Apple Search Ads: what it costs, and how to run your first campaign.
Apple's own ads in the App Store, renamed Apple Ads in 2025. What Basic and Advanced do, what a tap really costs in your category, how to structure a first campaign, and why it works best once TikTok has people searching for your name.
Free, no sign-up. Three slideshow ideas for your app in about 20 seconds: the posts that get people searching the App Store for you.
What is Apple Search Ads?
Apple Search Ads, now called Apple Ads, puts your app at the top of App Store search results and in three other App Store spots. You only pay when someone taps your ad (Advanced) or installs (Basic). As of October 2026, a tap in US search results costs a median $1.91 and an install about $4.06, with finance and sports apps paying several times more.
It reaches people while they are already looking for an app like yours, so the cheapest installs come from people searching for your name.
- $1.91median cost per tap, US search results, 2025 data (AppTweak)
- 55%of US taps turn into an install, median
- $10,000monthly cap per app on Apple Ads Basic
- $0minimum spend on Advanced: you set the daily budget
Where Apple Ads show up: four places in the App Store.
Apple Search Ads launched in 2016 with one slot above search results. Apple renamed it Apple Ads in April 2025 because there are now four.
Search results
Right after someone types a search. The highest intent.
Basic and AdvancedSearch tab
Top of the suggested list, before anyone types.
Advanced onlyToday tab
A large card on the App Store's front page. Reach, lower intent.
Advanced onlyProduct pages
Top of "You might also like" on other apps' pages.
Advanced onlyNew in 2026: since March 2026, search results can show more than one ad, the top slot plus one further down (iOS 26.2 and later, all markets). Your campaign is eligible for both; you can't pick one.
Apple Ads Basic vs Advanced: pay per install, or run it yourself.
Same account, different deal: what you pay for, and how much you control.
| Basic | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay per | Install (CPI), up to a maximum you set | Tap (CPT), up to a maximum bid you set |
| Budget | Up to $10,000 a month per app | No cap and no minimum |
| Placements | Search results only | Search results, Search tab, Today tab, product pages |
| Keywords and audience | None. Apple picks the searches | Your keywords, match types, negatives, audience settings |
| Apps | Up to 50 | Unlimited |
| Reporting | Installs, spend, cost per install | Per keyword and search term, plus custom product pages as ad variations |
From Apple's Compare Apple Ads solutions page, checked October 2026.
Pick Basic if
you want installs at a known price and have no time for keywords. You learn little, though: no search terms, no idea which words convert.
Pick Advanced if
you'll spend 20 minutes a week on it. You see every search term behind an install and can protect your brand name. For most indie apps it's the better first $300.
How to set up your first campaign: four campaigns, one job each.
Apple's recommended structure splits search results ads by intent, so each gets its own budget and bids.
-
Brand
Exact match
People already looking for you. Cheap, and it keeps a rival's ad off the top of your listing.
- your app name
- its misspellings
- name + "app"
- CPT
- $2.05
- CPI
- $2.84
- Tap rate
- 25.3%
-
Category
Exact match
Words for what your app does. Where new users, and most of the budget, go.
- party games
- games for groups
- game night app
- CPT
- $2.75
- CPI
- $5.31
- Tap rate
- 8.5%
-
Competitor
Exact match
Apps like yours. The priciest installs: those people came for someone else.
- rival app names
- the category leader
- CPT
- $3.26
- CPI
- $6.78
- Tap rate
- 3.8%
-
Discovery
Broad match + Search Match
Apple matches searches you didn't think of. Cheap taps, low intent, new terms.
- broad: party
- broad: group game
- Search Match on
- CPT
- $1.16
- CPI
- $3.10
- Tap rate
- 4.2%
The loop that makes it work: weekly, open discovery's search terms. A term that brought installs moves to category or competitor as exact match, and becomes a negative in discovery so the two don't compete. Taps without installs become negatives everywhere.
AppTweak US medians for apps, 2025 data (published August 19, 2026). Tap rate = taps ÷ impressions.
Apple Search Ads planner: your budget, your category, your installs.
Pick your category and a daily budget to see what a month buys across the four campaigns. Then flip brand defense.
