Apple Maps Starts Showing Paid Ads to Users in the US and Canada

Apple began letting businesses in the United States and Canada buy advertising placements inside Apple Maps on August 14, following through on a promise made back in March that paid ads would arrive in the app "this summer." Ad slots are booking now, and Apple says the ads themselves should start appearing to users soon.

The change means Maps is joining Google Maps and Waze as a navigation app that shows paid placements alongside organic search results, ending years of Apple Maps being ad-free.

Where the ads will show up

Apple says ads will appear in two places inside the app: at the top of search results when a query is relevant to an advertiser, and at the top of a new "Suggested Places" section that surfaces nearby businesses. Both are the same kinds of spots Google Maps has sold to advertisers for years, so a search for "coffee" or "pharmacy" near you can now surface a sponsored result above the regular listings.

The rollout is limited to the US and Canada for now. Apple has not said when or whether it will expand Maps ads to other countries.

How businesses buy a spot

Businesses purchase Maps ad placements directly through Apple's advertising platform at ads.apple.com, with no stated minimum spend required. As a launch incentive, businesses that book media with a credit card by October 11, 2026 get 15% of their spend back as a monthly statement credit, capped at $1,000 a month, for their first year advertising on Maps.

What can't advertise

Apple has restricted which businesses are allowed to buy Maps ads. Home-services categories are explicitly banned, including:

• Plumbing
• Electrical work
• Locksmith services
• HVAC
• Pest control
• Roofing and general contracting

Apple's stated reasoning is that Maps ads are limited to places with a physical address customers can actually visit, which rules out services that are booked over the phone or online rather than walked into. That's a narrower policy than Google Maps runs, where home-service providers can and do advertise.

What this means if you use Apple Maps

If you're in the US or Canada, expect to start seeing a labeled sponsored result mixed into your search results and suggested places over the coming weeks — Apple hasn't given an exact date for when ads go live for end users, only that booking has opened. There's no setting inside Maps to opt out of seeing them, the same as with Google Maps or Waze. If a sponsored pin isn't what you're after, the regular unpaid results still sit directly below it, so it's worth glancing past the first entry if you want the closest or best-rated option rather than the one that paid for placement.

For iPhone owners weighing whether the rest of Apple's software lineup is worth upgrading for, this sits alongside other changes rolling out across iOS 27 — including the broader hardware redesign push Apple has planned across its device lineup, and the security notifications Apple has been sending to at-risk users this month.