Ads Aren't in the Apple Maps App Yet, But They're Coming Soon

[MacRumors]

Apple released iOS 26.5 yesterday with a new Suggested Places feature in the Apple Maps app, which is a precursor to the ads that Apple plans to start showing later this year. There was some confusion over whether ads are live, but as of now, the Apple Maps app still doesn't have ads.

Apple did start laying the groundwork for ads in iOS 26.5 and tested a splash screen, but no ads appeared during the beta testing period or after launch.

When Apple announced plans to bring ads to the Maps app in March, it said that ads will be implemented in the United States and Canada "this summer." Astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere starts on June 21 and ends on September 22. Meteorologically, summer begins on June 1 and lasts through August, so depending on Apple's definition of summer, we'll get ads in Maps sometime between June 1 and September 22.

Ads will be displayed in Apple Maps search results and in the new Suggested Places section added in iOS 26.5. Suggested Places shows recommendations based on what's trending nearby and a user's recent searches.

There will be ads in the Maps app on iPhone and iPad, and they will be clearly marked with an "Ad" label, similar to how ads appear in App Store search results. Businesses will bid for ad placement, and the highest bidder for a keyword or search term will have its ad shown in search.

Apple says that location data and the ads that users see and interact with in the Maps app are not associated with an Apple account, and data is not shared with third parties. There is no opt-out for location-based or personalized ads in Suggested Places.

Article Link: Ads Aren't in the Apple Maps App Yet, But They're Coming Soon

 

[CrabQueenInc]

Worth repeating: gross.

 

[Martin Bland]

Apple can still take a walk. I’m not updating.

It’s a dishonest move of selling a product to its customers and then changing the terms. This is no better than Samsung pumping ads on people’s fridges after they bought them.

Apple is stooping to Samsung’s level. That’s not what I bought an iPhone for.

 

[HuskerNKS]

Damn it. Hurry up Apple... /s

 

[sw1tcher]

Apple did start laying the groundwork for ads in iOS 26.5 and tested a splash screen, but no ads appeared during the beta testing period or after launch.

One can only hope that Apple bungled its rollout like they did with the enhanced Siri AI and it won't come out until iOS 27. This would allow people to avoid it by not upgrading to iOS 27 🤞

 

[I7guy]

One can only hope that Apple bungled its rollout like they did with the enhanced Siri AI and it won't come out until iOS 27. This would allow people to avoid it by not upgrading to iOS 27 🤞

Guarantee they won’t bungle this rollout.

 

[AppleMatt]

Well it will harm our experience but they do need the extra money, don’t they. Don’t they?

 

[neuropsychguy]

Apple can still take a walk. I’m not updating.

Or you could update and not use Apple Maps, Google Maps, or Waze since they all have or will have ads. Sygic might be ad-free once you upgrade to premium (there are some comments online about ads still showing up though). Or, update and use a stand-alone GPS unit. Or, update and use a printed atlas.

 

[Col4bin]

This is so low budget for a company like Apple to be doing this. It begs the question, where else will ads start being added? One day on your Home Screen maybe—can you imagine?

 

[CrabQueenInc]

Well it will harm our experience but they do need the extra money, don’t they. Don’t they?

Just a small company struggling to earn an honest dollar in this economy.

 

[Capeto]

I use both Apple Maps and Google Maps, depending on where I'm driving and how much of a hurry I'm in.

The only advantages Apple Maps has is it looks prettier and it has no ads. But if the only advantage is now gonna be exclusively aesthetic, I can deal with using Google Maps exclusively.

 

[goobot]

One can only hope that Apple bungled its rollout like they did with the enhanced Siri AI and it won't come out until iOS 27. This would allow people to avoid it by not upgrading to iOS 27 🤞

They probably don't want to turn people off from updating so they will wait and then once everyone is updated they will flip a switch.

 

[macfacts]

Well it will harm our experience but they do need the extra money, don’t they. Don’t they?

Apple doesn't sell hardware at a loss like Sony and Microsoft. iPhones are all paid for.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere starts on June 21 and ends on September 22. Meteorologically, summer begins on June 1 and lasts through August, so depending on Apple's definition of summer, we'll get ads in Maps sometime between June 1 and September 22.

This is excellent, thank you for finally taking Apple extremely literally as they intend. Like when they said early last year "over the coming year" and it was obvious to me they had self set the deadline of December 31 2026 rather than any other more reasonable interpretation.

 

[Vanarak19]

Apple is continuing to slip up imo. Ads in Apple One news feed and now this….this is why I started with iPhones to begin with….because there wasn’t android junk and bs.

 

[summiter]

Nope. Uninstalled Maps as soon as the ads splash screen appeared a few weeks ago.

 

[CarAnalogy]

This is so low budget for a company like Apple to be doing this. It begs the question, where else will ads start being added? One day on your Home Screen maybe—can you imagine?

As an educational video once posed the question:

 

[Padre_Pio]

Saw the warning (I am sure Apple calls it something different) splash when I opened Maps last night. ADocalypse.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I … don’t see anything different. What ads am I supposed to be seeing?

 

[Astuces iOS]

No sex shops ads please 🙏

 

[triumvirate]

Apple definitely has a feedback option on their website. Please let them know regularly how much you enjoy their ads! Tossing ads into more native Apple apps really reduces the whole "premium" branding...

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

This 'article' is as unnecessary as announcements about announcements. But hey, it worked, I'm here engaging with it so well played.

 

[crococarbs]

I've been using the Organic Maps app as my 2nd option to Apple Maps, I guess I'll try to make it my first go-to maps app. It's particularly good for offline navigation. Only annoyance is that they don't have a macOS app, so you have to run the iPad app instead, which is OK I guess. Also, as most opensource stuff, the UI is far from clean/polished, but worth the small inconveniences IMO

 

[germanbeer007]

Good. If you want Apple Maps to even have a shot at being just as good as Google Maps, ads need to happen.

I've never met anyone sane that said "Oh well I'm not getting to my destination, but at least there are no ADS". That is so stupid 😂

 

[EchoplexSE]

I was able to opt out of ads....by uninstalling Apple Maps.