Rumors have swirled for years about a potential extension of Apple’s mobile advertising platform to third-party surfaces. Last April, Apple renamed its advertising platform from Apple Search Ads to Apple Ads. I noted at the time that this could indicate an expansion into Apple Maps, which Apple ultimately did announce roughly a year later, in May 2026.
But the rebrand from Apple Search Ads, which characterizes the ad units Apple serves in the App Store, to the more sweeping Apple Ads could be interpreted as a signal of Apple’s broader aspirations and goals for its advertising business, as I articulated in Apple’s advertising ambitions, published shortly after the rebrand.
Yesterday, Apple sent a pithy email to advertisers, notifying them that an update to the Apple Advertising Terms of Service will go into effect on July 28th. Notably and somewhat curiously, because the terms don’t go into effect for another two weeks, Apple actually publishes the updated terms to a separate URL, allowing for a fairly straightforward comparison. Hat tip to independent consultant and former MDM podcast guest Thomas Petit for alerting me to this.
The critical change, to my mind, is in term 6(a), related to “Advertising Services.” I’ve compared the two terms below and highlighted the difference:
