Apple Maps Ads Are Now Live in the US and Canada. There Is No Setting to Turn Them Off.

Summary

Apple Maps officially activated paid advertising placements for users in the United States and Canada this week. Sponsored listings now appear at the top of search results and in suggested places, clearly labeled as ads with a blue pin halo. Apple limits it to one ad per search result. Businesses have been able to buy placements since August 14, but user-facing ad delivery began ramping up around August 25. There is no user-facing toggle to disable ads in Maps.

Why it matters

Apple Maps searches are no longer neutral. A business paying for placement can appear above an objectively closer or better-reviewed result. This is the first time Apple has put sponsored results inside a core navigation app, and the current low ad density will increase over time as the program scales. For now, the blue pin label makes sponsored results easy to spot, but there is no way to remove them entirely from your view.

HTD Says

Apple Maps just turned on paid ads for everyone in the US and Canada, and unlike almost every other privacy control Apple gives you, there is no setting to remove them. I honestly thought that ads were already live as I kept seeing visible company names on the maps for a while now.

But I guess we are moving to the next level now. While some core locations like gas or food may have bubbled up previously, companies will be able to increase the visibility of their locations. This implementation is handled a bit differently, though, as these “paid” locations appear under the “Suggested Places” list. These are obviously keyword-based, and there will be clear indicators that they are ads.

There are some ad types that are not allowed, and Apple will most likely closely monitor what is good and what is not. Yes, there is money to be made everywhere via advertising (think ChatGPT ads on the free plans), so I expect to see other types polluting all sorts of streams.

Source:

MacRumors