Apple Announces Ads Are Coming to Apple Maps

[steviewondercansee]

That's exactly my point. We're the product being sold to Apple's business customers.

so like the app store.

 

[surferfb]

How?

Apple isn't (currently) building a robust profile of me, tracking everything I do online, and then selling ads against that profile. So I'd say Apple's approach is better than Google's. But I still think it's bad and Apple should seriously reconsider it.

 

[surferfb]

so like the app store.

Yes. And I don't agree with ads in the App Store either. Using your argument there's even less of a case there, because developers pay a $99/year fee and then an additional 15/30% of their sales to Apple which, as I am often told on MacRumors, is apparently more than enough to run the App Store and App Review, etc.

 

[Izauze]

Everyone (like me) who feels a certain way kinda way about this should be sharing their thoughts with Apple: https://www.apple.com/feedback/

 

[carrrrrlos]

Just another reason to not use Apple Maps.

 

[steviewondercansee]

Yes. And I don't agree with ads in the App Store either.

I mean if you're still buying iPhone after Apple has been doing this then clearly you'll still be buying iPhones after Apple introduces ads into maps. Ads don't seem to be scaring you away from using the platform.

Using your argument there's even less of a case there, because developers pay a $99/year fee and then an additional 15/30% of their sales to Apple which, as I am often told on MacRumors, is apparently more than enough to run the App Store and App Review, etc.

Not sure what you mean. $99/year fee pays for maybe 5-6 app reviews? Just recently there's been an exponential increase in app reviews due to AI slop which means longer app review times (hearing developers taking months to get their app approved). It could be much worse if Apple didn't use a portion of those App Store ads profit to hire some people to review apps.

 

[surferfb]

I mean if you're still buying iPhone after Apple has been doing this then clearly you'll still be buying iPhones after Apple introduces ads into maps. Ads don't seem to be scaring you away from using the platform.

No it doesn't "scare me away", but I think it makes using the device less nice and is unnecessary given the vast amount of profit Apple makes. Apple has spent of time and energy explaining how they put user experience first, but here is a great example of that not being true.

You're right that Apple doesn't care what I think, and you're also right that although I might stop using maps, the vast majority of Apple's users won't.

So let's put ads in Apple Health! ("Your blood pressure is high, ask your doctor about this medicine!"). Photos: "Adobe charges $120 a year for Lightroom/Photoshop, so Apple shouldn't have to offer photos for free - who are we to complain about having ads inserted into our photo libraries." Messages: "iMessage servers don't pay for themselves! So enjoy these ads. We promise we aren't reading the content of your messages so it's ok!"

Not sure what you mean. $99/year fee pays for maybe 5-6 app reviews? Just recently there's been an exponential increase in app reviews which means longer app review times (hearing developers taking months to get their app approved). It could be much worse if Apple didn't use a portion of those App Store ads profit to hire some people to review apps.

You've spent a couple of pages saying Apple "has" to charge for maps because Apple has lots of costs to support maps. In the App Store, Apple is getting $99 + 15/30% of sales. My point is that is more than enough to support the App Store without the addition of ads. The cost is already paid for, but they're still slapping ads on the top.

 

[840quadra]

Cost to build/maintain Keynote/numbers/garageband/pages/iMovie is not *nearly* the same as Apple Maps. Apple Maps, they literally have hundreds (maybe thousands) of engineers/people in cars driving around the world/people wearing lidar backpacks walking around the city/maintainers correcting erroneous data/ actively updating the entire world of data every single day. Not to mention servers serving billions of requests every day.

Do you have a source for those presumed costs?

Garageband's last update was 4 months ago. which is likely handled by the same team that handles Logic Pro (which is being paid for by the Logic software sales and the new creator subscription).

That sounds like an assumption

Yes it would be crazy for Apple to ask everyone to suddenly pay for Apple Maps which is why they're making it free still with ads.

Yes it would be crazy, but to many it is also crazy to see Apple place ads in that product as it isn't the norm, or normally part of their culture.

And we don't know if costs to maintain Apple Maps as is increased which would have increased the cost of the device to pay for Apple Maps. Entirely possible Apple is doing everything they can to delay the inevitable price increases (or least soften the blow).

I thought you knew the costs of supporting the previously mentioned apps in comparison to the cost of Maps?

Not quite sure what the point of this is.

I feel I made that clear. They had a maps program that was backed / sourced by google, which many people liked and reliably used. They decided to come up with a replacement that was (initially) fraught with problems.

Plenty never asked for Image Playground, Journal app, Freeform app, mindfulness app, Apple Sports app, Magnifier, walkie talkie app, period cycle tracking, measure app, etc...

