours."

Targeting and privacy

There is no audience targeting in Apple Business. Apple's privacy page says ads on Maps use in-session context "such as search terms, a device's approximate location, or the area of the map on screen", not precise location or Maps history. It also says "Age and gender are not used to target ads on Maps," and "The Personalized Ads setting is not supported on Apple Maps". Apple Ads does not serve ads to accounts of children under 13 or to educational Managed Apple Accounts.

How we would start

This is our own view, not Apple's guidance:

• Fix the place card first: category, hours, photos and Actions. The ad sends people there.
• Upload three good images so every search results format is open to you.
• Start with a monthly budget you would be fine spending in full, and judge it on actions (calls, directions) rather than taps alone.
• Stay in Apple Business until you need schedules or keywords; the move to Apple Ads cannot be undone.

For help with local listings and ads, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

Where do ads appear in Apple Maps?

In Suggested Places before someone searches, and at the top of relevant search results after a search. Apple chooses the placement based on your business category and the search.

How much do Apple Maps ads cost?

Apple publishes no fixed price. You set a monthly budget maximum and are charged for taps on your ad, usually every 500 USD spent or every seven days.

Is there a free credit for ads on Apple Maps?

Eligible new brands get a one-time 150 USD sign-up credit (200 CAD in Canadian dollars) after signing up for Apple Business, adding a credit card and starting a campaign. Agencies and line-of-credit advertisers are not eligible, and Apple may change or end the offer.

Which countries can run ads on Apple Maps?

The United States (excluding American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands) and Canada, for advertisers with business locations and an organization address there.

Can people turn off ads in Apple Maps?

Apple's privacy page says the Personalized Ads setting is not supported on Apple Maps: ads there are chosen from in-session context such as the search and the map area, not from a profile of the person.

Related guides: Apple Business Connect and Bing Places, Google Local Services Ads, app install ads and Yelp ads. To plan a campaign with us, see our services.