Your App Store search is about to change: Apple confirms multiple ad slots are coming to iPhone in March

Apple has confirmed that it will pushing more ads to the App Store stating from March. The iPhone maker shared more details about its advertising plans on the its advertising help page along with an email sent to the developers. The additional ads on the App Store will start showing up first in UK, Japan and will be followed by other markets like US by the end of March.

The news about extra App Store ads isn't a surprise on its own since Apple had already announced last month that it was planning to bring more ads to the App Store but had not given a specific date then.

While the company says the move is intended to “increase opportunity” for developers to drive downloads, it also creates an additional stream of advertising revenue for the platform

In the advertising help page, Apple wrote, “Search is the way most people find and download apps on the App Store, with nearly 65 percent of downloads happening directly after a search. To help give advertisers more opportunities to drive downloads from search results, Apple Ads will introduce additional ads across search queries. ”

“The additional ads will roll out in phases, appearing across all markets by the end of March. You don't need to change your campaign in order to be eligible for any new positions. Your ad will run in either the existing position — at the top of search results — or further down in search results. If you have a search results campaign running, your ad will be automatically eligible for all available positions, but you can't select or bid for a particular one.” the company added

What's changing in App Store ads?

Currently, when you search for an app on the App Store, you see a single ad at the very top of the results list. From March 2026, Apple will introduce additional ad slots. The support page notes that ads will now run in "either the existing position — at the top of search results — or further down in search results."

According to Apple, nearly 65 percent of downloads happen directly after a search. While this gives advertisers more real estate to reach users, it also means regular users will have to scroll past more sponsored content to find the organic results they are looking for. Apple claims its intelligent matching technology ensures ads remain relevant, delivering a "more than 60 percent average conversion rate" for top-placed ads.