Valid, but like Maps, they chose to bundle those, acquire companies or patents to support those apps to add to their locked in ecosystem on their own. Many of those applications had an analogue existing within the App Store and while it is great that Apple offers them, they really aren't needed.

That is also completely irrelevant (IMHO) to the conversation as none of those replaced a 3rd party application that Apple themselves previously bundled / included on their own device, and now want to monetize with ads and potential (although anonymized) data sharing with 3rd parties.

Overall, I am all for supporting devs, and understand that Apple needs to make money. I just disagree with you that this is the right way to go for this particular application / service.

Living on the Android side (daily with my Pixel) Ads are part of life there, it is not normally part of the Apple Ecosystem. We are used to software costs being part of the premium we pay for their devices, we are also willing to buy or subscribe to more professional grade of applications, but dealing with ads, or paying for "ad free" versions just doesn't feel like Apple.

 

[maxoakland]

Not a good sign at all. Ads never get less intrusive. This is the floor. It’s only more ads from here on out

 

[maxoakland]

This is good for the user experience how?

That’s the best part: it’s not! Apple doesn’t care about the user experience anymore. Or at least it’s at the bottom of their list of priorities

 

[maxoakland]

There are ads in app store. How is it different than that?

It’s MORE ads. That’s bad. Ads in the App Store were also bad and they were a sign of things to come, just like this is. This means more ads in other apps

 

[stevep]

really getting tired of the whole "but but but Apple is worth a trillion dollars!". that's not how it works 🤦‍♂️

Bu that’s exactly how it works, and exactly how their customer base thinks, and for good reason - companies who have a massive net worth and a healthy income are inevitably seen as greedy when they pull stuff like this. It shows that they dont care much about customers or maintaining a quality brand image, or that they have principles which can be admired. it puts them in the same bracket as Amazon, Home Depot and Walmarts where profits are king and workers and customers come in a lowly second.
This sort of thing is the exact reason that I ditched Pages and Numbers for good and bought the standalone MS Office app - I don't want ads in my apps, they are for work not a shop window.

 

[MrSnirf]

Apple isn't (currently) building a robust profile of me, tracking everything I do online, and then selling ads against that profile. So I'd say Apple's approach is better than Google's. But I still think it's bad and Apple should seriously reconsider it.

The reason advertisement is valuable is because of targeted advertisement. Nobody is paying for targeted advertisement if their ads are just going to random people. You are part of a profile of people who fit certain criteria Every company has a profile of you, especially Apple with the amount of information that they have on you. Apple's approach is no different than Google, google does not sell your "personal private" data, they build a profile of you and use that to serve ads just like Apple.

Apple Advertising & Privacy​

Apple-delivered advertising helps people discover apps, products, and services while respecting user privacy. Apple’s advertising platform is designed to protect your information and give you control over how we use your information. Our advertising platform doesn’t share personal data with third parties.

Contextual Information of You Apple uses for ads

Contextual information may be used to serve ads to you, such as:

• Device Information: Your keyboard language settings, device type, OS version, and connection type.
• Device Location: If Location Services is turned on and you’ve granted permission to the App Store, Apple News, or Apple TV app to access your location, your approximate location may be used to serve you geographically relevant ads. Apple’s advertising platform does not construct profiles from your location, and does not use or store your precise location even if you allow an app to access your precise location. To access these settings, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
• App Store: Your query when you perform a search, and information about the page you are viewing may be used to serve you a relevant ad.
• Apple News and Stocks: The type of story you read may be used to select appropriate ads.

Segments

We create segments to deliver personalized ads on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks. Segments are groups of people who share similar characteristics. Information about you may be used to determine which segments you’re assigned to, and thus, which ads you receive. To protect your privacy, personalized ads are delivered only if more than 5,000 people meet the targeting criteria selected by an advertiser.

We may use information such as the following to assign you to segments:

• Account Information: Your name, address, age, gender, and devices registered to your Apple Account. Information such as your first name in your Apple Account registration page or salutation in your Apple Account may be used to derive your gender. You can update your account information on the Apple Account website at account.apple.com.
• Downloads, Purchases & Subscriptions: The music, movies, books, TV shows, and apps you download, as well as any in-app purchases and subscriptions. We don’t allow targeting based on downloads of a specific app or purchases within a specific app (including subscriptions) from the App Store, unless the targeting is done by that app’s developer.
• Apple News and Stocks: The topics and categories of the stories you read and the publications you follow, subscribe to, or turn on notifications from.
• Advertising: Your interactions with ads delivered by Apple’s advertising platform.

