Bad news if you regularly use Apple cards, because the service may get advertisements. You need to know this.
Apple cards
Apple regularly works on new functions for Apple cards. In 2024, for example, Apple released a special web version of Apple cards, the Netherlands and Belgium were given cycling routes and personalized routes came to the navigation service. In the background, Apple is working on more adjustments, including the introduction of advertisements at Apple cards. Now the service can still be used advertising free.
According to the usually reliable Apple connoisseur Mark Gurman, this is changing, because Apple is working on a way to bring advertisements to Apple cards. The company already considered this in 2022, but did not continue with the plan at the time. According to Gurman, Apple is now looking again at opportunities to add advertising to the card app on the iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Sponsored results
It is not yet clear how the advertisements are added to Apple cards. There is little chance that it is a banner, so that you would constantly see advertising in the application. Instead, Apple probably opts for showing sponsored results. When entering a search term, these sponsored parts are given priority, so that they appear at the top of your list of search results.
For example, it becomes possible for restaurants to be easily found in Apple cards for a fee on certain dishes. It is not the first time that Apple has opted for this way of advertising, this has happened for much longer in the App Store. There you will already see sponsored results if you are looking for a certain application. In this way, developers can promote their apps when you search for specific terms.
For the time being advertising -free
There is a good chance that Apple will bring a similar way of advertising to Apple cards. For the time being that is not yet the case, because Apple still has to develop the new software for the advertisements. That usually takes a while, so there will be no advertisements with Apple cards in the coming period. Gurman has not indicated when the advertising does come to the navigation service.
It is expected that Apple will bring the sponsored search results to Apple cards on the iPhone, iPad and Mac. With these results in Apple cards it is clear that it concerns advertisements, just as is already the case with the App Store. There you see a blue label with ‘advertising’ with sponsored content. Apple cards will get a similar warning in the future, so that you immediately know that it is about advertising.
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