Apple Maps Ads Move Closer to Launch With iOS 26.5 Beta 2

[mpetrides]

Yet another reason for me not to waste the effort to switch from Google Maps.

Yes, Google is evil but for years Google Maps was light years better than Apple Maps. Apple has significantly closed the gap but it will still take effort to switch over, after years of using only Google Maps in Apple CarPlay. This will just make me less likely to expend the energy to rewire my brain to a different interface, move all my stored destinations over, learn the nuances and glitches that come from living in a very rural area--e.g. for years Apple Maps gave me erroneous directions for how to get to my own house.

 

[canadianreader]

considering these things are always online and being attacked, I'm not sure holding back from updates and skipping security fixes is a viable strategy.

iOS 18 is still supported otherwise if you don’t wanna upgrade turn on lockdown mode or simply accept ads in iOS apps.

 

[noanker]

Time to stop by AAA and pick up a TripTik for my next road trip.

 

[Ted_Appleseed]

No.

 

[nickdalzell1]

So glad that I can use Maps on my 3GS without ads to worry about! (and yes, Maps still works! Also, why did everyone go after Forstall over Maps? Then and now, it worked fine! I never had issues with Maps on iOS 6--it was my first experience navigating with it!)

 

[Minato1990]

I will go out of my way to not use or go to a place that places ads on my maps
**** off Timmy

 

[platinumaqua]

Yeah, not linked to your Apple ID but is linked to a separate hidden identifier that's been there for many years.

I use Apple Maps because of better transit directions. Road maps they've already ruined it for me with the switch in color scheme from iOS 14 to 15

Apple's charging a premium but they don't want to deliver a premium experience anymore.

 

[Corefile]

No, Apple. Just No. I will use Google Maps instead.

 

[nickdalzell1]

That's how captialism works, sadly. Number must go up.

That's way different than how I was taught.

Used to be a successful company got successful by making good stuff, and happy customers = word of mouth = more customers. Building things that would last meant happy customers who had kids who became future customers. The good reputation was all that was required. Make things the people wanted, supply and demand, and you made a profit.

A more simple way to explain it is, well, a lemonade stand. Sell good quality lemonade for a decent price point, and you got profit, because you satisfied a demand for people in the neighborhood who were thirsty.

Company makes crap, company gets negative word of mouth reviews, unhappy customers leave, company goes under. The lemonade stand sells lemonade of poor quality or using salt instead of sugar. You make nothing, people get angry and go elsewhere. You stop selling because nobody is buying.

Today, it seems to be an alien system, completely foreign. Company makes crap, but somehow they remain afloat. Because there are no alternatives for the unhappy customers to leave for. Somehow we ended up with this 'illusion of choice' because EVERY company is doing the exact same thing and they do NOT care about customer satisfaction like they once did. This change seems to have started sometime in the 1970s. Before that, the previous Capitalism model worked fine? What was broken about that system that caused us to end up with what we have now?

 

[Princejb134]

Sad 🙁

Why do companies obsess over profits so much. Just be happy with being profitable at all.

******tification…

Apple needs money for all the back to back lawsuits they get lol
Depends how they do it I welcome ads as long as it’s related to my search history in maps app

 

[BC2009]

i am rooting for this to fail as badly as iAd. What a horrible decision and so anti-customer.

 

[BC2009]

It's part of their green energy initiative: attach magnets to Steve's corpse, hurl the HIG and respect for users out the window, gain emissions-free energy!

don’t forget that Steve Jobs was the father of iAd

 

[User 6502]

To be fair, what alternative? The only one I know of also has ads.

Yes but it is also far better. Lack of ads were the only reason to choose Apple Maps over the superior Google maps. Now that that advantage is gone there is no reason whatsoever to keep using the inferior option.

 

[mrr]

Not happy about this.

 

[JimmerJabber]

Steve was literally pushing for an advertisement based operating system all the way back from 1999 until as late as 2010, he was not your savior.
He literally had a patent for showing a 60 second video advertisement on every Mac boot, from 1999.
The idea that he wouldn’t eventually do this is laughable, of course he would. He wasn’t dumb.

Or, you can look at this way:

• Yes - Steve investigated the implementation of advertising in MacOS (albeit back when each OS upgrade cost money, and the proposal being to still offer a paid MacOS version without any advertising).
• However - Steve was CEO during the time period you refer to, and therefore had ultimate responsibility for running Apple. So while he might have investigated the viability / option of implementing advertising, he ultimately decided not to implement advertising in MacOS.

Businesses investigate lots of different projects that are never implemented, and those investigations often never become public knowledge.

 

[HuskerNKS]

Or, you can look at this way:

• Yes - Steve investigated the implementation of advertising in MacOS (albeit back when each OS upgrade cost money, and the proposal being to still offer a paid MacOS version without any advertising).
• However - Steve was CEO during the time period you refer to, and therefore had ultimate responsibility for running Apple. So while he might have investigated the viability / option of implementing advertising, he ultimately decided not to implement advertising in MacOS.

Businesses investigate lots of different projects that are never implemented, and those investigations often never become public knowledge.

Very true. The right answer today is not always the right answer tomorrow. More often than not, 99% never become public.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Wait, are you suggesting that the Welcome video that played upon a fresh install/restore of Snow Leopard was an advertisement?!

 

[zenmacx]

I bought Apple stuff to get away from cruddy ads like this. Bummer they’ve contaminated their product with this crap.

As a decades long Apple customer with a full complement of their laptops, tablets, phones and accessories, it’s very disappointing that this vastly profitable company has chosen to tarnish the maps app with advertisements.

A word that comes to mind is greed.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I can tell you when I get home and in front of my Mac. I use a custom profile that works across all my device.

If you haven't done so already, go to Nextdns.io and create an account. After you log in, go to set up> MacOS and click on Configurator Profile (Use our Apple Configuration Profile Generator available at apple.nextdns.io.) Once you generate and download the profile, install it by going to Settings > Device Management

Under Privacy, I have the following blocklist configured. If you don't see the green circle icon under setup for your device, that means you don't have the profile properly setup. See the second attached picture

 

[Jetscreamer]

Problem solved.

 

[HuskerNKS]

Problem solved.

Oh man. I would love to see certain generations try to read an actual map...

 

[nickdalzell1]

Oh man. I would love to see certain generations try to read an actual map...

Why would this be an odd thing? We managed it for decades before smartphones just fine! Sometimes I think modern tech is just replacing our brains. That's not a good thing.

On that note though, has anyone ever experienced the application Rand McNally TripMaker? That was way way back in the MS-DOS era. That was proto-MapQuest. No internet needed, it just worked. Turn-by-turn directions you printed out quite literally.

 

[Hushpuppy!]

With the second beta of iOS 26.5, Apple is continuing to prepare for ads in the Apple Maps app. There's a new splash screen in the app that says it will display ads based on approximate location, current search terms, or a view of the map when searching. Ads will also be shown in the "Suggested Places" section that was added in the first beta.

Apple says that advertising information is not linked to an Apple Account to preserve user privacy, so ads viewed and interacted with will not be associated with an Apple Account. Data is not collected or stored by Apple and not shared with third parties, according to Apple.

Signs of ads in the Maps app were spotted in the first beta, but iOS 26.5 testers could start seeing ads with the second beta. It's not yet clear if Apple has just implemented the splash screen, or if ads are going to begin showing up in the near future.

Apple announced plans to introduce ads for the Maps app back in March, with ads set to roll out to the public "this summer." Apple plans to include ads in the Maps app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac in the United States and Canada.

Ads in Apple Maps will have an "Ad" label, much like ads in the App Store.

Article Link: Apple Maps Ads Move Closer to Launch With iOS 26.5 Beta 2

Most people in the comments didn’t read the article and don’t understand what type of sponsored ads we’re talking about here. Most think they’re going to see video ads or rolling banners 😂 try reading, people!

 

[nickdalzell1]

Not sure if I'm suffering from Mandela Effect or not, but I seem to recall a time where Apple devices NEVER had ads, even in so-called 'free' apps. Such as Angry Birds, sure, you had a limited version with less levels, but no ads. Android's version, however, it had all the levels, but had a nasty banner advert inside the game. I remember when Android was chock full of ads everywhere and it brought me back to Apple in the end. Sadly, today, we get ad banners in many apps and now they want to put ads in Maps. I also hate how they got ads in a freaking bathroom mirror at some travel stops! Seriously, why? Why is this even a thing? Has Apple partnered with Google suddenly without us knowing? Perhaps that old joke about AppleGoo from the 2007 WWDC wasn't as much a joke as I previously thought?

 

[Win$ton l]

Imagine being triggered over a business that stands out a little than others