When selecting which ad to display from multiple ads for which you are eligible, we may use some of the above-mentioned information, as well as your App Store searches and browsing activity, to determine which ad is likely to be most relevant to you. App Store browsing activity includes the content and apps you tap and view while browsing the App Store. This information is aggregated across users so that it does not identify you. We may also use local, on-device processing to select which ad to display, using information stored on your device, such as the apps you frequently open.

Apple’s advertising platform receives information about the ads you tap and view against a random identifier not tied to your Apple Account.

Apple does not share any personal data with third parties. We make certain non-personal data available to our advertisers and strategic partners that work with Apple to provide our products and services, help Apple market to customers, and sell ads on Apple’s behalf. No Apple Pay transactions or Health app data is accessible to Apple’s advertising platform, or is used for advertising purposes. Apple does not know or make available to advertisers information about your sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or political affiliations.

Advertising Preferences

About This Ad
To understand why a specific ad was shown to you on the App Store, Apple News, or Stocks, tap the Ad button on the ad. This will present the segments and other data, such as demographic information, that were used to determine which ad you received.

Certain ads may contain only “Presented by” or similar language instead of the Ad button to signal that an advertiser is sponsoring an entire feed or page, but no segments are used to target these placements.

Ad Targeting Information
To see information about you that may be used to deliver targeted ads by Apple’s advertising platform, including the segments that you are in.

To see this information on your iOS, iPadOS, or visionOS device, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising and tap View Ad Targeting Information. On Mac, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising, then click View Ad Targeting Information.

If you believe information about you is inaccurate, you can update your Apple Account information.

Location-Based Ads
If you allow the App Store, Apple News, or Apple TV app to access your location, Apple’s advertising platform may use the approximate current location of your device to provide you with geographically targeted ads.

You can opt out of location-based app functionality including for advertising. On your iOS, iPadOS, or visionOS device, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, and either turn off Location Services or, where applicable, set the App Store, Apple News, or Apple TV app permission to Never. On Mac, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, and turn off Location Services or turn off location permissions for News or TV. On tvOS, go to Settings > General > Privacy & Security > Location Services, and turn off Location Services or set the Apple TV app permission to Never.

Apple’s advertising platform does not receive location-based information when you turn off Location Services on your device.

Personalized Ads
If you turn on Personalized Ads, Apple’s advertising platform may use your information to serve ads that are more relevant to you on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks. Turning off Personalized Ads will prevent Apple from using this information for ad personalization. It may not decrease the number of ads you receive, but the ads may be less relevant to you.

You can turn off Personalized Ads on your iOS, iPadOS, or visionOS device by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising and tapping to turn off Personalized Ads. On Mac, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising, and deselect Personalized Ads. The Personalized Ads option may be unavailable if you are a minor, have a managed account, or are in a location where Apple does not deliver advertising to its apps.

 

[maxoakland]

running a service as a charity for billions of users is not how it works.

If you think Maps is a charity, you have no clue why Apple created maps, what the benefit is to them, or how their business even works

 

[surferfb]

The reason advertisement is valuable is because of targeted advertisement. Nobody is paying for targeted advertisement if their ads are just going to random people. You are part of a profile of people who fit certain criteria Every company has a profile of you, especially Apple with the amount of information that they have on you. Apple's approach is no different than Google, google does not sell your "personal private" data, they build a profile of you and use that to serve ads just like Apple.

I'm aware how targeting advertising works and that advertisers don't want un-targeted ads. But I fundamentally disagree that Apple's approach is "no different" than Google; Apple does not track the way Google does.

Google tracks you across the open internet via Google Analytics (on millions of third-party sites), DoubleClick/Google Display Network, Chrome browser telemetry, and Android. Google has surveillance infrastructure that follows you outside its ecosystem. Apple's data collection is confined to its own first-party ecosystem: what you do in Apple apps, the App Store, Apple News, etc.

So I think it's better than Google's. I still wish they didn't do it.

 

[The_Gream]

That's exactly my point. We're the product being sold to Apple's business customers.

Okay. I said pretty much the same thing and that Izauze person gave me a thumbs down, while he gives you a thumbs up?

Apple started treating their customers like products years ago, they just aren’t as sharing with the info as the other companies. No matter the company, we are the product anymore, the question comes down to how much of our info do they sell to the other guys. From what I can tell, Apple sells the least amount of info - hence my previous statement about them being more like a news paper style ad. News paper ads only covered the area the paper was distributed in.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Not a good sign at all. Ads never get less intrusive. This is the floor. It’s only more ads from here on out

Yup.
Once one gets a taste of the juicy AD revenue, the only thought is "how do we get more of it!??".

It's like introducing someone to crack.

