Get ready for more ads in the App Store
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Macworld reports that Apple plans to significantly expand advertising on the App Store, introducing multiple ad positions in search results starting in March 2026.
- The rollout is starting in the UK and Japan before expanding globally, marking a major shift from the current placement of a single ad at the top of search results.
- This expansion represents Apple’s broader strategy to increase advertising revenue streams across its ecosystem, joining existing ads in Apple News, Stocks and Maps.
Apple may be one of the most valuable companies in the world, with a valuation of $4 trillion last year, but it refuses to rest on its laurels. It is always looking for new revenue opportunities, such as inserting paid advertising into its software, whether users like it or not.
After starting with ads in the App Store in 2016, a program that ramped up significantly in 2022, the company continued to run them in Apple News, Stocks, and, starting this year, Apple Maps. But now it seems there are no more new places to place ads, as it returns to the App Store for another round.
Earlier this week (as AppleInsider reported), Apple announced new plans that will see additional ads appear in App Store search. “On March 3, 2026,” the company told developers, “Apple Ads will begin serving additional ads in App Store search results… For each search query, multiple ad positions may be available, including the first existing position.”
As the announcement indicates, current advertising in the App Store, while potentially misleading to consumers looking for a specific app, is limited in reach. Opening its home page on my iPhone, I only see a single ad at the top, denoted by a light blue background, and nothing else on the screen is paid. When I run a search, I again see a single blue ad at the top, and even a long enough scroll on the screen doesn’t bring up another one.
David Price / Foundry
It is this latter experience that seems likely to change. When the policy goes into effect, scrolling through search results could bring up other ads, meaning more revenue for Apple. And more opportunities for users to inadvertently click on an app that otherwise wouldn’t be worth including in that search query.
Apple says the additional ads will appear first in the United Kingdom, followed by Japan. But no one is safe: “All other Apple Ads markets,” the company adds, “are expected to be included by the end of March.” Provided they are using devices running iOS and iPadOS 26.2 and later.
