Overview
- The company will introduce additional ad placements within App Store search results beyond the single top slot, with rollout planned in 2026 on devices running iOS and iPadOS 26.2 or later.
- Existing Apple Ads campaigns will be automatically enabled for the new positions, with an auction using keyword bids and relevance deciding where an ad appears.
- Advertisers cannot target specific placements, and Apple says irrelevant apps are excluded from participating regardless of bid size.
- Billing and formats remain unchanged, using cost-per-tap or cost-per-install and creatives drawn from standard or Custom Product Pages with optional deep links.
- Apple points to more than 800 million weekly App Store users, roughly 65% of downloads following a search, and about 60% conversion for the top search ad, as indie developers warn of disadvantages for smaller teams and the European Commission reviews whether Apple Ads should fall under DMA core platform rules.