 

[VulchR]

For once I am loving that a "feature" is in the US and Canada and not the UK. 🤣

Seriously Apple, do you have to monetise blooody everything? I am waiting for pop-up ads every 100 characters typed on a keyboard. 🫣

Apple - I have been a customer since the 1980's but you are pushing things and frankly of late there is not that much to distinguish you from Microsoft, Google, Samsung and indeed Blackberry, Compaq and HP just before they started failing...

 

[The_Gream]

No it doesn't "scare me away", but I think it makes using the device less nice and is unnecessary given the vast amount of profit Apple makes. Apple has spent of time and energy explaining how they put user experience first, but here is a great example of that not being true.

You're right that Apple doesn't care what I think, and you're also right that although I might stop using maps, the vast majority of Apple's users won't.

So let's put ads in Apple Health! ("Your blood pressure is high, ask your doctor about this medicine!"). Photos: "Adobe charges $120 a year for Lightroom/Photoshop, so Apple shouldn't have to offer photos for free - who are we to complain about having ads inserted into our photo libraries." Messages: "iMessage servers don't pay for themselves! So enjoy these ads. We promise we aren't reading the content of your messages so it's ok!"



You've spent a couple of pages saying Apple "has" to charge for maps because Apple has lots of costs to support maps. In the App Store, Apple is getting $99 + 15/30% of sales. My point is that is more than enough to support the App Store without the addition of ads. The cost is already paid for, but they're still slapping ads on the top.

It’s the business that are dumb enough to pay for the ads, which means it’s smart business for Apple to sell ad space e to just make more money to invest in other places, or to help pay for all those lawyer fees b/c every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to wanna sue them anymore over anything and everything.

You probably don’t find ads from the mom and pops, only the large multi-million or billion dollar companies who charge a premium for their software or have a much larger ‘ad profile’ on you then Apple ever will.

 

[jimscard]

As expected, Apple has officially announced that ads are coming to the Apple Maps app on the iPhone and iPad in the U.S. and Canada starting "this summer."

Apple says businesses in the U.S. and Canada only will be able to place ads in search results and at the top of a new "Suggested Places" section in the app.

"Ads on Maps will appear when users search in Maps, and can appear at the top of a user's search results based on relevance, as well as at the top of a new Suggested Places experience in Maps, which will display recommendations based on what's trending nearby, the user's recent searches, and more," says Apple.

Similar to the ads that are already shown in App Store search results on the iPhone and iPad, ads in Apple Maps will have an "Ad" label, and Apple promises strong privacy protections. For example, Apple says a user's location and the ads they see and interact with in Apple Maps are not associated with a user's Apple Account.

"Maps with ads is just as private as Maps without ads," says Apple. "Where you go and the ads you see and interact with are not associated with your Apple Account. Personal data stays on your device, is not collected or stored by Apple Ads, and is not shared with third parties."

The introduction of ads in Apple Maps will obviously help to further increase Apple's services revenue, but the move will disappoint some customers.

Businesses will be able to set up ads in Apple Maps via the new Apple Business platform. More details are available on Apple's website.

Article Link: Apple Announces Ads Are Coming to Apple Maps

I want this. I travel a lot, and it’s always difficult to figure out where to go for dinner and stuff. I end up looking at pamphlets in hotel lobbies or asking the front desk that always has an outdated list of restaurants. This surfaces useful information for me, without compromising privacy. It’s a good thing.

 

[Wasp14]

Because net profits of $97 billion in 2023, >$100 billion in 2024, and $112 billion in 2025 is simply not enough.

Honestly, who could live which such meager income?

Yeah but if it’s not $115 billion this year then they are a complete failure. Can’t be the same!

 

[Squozen]

Apple are delighted to introduce Apple ******tification.

 

[Izauze]

Okay. I said pretty much the same thing and that Izauze person gave me a thumbs down, while he gives you a thumbs up?

Apple started treating their customers like products years ago, they just aren’t as sharing with the info as the other companies. No matter the company, we are the product anymore, the question comes down to how much of our info do they sell to the other guys. From what I can tell, Apple sells the least amount of info - hence my previous statement about them being more like a news paper style ad. News paper ads only covered the area the paper was distributed in.

Sorry mate, my thumbs down was primarily related to your statement “No matter what company it is, the end user is always the product” - which I disagree with as written. There IS a way to operate a business that puts the needs of their users at its center, and isn’t just treating them as a product whose attention and/or data are sold to 3rd parties.

 

[cynegils]

Can’t wait for CarPlay to start negotiating with me mid-drive.
“Proceed to your destination?”
“Actually… have you considered Carl’s Jr. instead? ⭐ Sponsored Route”.

 

[svish]

Very disappointing to hear this. Only a matter of time before it expands globally. Not a good move for customers/users.