{"id":8256,"date":"2026-11-11T08:47:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T01:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/?p=8256"},"modified":"2026-11-07T10:08:41","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T03:08:41","slug":"apple-ads-app-store-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adtek.agency\/en\/apple-ads-app-store-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Apple Ads? Placements, Basic vs Advanced, bidding and measurement for App Store ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Running Apple Ads is like renting the shelf at the head of a supermarket aisle: the people walking past came into the store to shop, and you pay only when they pick up your box to look. Meta or TikTok ads are closer to handing out flyers on the street, reaching more people, most of whom are not planning to buy yet. Whether the shopper drops your box into the cart comes down to the packaging, which here means your App Store product page.<\/p>\n

Apple Ads is Apple’s advertising platform, and since April 14, 2025 the new name for Apple Search Ads. On the App Store you pay on a cost-per-tap basis (CPT, you pay when a user taps the ad) across four placements: search results, the Search tab, the Today tab, and the “You Might Also Like” list at the bottom of product pages.<\/p>\n

What is Apple Ads?<\/h2>\n

Apple Search Ads started with a single placement: the top of search results. The Search tab was added in 2021, and the Today tab and product pages in 2022. Once ads were no longer confined to search, Apple changed the name (Apple announcement, April 14, 2025<\/a>). The same brand also covers ads on Apple News and Apple Maps (Maps is only available in the US and Canada so far); this article covers the App Store only.<\/p>\n

For anyone working on user acquisition<\/a> for iOS apps, the biggest difference from Meta or Google is the targeting signal. In search results, the ad is tied to the query the user just typed: someone who types “learn English” needs exactly that. Apple says ads at the top of search results have an average tap-to-install rate above 60% (all markets, November 2024 to October 2025). The trade-off is that ads pull their images, video and description from the product page in App Store Connect, so ASO<\/a> decides half of the results.<\/p>\n

The 4 Apple Ads placements on the App Store and the new one for 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Placement<\/th>\nWhere it appears<\/th>\nTargeting<\/th>\nPricing<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Search results<\/td>\nTop of the results page or further down the list<\/td>\nKeywords or Search Match<\/td>\nMax CPT per keyword, or target CPA (Maximize Conversions)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Search tab<\/td>\nTop of the suggested apps list, before the user types anything<\/td>\nCountry, device, customer type<\/td>\nMax CPT, no keywords<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Today tab<\/td>\nThe first screen when the App Store opens<\/td>\nCountry, device, customer type<\/td>\nMax CPT, no keywords<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Product pages<\/td>\nTop of the “You Might Also Like” list at the bottom of another app’s page<\/td>\nThe app category where the ad appears<\/td>\nMax CPT, no keywords<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The first three placements are available in 91 countries and regions; the product page placement is available in 90, as it is not yet available in mainland China (Ad placement options<\/a>, accessed October 2026). According to Apple, more than 500 million people start their App Store visit from the Today tab each week, 70% of App Store visitors use search to discover apps, and almost 65% of downloads happen directly after a search (App Store, worldwide, 2022). These are Apple’s own figures and are for reference only.<\/p>\n

\"Four
The four App Store ad placements, left to right: Today tab, Search tab, search results, product page (AwayFinder is Apple’s example app). Image: Apple, ads.apple.com; the four images combined in one row by Adtek.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today tab ads run only on iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later, not on iPad, and must use a custom product page as the landing page. That page has to be localized into the language of the country where the ad runs and cannot show prices or promotions (Create Today tab ads<\/a>).<\/p>\n

New: more ads further down search results<\/h3>\n

On December 17, 2025, Apple announced that from early 2026 it would show additional ads lower on the results page. The current help page confirms that ads can appear at the top or further down, and that you cannot choose or bid on each slot separately (Search results<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Coming soon: at WWDC in June 2026, Apple announced creative assets, self-designed 3:2 images and videos for Today tab and search results ads. As of October 2026, Apple’s page still says “coming soon” (Design your own ads with creative assets<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Apple Ads Basic vs Advanced: which one to choose?<\/h2>\n

Both versions remain after the rename (official comparison table<\/a>, accessed October 2026):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Criterion<\/th>\nBasic<\/th>\nAdvanced<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Placements<\/td>\nSearch results only<\/td>\nAll 4 placements<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Billing<\/td>\nPer install; you set a max CPI<\/a><\/td>\nPer tap; you set a max CPT<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Keywords, audiences<\/td>\nNone; the system matches automatically<\/td>\nKeywords, Search Match, audience refinements<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Budget<\/td>\nUp to $10,000 per app per month, up to 50 apps<\/td>\nNo limit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Reporting, API<\/td>\nQuick dashboard, AdServices<\/td>\nDetailed reports, Insights, AdServices, Platform API<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Basic gives you no keyword data, so you cannot see where the money goes. An app with a serious UA budget, or one that needs to calculate ROAS<\/a> by keyword group, should use Advanced from the start.<\/p>\n

Bidding and billing by placement<\/h2>\n

For Advanced, Apple states that all 4 placements are billed on CPT: you pay only when there is a tap, and never more than the max CPT you set. CPM<\/a> (cost per 1,000 impressions) now exists only as the “Average CPM” reporting metric. If older documentation says the Today tab is billed on CPM, check it against the official page.<\/p>\n

A high bid alone does not win. Apple weighs relevance as well as the bid: an English learning app that bids high on “food delivery” still will not show.<\/p>\n

Manage Bids or Maximize Conversions.<\/strong> Manage Bids lets you pick keywords yourself and set a max CPT for each one, with an optional CPA cap at the ad group level. Maximize Conversions (launched February 25, 2026) works only for search results: you set a target CPA, and the auto-bidder and Search Match choose keywords and bids. Apple recommends letting it run for at least two weeks before changing the target CPA (Use the Maximize Conversions bid strategy<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Daily budget<\/strong> is a monthly average: some days spend more, but the monthly total never exceeds the daily budget times 30.4. A hypothetical example: $50 a day means a monthly maximum of 50 \u00d7 30.4 = $1,520. Lifetime budgets have been removed, and campaigns that used them were paused from June 2026 (Manage budgets<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The formula to remember: CPA = CPT \/ conversion rate (CR). A hypothetical example: a CPT of $0.40, with 100 taps producing 50 installs (CR 50%), gives a CPA of $0.80. If your 30-day LTV<\/a> is $1.20, you are still in profit. If CR drops to 30%, CPA becomes $1.33 and you start losing money.<\/p>\n

Campaign structure: brand, category, competitor, discovery<\/h2>\n

Apple recommends splitting search results campaigns into 4 types (Structure campaigns<\/a>). The split gives each group its own budget and CPA: brand keywords are cheap, and lumping everything together hides competitor keywords that are losing money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Campaign<\/th>\nKeywords<\/th>\nMatch type<\/th>\nPurpose<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Brand<\/td>\nApp name, company name, variants<\/td>\nExact<\/td>\nKeep the people searching for your name<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Category<\/td>\nTerms describing the function or genre<\/td>\nExact<\/td>\nReach people with the need who do not know you yet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Competitor<\/td>\nNames of similar apps<\/td>\nExact<\/td>\nWin people who are considering a competitor<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Discovery<\/td>\nAd group 1: keywords from the 3 groups above in broad match, Search Match off. Ad group 2: no keywords, Search Match on<\/td>\nBroad, Search Match<\/td>\nFind new keywords<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

A hypothetical example, an English learning app called “EngGo” running in Vietnam:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Brand: “enggo”, “eng go”. Bid just enough to hold the top position.<\/li>\n
  2. Category: “h\u1ecdc ti\u1ebfng anh” (learn English), “luy\u1ec7n n\u00f3i ti\u1ebfng anh” (English speaking practice). The most expensive group; track CPA for each keyword.<\/li>\n
  3. Competitor: the names of 3 to 5 popular English learning apps. Accept a lower CR than Brand.<\/li>\n
  4. Discovery: after 1 to 2 weeks, read the search terms report. Any term that produces installs goes into Category or Competitor as exact match, and is added as a negative keyword in Discovery.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Newly added keywords default to broad match, and the match type cannot be changed once saved. To change it, pause the keyword and add it again as exact match.<\/p>\n

    Custom product pages in App Store ads<\/h2>\n

    A custom product page (CPP) is a version of your product page with its own set of screenshots, video and promotional text. Since October 29, 2025, each app can create up to 70 of these pages and assign keywords to each one so it appears in organic search (Apple Developer News, October 29, 2025<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    In ads, CPPs are used to create ad variations in search results (each ad group runs one custom ad at a time), are required for the Today tab, and are optional for the Search tab. A CPP can also carry a deep link<\/a> (iOS 18 and later) that opens the right screen in the app directly.<\/p>\n

    \"The
    Creating a search results ad variation: pick a custom product page (with a deep link) as the creative source, and the ad uses that page’s images. Image: Apple, ads.apple.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Pair CPPs with keyword groups: a “speaking practice” ad group uses a CPP whose first screenshot shows the pronunciation scoring feature, while a “vocabulary” ad group opens with flashcards. Changing only the background color will not move CR.<\/p>\n

    Apple Ads measurement: AdServices, AdAttributionKit and MMPs<\/h2>\n

    App Store ads have three layers of mobile attribution<\/a> data:<\/p>\n