Apple Maps for your business: how to claim and manage your listing in Apple Business

Why your Apple Maps listing deserves ten minutes

When someone with an iPhone searches Apple Maps for a café, a physio or a mechanic nearby, the panel that opens is called a place card. Apple says place cards appear "from Maps to Siri to Calendar, Messages and Spotlight searches". If you've never claimed yours, the details on it came from somewhere else, and nobody at your business is checking them.

Most owners set up a Google Business Profile and stop there. Apple's version is free, and it's worth claiming for the same reason: the phone number, hours and website a customer sees should be the ones you control. It won't guarantee you appear for any search, and it won't replace a good Google profile or clear service pages. It just removes an easy way to lose a customer to wrong hours or an old number.

Keep readingClaim your Bing Places listing too

Apple Business Connect is now Apple Business

If you've read older guides, they'll send you to Apple Business Connect. Apple replaced it on 14 April 2026 with Apple Business, which combines Business Connect, Business Manager and Business Essentials in one free service. Apple says existing Business Connect data, including "claimed locations, place card information, photos", migrated automatically.

Apple Business does a lot more than listings, including device management and work email. For a local business the part that matters here is brand and location management, and Apple's feature table lists it as available in Australia. Some features aren't: business email is US only, and Apple's ads in Maps currently run only in the United States and Canada.

One detail catches people out. The first time you sign in with an old Business Connect login, your organisation moves to Apple Business and the old portal stops working. If you sign in with a personal Apple Account, Apple lets you keep it, but you can only use the brand and location features.

Decide whether you need a place card at all

Apple's rules for a location's address are strict. It has to be the address "where customers can get goods or services during open hours", the address listed on your website and the one customers use to find you. A place card is built for somewhere customers visit: a shop, clinic, studio, salon or workshop with a counter.

That's different from Google and Bing, which both let a business that travels to customers hide its address and show a service area instead. Apple's location guide doesn't describe an equivalent setting. So if you're a mobile tradie or work from home and customers never come to you, don't create a place card for your home address just to appear on the map.

Apple does say Apple Business can help a business "without a physical location that provides a service", by adding a brand so customers can find it "in Maps, Apple Wallet, Siri and more". It doesn't spell out how a brand without a location shows up in Maps search, so treat that as a smaller benefit than a place card, and keep your Google profile as the main local listing.

Keep readingSet up Google as a service-area business

Claim the listing and verify your business

Search Apple Maps for your business before you add anything. Apple Maps may already list it, and Apple's guide has separate steps for claiming an existing location rather than adding a new one. Creating a second listing for the same place only confuses things.

Sign up at business.apple.com with a real person's name. Apple sends back names like "IT Coordinator" for correction. You then have 60 days to verify your organisation, using two methods from a list that includes a business ID, a DNS record on your domain and an uploaded document such as a utility bill or lease. For Australian businesses, Apple's list of accepted business IDs includes your ABN. Apple says verification can take up to five working days, and if you miss the window your organisation and its data are deleted.

If your listing already exists on Maps, Apple can verify that location with a phone call to the number it has on record. If you don't recognise that number, Apple says to contact Apple Business support. And if you see "This location is already managed", someone else has claimed it, perhaps a previous agency or owner. You can add it anyway and request a transfer with supporting documents such as a business licence or utility bill. Apple says that review can take up to five working days.

Fill in the details the way Apple wants them

Apple reviews names, photos and descriptions, so following its rules the first time saves a round of rejections:

• Display name: the name on your shopfront or website, with nothing added. A suburb is only allowed if it's genuinely part of your business name.
• Category: one primary category, as specific as possible, plus up to four optional ones. Apple says it recently expanded its categories, so check yours if you set it up a while ago.
• Hours: the hours customers can actually visit, matching your website. If you see people by appointment only, Apple says to list the hours when appointments can be made.
• Phone and website: the number on your website, and your own site rather than a third-party page. A Facebook, Instagram or TikTok page is also accepted.
• Photos: real photos of your location that you own or have permission to use. Apple's guidelines rule out stock photos, AI-generated content, added text and watermarks, and say photo review can take up to three working days.

Keep it accurate after it's live

Customers can report a wrong detail straight from your place card. Apple reviews those reports and may change your location's name, status or hours itself. When it does, Apple Business emails your administrators, and the location shows Updates Available.

Don't ignore those emails. If Apple's change is right, accept it. If it isn't, you can contest it: change the hours or status to the correct values, or send a corrected name with supporting information for a review that can take up to five working days. Then fix whatever caused the confusion, which is often old hours on your website or a holiday closure you didn't add as temporary hours.

Showcases are optional. A showcase is a short promotion on your place card, such as a new service or an offer, with a button to act on it. Apple reviews each one and suggests allowing three calendar days, and a showcase runs for up to 365 days. They're worth using only if you'll keep them current.

If someone else manages it for you

Don't hand an agency or freelancer your Apple Business sign-in. Apple has a proper way to delegate: the partner registers and is verified by Apple, and you share access to your brands and locations through OAuth or their Partner Organisation ID. You choose what they can manage, and Apple says their content is held to the same policies as if you'd created it yourself.

Keep the organisation in your business's name and keep the Organisation Administrator role with an owner or senior staff member. Then a change of agency means removing their access, not rescuing your listing.

Keep readingAgree who owns each marketing account

Read the insights for what they are

Once a location is verified, Apple Business shows insights for Maps: how many people tapped your listing in search results, whether they searched for your name or for a category such as physio, and what they did on your place card, such as asking for directions, calling or opening your website. You can download the figures as a spreadsheet.

Two cautions. Apple shows low numbers below its privacy threshold as zero, so a quiet month for a small business can read as nothing at all; longer date ranges are more reliable. And a call tap isn't a booked job. Compare the taps with the enquiries you actually received, and record where each new customer came from.

Keep readingRecord where each enquiry comes from

A worked example: two hypothetical businesses

These are made-up examples to show the decision, not real clients.

A bike repair workshop in Footscray has a street-front shop open six days a week. Apple Maps already lists it, but with old hours. The owner signs up, claims the existing location, verifies with the ABN and a utility bill, corrects the hours, adds the Christmas closure as temporary hours and uploads three real photos of the workshop. A few months later, the insights show most taps came from category searches, and the owner starts asking new customers where they found the shop.

A mobile dog groomer in Geelong works from a van and keeps equipment at home, and customers never visit. The owner skips the place card, because Apple's address rules are for places customers come to and Apple's guide describes no way to hide a home address. They keep their Google profile as a service-area business, make sure the website lists the suburbs they cover, and revisit Apple if they open a salon.

Checklist

Work through these in order:

• Search Apple Maps for your business and note what it shows now.
• Decide whether customers visit you. If they don't, skip the place card.
• Sign up at business.apple.com in a real person's name, using an account your business controls.
• Verify within 60 days with two methods, such as your ABN and a utility bill.
• Claim the existing location rather than adding a duplicate, or request a transfer if it's already managed.
• Match the name, hours, phone and website to your website exactly.
• Upload real photos you own. No stock or AI-generated images.
• Give any agency delegated partner access, never your login.
• Check Apple's update emails and your insights each month.