What a month buys
| Campaign | Spend | Taps | Installs | CPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | – | – | – | – |
How it works: budget split 15% brand, 45% category, 15% competitor, 25% discovery; taps = spend ÷ CPT, installs = taps × tap-to-install, over 30 days. The other lanes scale your category numbers by AppTweak's campaign-type medians: brand taps 25% cheaper and 23% likelier to install, competitor 19% dearer and 7% less likely, discovery 58% cheaper and 28% less likely. Brand spend is capped at searches × 25.3% tap rate × brand CPT. Estimates from medians; two weeks of your own data replace them.
Apple Search Ads and TikTok: one makes the search, the other catches it.
The cheapest Apple Ads installs come from people who know your name. Organic TikTok is how a small app gets known.
A post shows the app, not an ad
The app is on screen in a slideshow people finish. Viewers ask in the comments and go to the App Store. More on marketing an app on TikTok.
They search for what they remember
Your name, a misspelling, or what they saw: "music jeopardy party game". If a rival bids on those words, their ad comes first.
Your brand campaign catches them
Turn brand defense on when posts start working. It costs little while searches are low, and at a 73.5% median conversion rate these are your cheapest installs.
Apple Ads tells you the post worked
Brand keyword impressions roughly equal searches for your name. When they jump the day after a post, that post is your next Spark Ad.
Are Apple Search Ads worth it? What a first $300 teaches.
On brand keywords almost always. Elsewhere, when an install costs less than a user earns you.
What it will show you
- The words that convert. The search terms report shows the searches behind every install.
- How well your product page sells. Below 40% tap-to-install usually means the screenshots, not the keywords.
- Whether anyone searches for you. Zero brand impressions is an awareness problem.
What it won't
- Whether users stay and pay. 90 installs is too few to read retention.
- Your cost at scale. A few exact words run out of searches; more budget means pricier taps.
- Anything, on broad match alone. Discovery without negatives is how budgets get wasted.
Your default ad is built from your product page (name, subtitle, icon, first screenshots), so app store optimization lowers every cost here, and keywords that convert in ads belong in your keyword field. For comparison, the average iOS install across all ad networks cost $3.03 in Q2 2026 (Singular); TikTok's side is on TikTok ads cost.
Apple Search Ads questions, answered.
Are Apple Search Ads worth it?
For your own name, nearly always: those taps convert at around 73%. For other keywords, when your cost per install is below what a user earns you. Start on exact match, read the search terms after two weeks, cut what doesn't install.
How much do Apple Search Ads cost?
There's no fixed price. You bid in an auction and pay per tap on Advanced or per install on Basic. As of October 2026, AppTweak's US medians (2025 data) are $1.91 a tap and $4.06 an install, from $0.82 a tap in Shopping to $4.17 in Finance and $14.56 in Sports. SplitMetrics' July 2026 global medians are a $2.76 cost per install with an 8.2% tap rate.
What is the difference between Apple Ads Basic and Advanced?
Basic charges per install, runs only in search results, caps spend at $10,000 a month per app and picks searches for you. Advanced charges per tap, runs in all four placements, has no cap and lets you choose keywords, match types and negative keywords.
Is there a minimum budget for Apple Search Ads?
No. On Advanced you set a daily budget per campaign and Apple only charges for taps, so a test can start at a few dollars a day. A useful first test is about $10 to $20 a day for two to four weeks.
Is Apple Search Ads now called Apple Ads?
Yes. Apple renamed Apple Search Ads to Apple Ads on April 14, 2025, since it now covers four placements. The two products are still Basic and Advanced.
Should I bid on my own app's name?
Once people search for it. A competitor bidding on your name can appear above your listing, and brand campaigns only charge per tap, so they cost little while searches are low.
How do I stop personalised ads on Apple devices?
On iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Apple Advertising, and turn off Personalized Ads. You'll still see ads in the App Store, but they're matched to what you search rather than to your account.
Sources
- Apple Ads, Compare Apple Ads solutions and Apple Ads glossary, checked October 2026.
- AppTweak, Apple Ads benchmarks 2026: CPT, CPI, CR and TTR by category, August 19, 2026 (2025 data).
- SplitMetrics, Apple Ads guide and benchmarks, July 2026.
- Macworld and heise, reports on Apple's additional search results ads from March 3, 2026, January 2026.
- AppleInsider, Apple rebrands its advertising business as Apple Ads, April 14, 2025.
- Singular, Q2 2026 quarterly trends report.
Keep reading
Get people searching for your app. Then catch them.
ClonBot makes TikTok slideshows from formats that already went viral, with your app's real screens. Setup is free; plans from $99 a month for 30 posts.